Class Action Lawsuit Filed over 2012 Bank of America Data Breach

A California man has filed a class action lawsuit against Bank of America Corp., alleging that the bank’s negligence in a 2012 data breach has left him permanently affected and struggling to maintain his financial data.

The Bank of America class action lawsuit is based on the well-publicized events of March and April 2012, when the company admitted that an employee had been able to release personal identifying information to hackers. According to the BofA class action lawsuit lawyers, Andrew King has suffered ongoing and permanent damage as a result of the financial services firm being unable to protect his personal identification information (PII) and those of the putative class which would include all customers whose information was illegally released.

King’s name, address, information from credit reports and all data that Bank of America retains on its customers including account balances was allegedly lost to the hackers working with the company’s employee. His class action lawsuit  alleges that he and other account holders “are willing to spend additional money and pay a premium in exchange for better privacy protections” which could not have existed if his personal identifying information was not protected.

In his specific case, criminals were able to obtain money from his checking account soon after the 2012 data breach. However, even after working with credit reporting bureaus and paying for monitoring services, King is reportedly still dealing with the effects of the release of the information, including “an unsecured personal loan [that] was fraudulently requested … [as well as] a fraudulent driver’s license that was issued in [his] name.”

Even with the common practices of setting up monitoring services and working with the bureaus, King believes that he and other putative Class Members are still suffering from ongoing financial harm because they must continue to monitor their reports and other information and be vigilant regarding any potential fraud. Had Bank of America properly secured its data, the 2012 data breach would not have occurred. According to the class action lawsuit, the data breach was “proximately caused by defendant’s negligence.”

King and his legal team are seeking damages on behalf of the entire class of account holders affected by the data breach over violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law and Information Practices Act, negligence and breach of implied contract, among others.

King is represented by class action lawsuit lawyers Bradley K. King, Tina Wolfson, Robert Ahdoot and Theodore W. May of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC.

The Bank of America Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Andrew King v. Bank of America Corp., Case No. BC541291, in the California State Superior Court, County of Los Angeles.