Woman Sues Equifax After Data Breach

LOS ANGELES, CA – A woman is suing the credit reporting agency Equifax, and the proposed class-action lawsuit was filed Friday in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Maricela Cuevas alleges an inadequate security system led to the data breach in which the personal details of 143 million people were stolen. The allegations include breach of implied contract, negligence, invasion of privacy and various violations of the state's Unfair Competition Law.

"Plaintiff and class members are former customers who entrusted Equifax with their financial information" from May to July, the suit states. "It is well-known ... that payment card data is highly coveted and a frequent target of hackers."

Despite knowing about previous data breaches, Equifax and its affiliates "opted to maintain an insufficient and inadequate system to protect" the private information of Cuevas and the proposed class members, the suit states.

The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. An Equifax representative could not be immediately reached.

Equifax is based in Georgia, but has an office in Panorama City, the suit states. Cuevas lives in Los Angeles County, her complaint states.

The data breach "compromised" customers' full names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, driver's license numbers, credit card numbers and other private information, according to Cuevas' lawsuit.

As a result, many of the customers who trusted Equifax have had their privacy rights violated and "have been exposed to the risk of fraud and identity theft," according to the complaint.

Equifax discovered the leak of information on July 29 and disclosed it six weeks later, the suit states. Days after the breach, three Equifax executives sold their shares of company stock totaling $1.8 million, the suit states.

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via Shutterstock