YapStone Data Breach Prompts Consumer Class Action Lawsuit

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A New Jersey man filed a putative class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and other consumers who may have been affected by a data breach. The data breach was against YapStone Inc., the web payment processor for the VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) website.

Plaintiff Jonathan Koles has accused YapStone of negligence and breach of contract for its failure to protect sensitive customer data from a breach. In his YapStone class action lawsuit, he states that the company did not take adequate measures to secure customer information, and following report of the potential breach, did not promptly notify consumers to notify them what kind of personal information of theirs may have been compromised.

Koles says the lack of notification on behalf of the company has put customers in further danger by withholding information on the potential breach. Since customers are not aware of what type of personally identifiable information was shared, they are unable to take precautionary measures to ensure against potential fraud in the future.

According to the YapStone class action lawsuit, the company sent Koles a letter on Sept. 11 notifying him that his email address and banking information were potentially exposed to hackers in a data breach that was estimated to have occurred between July 2014 and August 2015. According to YapStone, they became aware of the potential data hacking on Aug. 4.

As part of the way VRBO operates, customers accepted payments via online processing systems and were required to input their bank account information. Koles alleges that YapStone breached an implied contract with VRBO users when the company failed to safeguard user banking information.

The data breach class action lawsuit brings forth seven counts against YapStone including negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, violations of the California Unfair Competition Law, New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, New Jersey Data Breach Act, and California Data Breach Law.

In terms of relief, on behalf of himself and the nationwide Class, Koles is looking for YapStone to use proper methods to protect consumer data in the future, pay for three years of a credit card monitoring service for each Class Member and to notify customers of the potential data breach. Additionally, he seeks actual damages, compensatory damages, statutory damages, statutory penalties, punitive damages, restitution and disgorgement, pre- and post-judgment interest on amounts rewarded, costs of litigation and any further relief deemed just and proper by the court.

YapStone’s data breach class action lawsuit joins two other major retailers who were who were the subject of litigation for having data hacked in the past couple of years: Target Inc. in 2013 and The Home Depot Inc. in 2014.

In July of this year, Ashley Madison, the controversial dating website for married individuals looking to connect with others to have an affair, was hacked. The hackers accessing Ashley Madison data were allegedly using it for blackmail. Over 37 million members of the site had their personal information compromised. Several data breach class action lawsuits have been filed against the company.

Koles is represented by Tina Wolfson, Robert Ahdoot, Theodore W. Maya and Bradley K. King of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC.

The YapStone Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Jonathan Koles v. YapStone Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-04429, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Jan. 20, 2017, Yapstone has agreed to provide Class Members with payments and services worth close to $4.9 million in order to resolve allegations brought from the data breach class action lawsuit.