In a significant legal move, a class action lawsuit has been filed against a transportation company for allegedly failing to protect sensitive personal information from a massive cyberattack. On November 22, 2024, Adam Herrell initiated the complaint in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against L & B Transport, LLC. The lawsuit accuses the company of negligence in safeguarding personally identifiable information (PII) of thousands of individuals.
The case revolves around a data breach that occurred in August 2024, when cybercriminals reportedly infiltrated L & B Transport's network and accessed sensitive data including names, Social Security numbers, and driver's license numbers. According to the complaint, the defendant did not notify affected individuals until November 11, 2024. Adam Herrell claims that both he and other class members were unaware of the breach until they received notification letters from L & B Transport. The plaintiff argues that L & B Transport failed to implement adequate security measures to protect their PII and neglected to inform victims promptly about the breach.
Herrell contends that L & B Transport was aware or should have been aware of the susceptibility of its systems to such attacks but failed to take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized access. The lawsuit highlights that despite numerous warnings about data breaches within similar industries, L & B Transport did not act upon these alerts or adequately secure its systems. "Defendant disregarded the rights of Representative Plaintiff and Class Members by intentionally, willfully, recklessly and/or negligently failing to take and implement adequate and reasonable measures," states the complaint.
The plaintiffs are seeking various forms of relief from the court including actual, nominal, and consequential damages exceeding $5 million as well as injunctive relief requiring L & B Transport to enhance its data security practices. They demand that the company encrypt all collected data and implement comprehensive information security programs among other corrective actions.
The legal team representing Adam Herrell includes William F. Kendig from Rice & Kendig LLC based in Shreveport, Louisiana and Laura Van Note from Cole & Van Note located in Oakland, California. The case is presided over by an unnamed judge under Case ID 3:24-cv-00965-SDD-SDJ.