M.C. Dean Hit with Class Action Over ‘Massive’ Breach of Private User Data

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M.C. Dean, Inc. faces a proposed class action that claims the building tech corporation failed to adequately protect the personally identifiable information of network users from a “massive and preventable” cyberattack discovered in the summer of 2022.

According to the 26-page lawsuit, the highly sensitive personal information of at least 45,499 people was compromised in the data breach, which the company purportedly discovered on June 2. Per the case, M.C. Dean notified affected consumers in September that the unauthorized network intrusion by cybercriminals actually began as early as December 2021.

The filing relays that consumers’ dates of birth, driver’s license and Social Security numbers, and health insurance information were among the data compromised in the cyberattack.

The suit alleges that M.C. Dean “recklessly” and “negligently fail[ed]” to safeguard its users’ information, allowing its network to be infiltrated by a “nefarious third party that seeks to profit off this disclosure by defrauding [the consumers] in the future.”

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According to the suit, consumers handed over their private information to M.C. Dean with the “expectation and mutual understanding that Defendant would comply with its obligations to keep such information confidential and secure from unauthorized access.”

The case claims that by obtaining and storing users’ personal data, M.C. Dean assumed a legal responsibility and owed a duty of care to safeguard the information.

Per the complaint, victims of the data breach were not informed of the cyberattack until approximately two months after the company claims to have learned of it.  The case alleges that the plaintiff, a Tennessee resident, and other victims now suffer from a “substantially increased risk of fraud, identity theft, and misuse” as a result of their personal and financial information being accessed by “criminals.”

According to the suit, the personal and financial costs of the incident to consumers will be “devastating.” The filing contends that months after receiving the notice of the data breach, users whose data was compromised remain “in the dark” about what information was stolen and the company’s next steps.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States whose personally identifiable information was compromised as a result of the data breach discovered by M.C. Dean on August 10, 2022.

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