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A $3 million settlement agreement was granted final approval by a California superior court judge in a class action lawsuit against Vendini Inc., alleging that the live events ticket seller allowed customer information to be put at risk for identity theft as the result of a data security breach that occured in 2013.
Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Peter Kirwana gave final approval on Friday.
“With respect to the determination that the settlement agreement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, the court specifically notes that whether the outcomes on the merits would result in a ruling in favor of plaintiffs and the class was uncertain,” Judge Kirwana wrote.
The Vendini class action settlement is for anyone living in the United States and had “personal identification information” that was kept on Vendini’s “computer network servers on or before April 25, 2013.”
The $3 million will cover all claimants damages and all attorneys’ fees and costs. $1 million has already been sent to the claims administrator.
Class members will need to “submit a properly completed claim form before the expiration of the claims period.” The payment amount will be determined by the claims administrator, which will be paid within 30 days “from the one-year period after the Notice Date assuming there are no appeals.”
In addition, “class members may submit claims for either or both of the Unreimbursed Identity Theft Losses or Unreimbursed Expenses, which claims must be approved by the claims administrator.”
Claimants may receive up to $3,000 in unreimbursed identity theft losses. However, such losses must be documented as “identity theft that more likely than not, in the judgment of the claims administrator, can be attributed to the Data Security Incident,” and took place on April 25, 2013 or at some point up until the end of claims period.
“Claimants seeking Unreimbursed Identity Theft Losses must submit a written claim under penalty of perjury to the claims administrator in the form attached as Exhibit D to the Settlement Agreement, together with proof of such losses,” the settlement agreement explains.
It will be up to the claims administrator to either accept of reject a claim.
The settlement fund will also cover unreimbursed expenses up to $1,000, which includes “reimbursement of any unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses incurred by class members through the end of the claims period . . . that can be attributed to the data security incident.”
This will also cover costs incurred for identity-theft insurance before June 27, relevant phone call fees, costs related to freezes needed to be placed on affected bank accounts, costs incurred by claimants to change their phone numbers, replacing credit or debit cards, late fees, and overdraft fees.
The lead plaintiffs Lanie Lim and John Lewart will each be given $2,500 for representing the class.
They filed their data security breach class action lawsuit in January. Vendini customers learned in May 2013 that the company’s servers were hacked in April 2013. The information compromised by hackers includes names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and credit and debit card numbers.
The Vendini class action settlement agreement was reached in July.
Vendini hosts an online ticketing system that businesses can use to sell tickets for a variety of events such as sports, concerts, and festivals.
The plaintiffs are represented by Justin Kachadoorian and Anthony J. Orshansky of Counselone PC.
Vendini is represented by Nancy Harris of Orrick Herrignton & Sutcliffe LLP.
The Vendini Data Security Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Lim, et al. v. Vendini, Inc., Case No. 1-14-cv-259897, in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara.
UPDATE: Class Members report that they have begun receiving settlement checks.
3 thoughts on$3M Vendini Data Breach Class Action Settlement Gets Final Approval
I received this notice by the time I didn’t understand. I was concerned and now I found the notices again into my paper. I really want to know what was all this and how is affecting our Identity. And how come my information is in it. Please could you reply to me.
UPDATE: Class Members report that they have begun receiving settlement checks.
I was a victim and filed a claim in this law suit so when do we get paid for the fraud commited by this company