SouthState Bank class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Plaintiffs Henry Thompson and George Vargha filed a class action lawsuit against SouthState Bank NA.
- Why: Thompson and Vargha say their personally identifiable information was compromised in a SouthState Bank data breach, which they claim could have been prevented with stronger security protections.
- Where: The SouthState Bank class action lawsuit was filed in Florida federal court.
SouthState Bank NA’s failure to adequately protect customer data left it vulnerable to a data breach, according to claims made in a new SouthState Bank class action lawsuit.
Plaintiffs Henry Thompson and George Vargha say they were SouthState Bank customers prior to the data breach. According to their lawsuit, they provided all of the personally identifiable information (PII) required by SouthState Bank when setting up and believed this sensitive data would be adequately protected from cybercriminals based on the bank’s promises.
A data breach notice was reportedly mailed March 29, about a month after unauthorized parties accessed their network. The bank notified customers that their names, financial account numbers and Social Security numbers may have been exposed.
“Omitted from the notice letter were the details of the root cause of the [SouthState Bank data breach], the vulnerabilities exploited and the remedial measures undertaken to ensure such a breach does not occur again,” the plaintiffs say.
SouthState Bank class action: Customers at increased risk of identity theft, fraud
SouthState Bank knew or should have known about the importance of protecting highly sensitive consumer data because of the increasing number of highly publicized data breaches occurring throughout the country, the SouthState Bank class action claims.
Nonetheless, the lawsuit claims, SouthState Bank failed to adequately safeguard customer PII.
As a result of the SouthState Bank data breach, affected customers will be at increased risk of cyberattacks, identity theft and scam attempts, Thompson and Vargha say.
To mitigate these risks, data breach victims must invest time, money and energy to monitor access to their accounts and credit for signs of unauthorized access or attempted fraud, the SouthState Bank class action lawsuit alleges.
Although SouthState Bank offered one year of identity theft protection services to affected customers, the plaintiffs say this offer is inadequate because their risks of identity theft and fraud will continue well into the future.
The SouthState Bank class action lawsuit asserts claims for negligence, negligence per se, breach of contract, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty.
Last year, CenterState Bank reached a $2.65 million class action settlement over allegations it charged illegal overdraft fees and non-sufficient funds fees.
Were you affected by the SouthState Bank data breach? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
Thompson and Vargha are represented by Jeff Ostrow, Jonathan Streisfeld and Kristen Lake Cardoso of Kopelowitz Ostrow PA and Paul J. Doolittle of Pulin Willey Anastopoulo LLC.
The SouthState Bank data breach class action lawsuit is Henry Thompson, et al. v. SouthState Bank NA, Case No. 8:24-cv-00859-MSS-AAS, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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17 thoughts onSouthState Bank class action claims data breach exposed customer data
I received a letter stating my personal information was impacted by the breach.
I would like to be added if possible. I received the same letter as Thomson and Vahrga.
I would like to join the class action lawsuit. I received a letter dated March 29, 2024.
I received a letter I was effected by the south state bank data breach. I do not even know about an account I would have with them. I called the south state bank to ask about my account and was told to just follow directions in the letter I received. I said ok but can yo u tell me if I have an open account or past acct. And she said if you received a letter then you obviously do or have had one in past. I’m so confused on how they even got my information to begin with. I would like to join a class action suit against them as well.
Please add me to this class action. I received a letter dated March 29,2024 informing me of an incident that involved some of my information. the letter explains the incident , measures they have taken and steps I may consider taking. I haven’t taken any steps due to not really knowing what has been done.
Yes, I was affected by this data breach. Please add me to the class action. Thank you.
SouthState took over a bunch of Bank of America locations in the south about 10 years ago, and if your primary branch was one of those getting taken over then you were set to automatically convert to SouthState. I opted out of that as I knew I was shortly moving out of the area and wanted to keep Bank of America. I opted out months before the conversion was to occur. So I never had an account with SouthState. Why on earth did they have, keep, and then leak my personal information?
I AM LOOKING I TO JOINONG A CIVIL ACTION SUIT AGAINST SOUTH STATE FIR COMPROMISING MY FAMILY’S PERSONAL & PRIVATE INFO WITHOUT PROPER REMEDy.
I was affected by this data breach along with my wife, mother and step father. While none of had accounts with SouthState bank, we had accounts with FSG Bank, which merged with Capital Atlantic Bankshares, which merged with SouthState Bank. As these mergers accumulate so does the impact to so many more people. I canceled our accounts with FSG before the first merger but other personal information including social security number are compromised. One year monitoring with Identity Defense is offered but to establish account you must provide name, address, phone number, date of birth, and social security number. All information that has just been compromised and they expect you to share it with yet another company. Perhaps it would be better to have it monitored by one of the credit agencies who already have your personal information instead of trusting another company with whom we do not know what their record of protecting personal information is.
Please add me
I AM LOOKING I TO JOINONG A CIVIL ACTION SUIT AGAINST SOUTH STATE FIR COMPROMISING MY FAMILY’S PERSONAL & PRIVATE INFO WITHOUT PROPER REMEDy.