T-Mobile Argues Against Hosting Data Breach MDL In Washington Amid Effort To Find Proper Venue

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T-Mobile Data Breach Multidistrict Legislation Overview: 

• Who: T-Mobile is negotiating with the counsel of dozens of plaintiffs to determine where to hear consolidated class action lawsuits claiming it failed to secure the data of its customers from an August data breach. 
• Why: T-Mobile is arguing against having the MDL be heard in Washington due to what it claims is a shortage of judges.
• Where: The case involves complaints from all across the country.

T-Mobile is working with the counsel of plaintiffs to determine in what state to hear dozens of consolidated class action lawsuits lobbied against the company over an August data breach that exposed the data of millions of its customers. 

Counsel for the plaintiffs has proposed five separate locations for the trial while T-Mobile is arguing against holding it in Washington — its home state — due to what it claims is a shortage of available judges, Law360 reports.

Plaintiffs from multiple states around the country claim T-Mobile was negligent in allowing the data breach, which exposed the personal information of more than 50 million customers. 

Some plaintiffs argued last week to have pending complaints litigated in venues where they originated while T-Mobile has argued for them to be consolidated in the Western District of Missouri, Law360 reports. 

T-Mobile Wants The Cases to Be Consolidated in Missouri Due To No Judicial Vacancies, Central Accessibility

T-Mobile claims the cases should not be consolidated in Washington due to what it claims are vacancies that leaves the courts there understaffed with only two active judges up until September. 

Newly hired judges, T-Mobile argues, still need to “get up to speed” so they do not solve the understaffing issue, reports Law360. 

T-Mobile argues that it is important for judges to be well-versed on the content of the complaints filed against the company, calling the sweeping multi district litigation both time- and fact-intensive. 

The company claims Missouri is the ideal location for the consolidated class action lawsuits due to it having no judicial vacancies, its central accessibility and its location 20 minutes from T-Mobile’s secondary headquarters, reports Law360. 

The plaintiffs’ counsel has argued, however, that, despite the vacancies, judges in Washington would be able to get up to speed since there are no pending MDLs and that one of the judges in place has already been informed about the case.

Counsel for one plaintiff agreed that the lawsuits should not be consolidated in Washington but should instead be sent to California, where she says a lot of plaintiffs reside, Law360 reports . 

Litigation against T-Mobile became so sweeping that one complaint was halted last month after the company asked a judge to pause the claims until it could decide on whether to group them all together for an MDL. 

Were you affected by T-Mobile’s August data breach? Let us know in the comments! 

The T-Mobile Data Breach Multidistrict Legislation is In re: T-Mobile Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, MDL number 3019, before the U.S Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

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