On Friday, multiple agencies filed a Maryland only class action lawsuit against Equifax after its massive data breach.
Smith, Gildea & Schmidt, LLC and Joseph, and Greenwald & Laake, PA filed the first lawsuit at the Baltimore County Circuit Court.
The Equifax data breach affected up to 143,000,000 accounts, and millions of those people live in Maryland.
“We are working on behalf of all Marylanders who have been affected by this incredible breach of security, and we have filed this class action suit in Maryland to ensure that the harms of this data breach are properly addressed by the Maryland Court system,” said Michael Paul Smith, a partner with Smith, Gildea & Schmidt who filed the suit along with Timothy Maloney of Joseph, Greenwald & Laake.
According to Equifax, the breach lasted from mid-May through July. During that time people's names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some cases, driver's licenses numbers were compromised. Hackers also stole credit card numbers from 209,000 people.
“The number of people who have been affected by this breach is astounding,” said Maloney. “We feel that it is imperative to focus our efforts on Maryland residents who are now at risk of identity theft and other harms because of the sensitive personal information that was exposed at Equifax.”
Equifax is facing multiple class action lawsuits nationwide, but this is the first to be filed in Maryland State Court for only Maryland residents.
