CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – Panera customers allege that the restaurant chain recklessly exposed their personal identifying information on its website.
Alisha Boykin, Kristen Hansen, Tracy Mangano, Amy Dittbenner, Lara Suleiman and Dusica Perez filed a complaint on April 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division against Panera Bread Co. alleging violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that on April 2, KrebsOnSecurity reported that defendant's website had leaked millions of customer records, including names, email and physical addresses, birthdays and the last four digits of the customer’s credit card number. The plaintiffs claim they and class members purchased food or beverages from defendant and used their credit and/or debit card account numbers and have been exposed to hackers and/or unknown nefarious third parties.
As a result, the suit states the plaintiffs and thousands of defendant's customers have had their personal identifying information leaked, stolen and/or compromised.
The plaintiffs holds Panera Bread Co. responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the protect the nature and scope of the information compromised in the data breach and/or leak and failed to establish and implement appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the security and confidentiality of its customers' personal identifying information.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek judgment for damages for any individual class member and final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief deemed appropriate. They are represented by James C. Vlahakis of Sulaiman Law Group LTD in Lombard, Illinois.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division case number 1:18-cv-02461