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LAWSUITS FILED AGAINST TJX COMPANIES AND FIFTH THIRD BANK IN NATION’S LARGEST PERSONAL DATA SECURITY FAILURE
Plaintiffs’ Primary Counsel Archie Lamb and Joe Whatley: Class Action Lawsuits on Behalf of Consumers and Banks Addresses Massive Personal Data Security Failure by Defendants.
Wednesday January 31, 2007: Birmingham Alabama and Boston Massachusetts: The Lamb Firm, LLC and the law firm of Whatley Drake & Kallas, LLC announced today the filing of the first lawsuits against the TJX Companies and Fifth Third Bank for the companies’ collective failure in securing the personal data of millions of consumers. The lawsuit seeks protection and damages for the millions of unwitting customers injured by the failure of the defendants as well as protection and indemnification for the hundreds of banks affected.
The initial class
action ;lawsuit was filed in the US District
Court for the Northern District of Alabama on behalf of consumers on January
19, 2007 and the class action case on behalf of banks was filed in the US
District Court for the District of Massachusetts on January 29, 2007. Class
representatives include Jo Wood and Kate Willoughby of Birmingham, Alabama in the consumer case and AmeriFirst Bank of Union Springs, Alabama in the bank
case.
“The magnitude of
this failure by TJX and the Fifth Third Bank is international in its reach with
the full extent of damages unknown until independent experts can investigate
all of the issues. It is apparent that the
costs to customers and banks will be enormous,” noted Archie Lamb, who along
with Joe Whatley is primary counsel in the litigation. Whatley concurred
noting that “this litigation seeks to ensure that those responsible for this
massive failure to secure private information of unwitting consumers are also
responsible for the cost to remedy the problem.”
In May 2006, TJX Corporation’s (owners
of TJ Maxx, Bob’s Goods, Home Goods, and Marshalls) network was penetrated
by an“unauthorized intruder.” In January
2007, TJX issued a statement acknowledging the breach. TJX spokeswoman Sherry Lang indicated the data breach was
discovered sometime in mid-December. Lang denied notification was delayed because
of the impending holiday shopping season. TJX’s statement occurred just hours
after The Wall Street Journal reported TJX’s security breach.
Additional background information on the firm can be found at www.whatleydrake.com.
Copies of the Complaints are available from the Contact noted above.