Experian, T-Mobile Data Breach Lawsuits Moved to California

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Thirty-two different lawsuits against Experian for a breach of customer data were consolidated into one case in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

These cases stem from a data breach of T-Mobile customers that was discovered by Experian in September of 2015. Experian is the company that T-Mobile used to run its credit applications. Because of this, T-Mobile customers’ sensitive credit information could have been part of the breach. That information breach may include customers’ names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers.

T-Mobile first reported the data breach on Oct. 1, 2015. According to Experian, the data breach does not include billing information, but does cover credit information for customers or applicants of T-Mobile who needed a credit check between Sept. 1, 2013 and Sept. 16, 2015.

T-Mobile and Experian responded to the data breach by offering a free two years of credit monitoring services.  Anyone who may have been affected by the breach who would like the free credit monitoring can go to www.protectmyID.com/securityincident or call Experian at 866-369-0422 to enroll. Enrollment should be available until April 30, 2016.

However, at least 32 lawsuits—many of which are potential class action lawsuits—have been filed against Experian and T-Mobile for the data breach. Many of the data breach lawsuits allege that two years is not enough time to offer credit monitoring for potential data breach victims.

As one previously reported class action lawsuit states, “Plaintiff cannot change her Social Security number or her driver’s license number as a preventative measure, and she is now subject to the misappropriation of her personal data for years to come.”

Another data breach class action lawsuit against Experian and T-Mobile previously reported here alleged that plaintiffs Brendan Moore and Matthew DeVito have already been potentially harmed by the data breach, in the form of fraudulent home loan applications on their credit history.

In an order signed Dec. 16, U.S. District Andrew J. Gilford agreed with plaintiff Dipak Bhuta that all of these cases belong in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Experian’s headquarters are also in the Central District of California.

Judge Gilford’s order also applies to any additional lawsuits transferred or filed in federal court in the Central District of California. Judge Gilford specifically mentioned three other lawsuits that are pending transfer to his district, which would bring the total number of consolidated data breach lawsuits against Experian and T-Mobile to 35.

Some of the law firms representing the various plaintiffs now consolidated into this one data breach class action lawsuit include: Aitken Aitken Cohn; Ahdoot & Wolfson PC; Barrack Rodos & Bacine; Bonnett Fairbourn Friedman & Balint PC; Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP; Girard Gibbs LLP; Kasdan Lippsmith Weber Turner LLP; Keller Rohrback LLP; Locks Law Firm LLC; Milberg LLP; Milstein Adelman LLP; Scott + Scott Attorneys at Law LLP; Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP ; and Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.

The Experian, T-Mobile Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In Re: Experian Data Breach Litigation, Case No. 8:15-cv-01592-AG-DFM, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division.

UPDATE: On Nov. 12, 2018, T-Mobile customers and Experian have reached a settlement which requires the credit monitoring company to pay $22 million to exit a data breach class action.

UPDATE 2: January 2019, the Experian data breach class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.