Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft Hit with Class Action Over November Data Breach

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Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP faces a proposed class action over a November 2022 data breach that reportedly affected 93,211 individuals.

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According to the 16-page case, the New York-based law firm’s systems were breached between November 15 and 16 of last year by an unauthorized actor who gained access to files containing consumers’ names, Social Security numbers and shareholding information (which may have included financial accounts, trading history, holdings and balances). It wasn’t until March 30, 2023 that Cadwalader informed victims of the incident, although the notice letter did not explain why the company was unable to prevent the data breach or waited four months to contact impacted individuals, the lawsuit relays.

Per the complaint, the cyberattack was a direct result of the law firm’s failure to adhere to commonly accepted cybersecurity standards. More specifically, Cadwalader neglected to implement even “basic” data security protocols recommended by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is considered an unfair act or practice under the FTC Act, the filing contends.

“Defendant owed a duty of care to Plaintiff and Class members to use reasonable means to secure and safeguard their [personally identifiable information], to prevent its unauthorized access and disclosure, to guard it from theft, and to detect any attempted or actual breach of its systems,” the case states. “These common law duties existed because Plaintiff and Class members were the foreseeable and probable victims of any inadequate security practices.”

The lawsuit stresses that, due to Cadwalader’s negligence, affected individuals now face a substantial risk of financial fraud and identity theft and will have to spend significant time and money repairing the damage caused by the breach, which was compounded by the law firm’s failure to timely detect the incident and notify affected individuals, the suit says.

The lawsuit looks to cover anyone whose personally identifiable information was maintained on Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP’s servers and was compromised in the data breach.

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