Avis data breach class action overview:
- Who: Avis consumers have filed a class action lawsuit against the car rental company.
- Why: The plaintiffs say the company was negligent with their data and that it was exposed in a recent data breach.
- Where: The Avis data breach class action was filed in a New Jersey federal court.
Avis has been hit with a class action lawsuit after a data breach last month exposed the personal information of more than 300,000 people.
Plaintiff Jason Shay filed the class action complaint against Avis Rent A Car System LLC on Sept. 18 in a New Jersey federal court, alleging negligence and inadequate security measures that resulted in a significant data breach between Aug. 3 and Aug. 6, 2024.
Avis publicly disclosed the breach on Sept. 4, 2024, via letters to affected customers.
According to the lawsuit, the breach exposed a variety of personally identifiable information (PII), including names, driver’s license numbers, birth dates, credit card details and phone numbers.
Hackers reportedly accessed this information through Avis’s system and posted it on the dark web, “increasing the likelihood of identity theft and financial fraud” for the affected individuals, the lawsuit claims.
Shay claims the exposure of his data has put him at a heightened risk of identity theft and fraud for the rest of his life. As a result, he must now spend time and money monitoring his financial accounts and personal information to protect against potential criminal activity.
Avis had duty to protect customers, lawsuit says
This risk to customers could have been avoided if Avis had taken adequate steps to safeguard their sensitive data, the lawsuit alleges.
As a major rental car company, Avis regularly collects and stores sensitive information from its customers, giving it a responsibility to protect that data from unauthorized access — a duty the company failed to meet, leaving the data vulnerable to hackers, the Avis class action claims.
As a result, the company’s negligence has caused ongoing and future harm to the victims of the breach, Shay claims in the lawsuit.
He is looking to represent anyone in the United States of America whose PII or financial information was exposed as a result of the data breach. Shay is suing for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of confidence, and unjust enrichment, and is seeking certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.
The lawsuit also seeks a court order requiring Avis to improve its data security practices and to provide lifetime identity theft protection for the victims.
Are you affected by the Avis data breach? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Liberato P. Verderame and Marc H. Edelson of Edelson Lechtzin LLP.
The Avis data breach class action lawsuit is Jason Shay v. Avis Rent A Car System LLC, Case No. 2:24-cv-09252 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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