EBay Hit With Data Security Breach Class Action Lawsuit

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EBay was hit with a data security breach class action lawsuit by an eBay customer alleging that the ecommerce website did not have adequate security to protect its customers’ information from identity thieves when the data was compromised in February.

The data breach lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by Louisiana resident Collin Green, who had an account with eBay when the data breach occurred and his information was compromised by identity thieves.

The data breach occurred sometime in February or March, when eBay’s electronic files were compromised by hackers.

“The thieves had access to, and reportedly copied, customer names, encrypted passwords, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth, at a minimum,” the data breach lawsuit says.

The customer information that eBay keeps also includes credit card numbers, bank account numbers, geo-location information, IP addresses and shipping/billing information.

Green says he doesn’t know how much of this other information was “also stolen due to eBay’s failures.”

Even though the data breach occurred in February or March, it was not reported to the public by eBay until May 21, when eBay notified its customers of the security breach.

According to the eBay data breach lawsuit, eBay made this announcement “only after the security breach had been reported by independent internet sources.”

Green alleges that the data breach occurred because eBay did not have adequate security in place to be sure its customers’ information was protected, the eBay data security breach class action lawsuit claims.

“EBay was aware of the value of the personal information it held, and the threat to the security of that information long before the 2014 security breach,” the lawsuit states.

Green alleges when eBay first learned of the security breach in February, that it was motivated by “market perception” and its “bottom line” to withhold the information from the public.

“EBay’s profit-driven decision to withhold the fact of its security lapse further damaged the class members who were prevented from immediately mitigating the damages from the theft,” the lawsuit explains.

“As the [Federal Trade Commission] warns, ‘[i]f you suspect that someone is misusing your personal information, acting quickly is the best way to limit the damage,” the data breach class action lawsuit says.

“EBay’s failure to properly secure this information has caused, and is continuing to cause, damage to its customers,” the data breach class action lawsuit claims.

Green explains that “the theft of personal information is extremely harmful to eBay’s customers and leaves them at increased risk of significant damages, and forces them to incur continuing expenses to properly mitigate the damages caused.”

According to the data breach class action lawsuit, eBay keeps the personal information of more than 120 million customers on file “in electronic files it declares ‘secure.'”

The Louisiana man says that this is done by the ecommerce website for “its own financial benefit.”

Green is charging eBay with negligence, violating federal Stored Communications Act, violating a Louisiana statute says eBay was supposed to notify Louisiana citizens immediately when the security breach took place, breach of contract, breach of implied contract, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, violating multi-state privacy laws, and violating the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The eBay class action lawsuit is for “all customers of eBay in the United States that provided personal information to eBay and had their personal information accessed by unauthorized third parties by breaching eBay’s security system.”

Green is suing eBay for compensatory damages, consequential damages and injunctive relief.

The plaintiff is represented by Charles F. Zimmer, Eric J. O’Bell and Bradley T. Oster of O’Bell Law Firm LLC.

Counsel information for eBay is not available at this time.

The eBay Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Collin Green v. eBay Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-01688,  in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

UPDATE: A federal judge has dismissed the eBay Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit. Click on this link to learn more about the court’s decision.