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Five Guys data breach class action overview:
- Who: A Virginia woman is suing Five Guys.
- Why: The plaintiff alleges her personally identifiable information was exposed by a data breach affecting Five Guys.
- Where: The Five Guys data breach class action was filed in a Virginia federal court.
Five Guys has been hit with a negligence class action lawsuit just weeks after it disclosed that it suffered a data breach that exposed the private information of individuals who applied for employment with the company.
Plaintiff Erika Ranck filed the class action complaint against Five Guys Enterprises LLC Jan. 10 in a Virginia federal court, alleging negligence.
According to the lawsuit, Five Guys operates 1,700 hamburger restaurants worldwide, employing thousands of people. The company requests, collects, and maintains the personally identifiable information (PII) of current, former, and prospective employees, Ranck says.
However, on Sept. 17, 2022, the company learned of a data breach on its network that exposed all of its current, former, and prospective employees names and social security numbers, at the least, Ranck says.
“Five Guys failed to implement reasonable security measures to protect Plaintiff’s and Class members’ PII, allowing an unknown actor to access its network, including files that contained the PII of Plaintiff and members of the Classes,” the lawsuit states.
Private information was negligently stored, lawsuit alleges
Five Guys stored its employees’ private information unencrypted and in an Internet-accessible environment on its network, Ranck says.
On top of this, despite Five Guys learning of the data breach on Sept. 17, it did not begin notifying Plaintiff and members of the Classes until December 29, 2022, that their PII had been compromised.
In its breach notice, Five Guys admitted that its inadequate security systems were bypassed and the files that were accessed included information submitted to Five Guys in connection with the employment process, including name and Social Security numbers, the lawsuit states.
“Exposing this information devastates breach victims. Not only has the breach exposed their PII, they now face a lifelong risk of identity theft because the breach divulged information they cannot change, like their Social Security numbers.”
Ranck is looking to represent any U.S. resident whose PII was compromised in the Five Guys data breach, plus a Virginia subclass.
She is suing for negligence, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment and seeking certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.
Was your data exposed in the Five Guys breach? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Lee A. Floyd, Justin M. Sheldon and Scott M. Perry of Breit Biniazan and Raina Borelli and Samuel J. Strauss of Turke & Strauss LLP.
The Five Guys class action lawsuit is Erika Ranck et al., v. Five Guys Enterprises LLC, Case No. 1:23-cv-00034 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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5 thoughts onFive Guys class action claims company failed to properly secure employee data
Hello,
I recently received a letter saying that the company I used to work at “five guys” had a data breach. And I was one of the people who had their Social Security and personal information leaked. They are offering me just one year of cyber security protection. And I worry what happens after that year is over my information will still be out there in it could possibly be used. I would love to join the this lawsuit.
I worked for for Five Guys 5 years and I still work there please add me
I worked at Five Guys for 6 years. I had to change my bank account.. because of strange activity.. now I know it happened while I worked there. Please Add me.
Please add me
Please add me