Progressive customers fight to keep data breach class action alive

Update:

• A group of 10 named plaintiffs filed opposition to Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.’s attempt to dismiss a data breach class action lawsuit.
• Progressive should have to face allegations of negligence, non-economic harm, breach of implied contract, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition and more, the plaintiffs argue.
• The plaintiffs asked U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan of Ohio to deny Progressive’s motion to dismiss in its entirety or alternatively allow for leave to amend the complaint.
• The plaintiffs need to simply state a claim is plausible on its face and are not required to complete a heightened fact pleading at this point, they argue.

Progressive class action overview: 

• Who: Plaintiff Kenneth Okonoski filed a class action lawsuit against Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.
• Why: Sherwood was one of approximately 347,100 customers in the Progressive data breach, which he claims should have been avoided.
• Where: The Progressive class action was filed in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio.

(Aug. 16, 2023)

Plaintiff Kenneth Okonoski filed a class action lawsuit against Progressive Casualty Insurance Co. as one of the approximately 347,100 customers who were part of a Progressive data breach.

Progressive failed to safeguard its customers’ personal identifiable information, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and financial information, and allowed that information to be viewed and stolen, the Progressive class actions alleges.

“For the rest of their lives, plaintiff and the class Members will have to deal with the danger of identity thieves possessing and misusing their Private Information,” the data breach class action states. “Plaintiff and class members will have to spend time responding to the Breach and are at an immediate, imminent, and heightened risk of all manners of identity theft as a direct and proximate result of the data breach.”

Third-party call center employees shared Progressive login credentials, class action says

Progressive learned May 19 that some of its third-party call center employees had shared login credentials with unauthorized individuals, who then accessed the Progressive system and data.

The unauthorized access could have potentially been ongoing over a long period of time. Some of the employees started at the company in 2021 but most were hired during or after fall 2022, the data breach class action claims.

Progressive then notified potentially affected customers Aug. 1, nearly three months after it initially learned of the Progressive data breach, according to the class action.

Progressive faced a class action lawsuit in 2021 that claimed the company would systematically lower the cash value of loss vehicles in Pennsylvania by applying erroneous adjustments in order to pay less for total loss claims. 

Was your personal information revealed in the Progressive data breach? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by William B. Federman of Federman and Sherwood.

The Progressive data breach class action lawsuit is Okonoski v. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., Case No. 1:23-cv-01548-PAG, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division Cleveland.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• LoanDepot class action alleges company failed to prevent massive data breach
• Class action alleges Massachusetts hospital responsible for December data breach
• Truepill hit with another class action over data breach
• Microsoft employees hit with data breach by Russian state-backed group