California Pizza Kitchen Settles Data Breach Class Action For $3.7M

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Update:

• California Pizza Kitchen has agreed to pay $3.7 million to resolve claims it failed to protect its workers’ private data from a data breach last year. 
• CPK workers say the September 2021 data breach exposed the Social Security numbers of more than 100,000 current and former employees of the restaurant.
• The settlement will compensate workers for lost time, “ordinary expenses” and “extraordinary expenses.” 
• If accepted, the settlement would put an end to four consolidated complaints against CPK and certify a class of individuals who received a notice that they were affected by the breach. 
• The class action lawsuit was originally filed against CPK in December.

California Pizza Kitchen Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: Doug Wallace and Alondra Meza filed a class action lawsuit against California Pizza Kitchen Inc. 
• Why: The plaintiffs claim the company failed to properly secure the personal information of its current and former employees from a data breach.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

(12/07/2021)

California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) failed to protect the personal information of its employees from exposure during a recent cyber attack, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiffs Doug Wallace and Alondra Meza claim CPK failed to “properly monitor the computer network and systems that housed the private information” and ignored known and foreseeable risks leading up to the data breach. 

Wallace and Meza say that on or around Nov. 15, they received a notice from CPK that their personal data may have been compromised following a “security incident.” 

The personal information that was exposed included names and Social Security numbers, according to the class action lawsuit.

Plaintiffs Claim Their Personally Identifying Information Is Now At Risk

Wallace and Meza say they believe that their personal data has now been sold on the “dark web” as a result of CPK’s failure to properly secure it as required by law. They also claim they may now possibly be victims of a variety of crimes, including having new financial accounts and loans taken out in their names. 

“CPK had obligations created by contract, industry standards, common law and representations made to Plaintiffs and Class Members to keep their Private Information confidential and to protect it from unauthorized access and disclosure,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiffs’ and Class Members’ identities are now at risk because of CPK’s negligent conduct because the Private Information that CPK collected and maintained is now in the hands of data thieves.”

Wallace and Meza claim CPK is guilty of negligence and breach of confidence and in violation of the California Unfair Competition Law. They are demanding a jury trial and requesting compensatory, statutory, and nominal damages for themselves and all class members.

Wallace and Meza want to represent a nationwide class and California and Nevada subclasses of current or former CPK employees who had their personally identifying information exposed in the data breach. 

Was your personal information exposed during the CPK data breach? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Christopher L. Rudd and S. Martin Keleti of The Rudd Law Firm, and Danielle L. Perry of Mason Lietz & Klinger LLP. 

The California Pizza Kitchen Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Wallace, et al. v. California Pizza Kitchen Inc., Case No. 8:21-cv-01970, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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