A major online tax filing company faces allegations it did not keep personal information of its customers safe from outside sources.
Carol Knoch filed the lawsuit April 24 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Divisiobn against Inuit, Inc. the distributor of the popular TurboTax software. Knoch alleges a third party used her name, social security number and address to file a fraudulent tax return through the software.
According to the complaint, Inuit had a duty to protect customer's “most personal information” from a breech by outside sources.
“This duty is even more critical in light of the myriad recent crises in data theft and tax fraud,” the lawsuit says.
Knoch further alleges Inuit knew about a “sudden increase in fraudulent tax filings and massive data breaches in recent years,” but failed to protect sensitive information of its customers.
Knoch seeks class status for those that had their information used in fraudulent tax returns through TurboTax, and believes damages will exceed $5 million. She is also seeks court costs. She is represented by Joseph J. Siprut and Michael L. Silverman of Siprut in Chicago; Katrina Carroll of Lite DePalma Greenberg, also in Chicago; Tina Wolfson and Ted Maya of Ahdoot & Wolfson, in West Hollywood, California; Jasper Ward of Jones Ward in Louisville; Paul C. Whalen of the Law Offices of Paul Whalen, in Manhasset, New York; and Ariana J. Tadler of Milberg in New York City.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division case number 1:15-cv-0350.