Law Firm Sues First American Over Data Breach

Phil Hall

May 29, 2019

Photo credit: Getty Images/Arkadiusz Warguła

The Oakland, Calif.-based law firm Gibbs Law Group LLP has filed a class action lawsuit against First American Title, accusing it of enabling a data breach of 885 million customer files.

The data breach against First American was initially reported last week by the Web site Krebs on Security, which reported that confidential consumer data related to mortgage transactions going back to 2003 were available for online viewing by anyone with a Web browser. Among the data that was made accessible in the breach were bank account numbers, Social Security Numbers, financial and tax records and photographs of drivers’ licenses.

In filing the law suit, Gibbs Law Group accused First American of maintaining “careless security practices” despite repeated warnings from the FBI on the increased cybersecurity threat against the real estate industry.

“It is shocking that a company of this magnitude would blatantly disregard the most basic safety protocols when housing troves of highly-sensitive, personal information,” said Gibbs’ Data Breach Attorney David Berger.

Separately, the Oklahoma-based law firm of Federman & Sherwood announced it was initiating its own investigation into First American related to the data breach. However, that endeavor is not tied any announced or pending litigation.

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May 29, 2019

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