Anna Bradley-Smith  |  September 15, 2021

Category: Data Breach

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airport store Paradies Shops
(Photo Credit: Philip Lange/Shutterstock)

Airport Store Employee Data Breach Class Action Overview:

  • Who: The Paradies Shops LLC is facing a class action lawsuit following a 2020 data breach.
  • What: The company has been accused of negligence by a former employee whose social security number and other information was stolen and used.
  • Where: The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of anyone in the U.S.

Airport store operator, Paradies Shops LLC, which runs more than 850 retail and 170 restaurant locations in more than 100 airports across the United States, was negligent with employee data and caused huge damages to more than 76,000 employees after a 2020 data breach, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit was filed in Georgia on September 10 by lead plaintiff Carlos Ramirez who alleges that the company failed to properly secure and safeguard personal identifiable information it had acquired from airport store operator employees, including names and Social Security numbers.

Ramirez worked at an airport store in Orlando, Fla, from 2007 until 2014, which was owned by The Paradies Shops LLC, and he was required by the company to provide his name and Social Security number.

On February 5, 2021, Ramirez received a letter from the State of Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training saying that a claim for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance had been filed in his name, which requires the entry of a Social Security number. According to the class action lawsuit, Ramirez did not file or authorize this claim and does not know who filed it. This happened more than once, Ramirez says in the claim.

“Plaintiff suffered actual injury in the form of damages to and diminution in the value of his PII—a form of intangible property that Plaintiff entrusted to a company Defendant acquired for the purpose of his employment, which was compromised in and as a result of the Data Breach.”

76K Airport Store Employees Exposed in Data Breach

Ramirez, and more than 76,000 other airport store employees, had their personal information stolen in an October 2020 data breach and reports of the breach were known from as early as the next day. However, the class action lawsuit says that it took more than eight months for The Paradies Shops to begin notifying affected staff of the breach.

According to the class action, the airport store operator had not publicly reported when it first learned of the breach, and it took until July 2021 for it to begin notifying various states Attorneys General.

“By obtaining, collecting, using, and deriving a benefit from the PII of Plaintiff and Class Members, Defendant assumed legal and equitable duties to those individuals to protect and safeguard that information from unauthorized access and intrusion,” the claim argues.

It adds that the unlawfully accessed information can be sold on the dark web, and that Ramirez and other employees “now face a lifetime risk of identity theft, which is heightened here by the loss of Social Security numbers.”

The claim adds the damages include lost or diminished value of personal information; out-of-pocket expenses associated with the prevention, detection, and recovery from identity theft and tax fraud; the continued and certainly increased risk to their information; and much more.

Ramirez wants to represent anyone in the U.S. who was affected by the data breach. He is suing for negligence, breach of implied contract, invasion of privacy, and breach of confidence. He seeks certification of the Class, injunctive relief, order of enjoinment, damages, interest, legal fees and costs, and a jury trial.

Have you ever been the victim of a data breach? Tell us your experience in the comments section!

Ramirez is represented by Dylan A. Bess, of Morgan & Morgan PLLC and John A. Yanchunis and Ryan D. Maxey of Morgan & Morgan Complex Business Division.

The Airport Store Employee Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Ramirez v. The Paradies Shops, LLC, Case No. 1:21-cv-03758-ELR in the U.S. District Court For The Northern District Of Georgia.


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One thought on Airport Store Operator Negligence Caused Huge Damages in 2020 Hack, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

  1. Mr/Wayne Jenkins says:

    Add me to

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