It was announced on July 14th that a class of plaintiffs co-led by three law firms have reached a settlement with Ruby Life Inc., the parent company of Ashley Madison, an online dating website, regarding the data breach of the latter’s computer network in 2015.
Dowd & Dowd, P.C., The Driscoll Firm, P.C. both of Missouri, and Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC, a firm with locations in four states, are representing claimants in a multidistrict litigation pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
According to a news release issued by Ruby Life, if the proposed settlement agreement is approved by the Court, Ruby will contribute $11.2 million to a settlement fund, which will provide, among other things, payments to settlement class members who submit valid claims for alleged losses resulting from the data breach and alleged misrepresentations as described further in the proposed settlement agreement.
The plaintiffs’ consolidated class action complaint alleges that the defendants misrepresented that they had taken reasonable steps to ensure AshleyMadison.com was secure and that the data breach resulted in the public release of certain personal information contained in AshleyMadison.com accounts and included account information of some users who had paid a fee to delete their information from the website.