Law firm pounces on EasyJet breach with £18bn claim

Compensation lawyers have wasted no time in going after EasyJet, following the major data breach revealed last week, with one firm issuing an eye-watering £18bn class action claim in the High Court and urging all those affected to sign up.

Law firm PGMBM – which recently changed its name from SPG Law following major expansion – said it was taking the action under Article 82 of GDPR, which gives customers the right to compensation for inconvenience, distress, annoyance and loss of control of their personal data.

It reckons that customers may be entitled to compensation of £2,000 each.

EasyJet fessed up to the data breach last week, admitting that the personal data of 9 million customers had been compromised, and the credit card details of just over 2,200 had been stolen. The hack attack dwarfs the notorious 2018 British Airways incident.

The airline said it had reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office and National Cyber Security Centre.

PGMBM lawyers claim that although the airline had announced the breach on May 19, it actually occurred four months earlier, in January, and say EasyJet failed to notify its customers until now.

The rise of ambulance chasing legal firms was predicted in the run-up GDPR, with many eyeing US-style class actions in the UK; some even claimed that data breach compensation pay-outs could dwarf those made following the PPI mis-selling scandal, which at the last count had topped £50bn.

However, despite numerous cases in the pipeline – including claims against BA, Dixons Carphone, Marriott International, Ticketmaster, Yahoo, the Police Federation, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and even Watford Community Housing courts have yet to pay out a single penny in compensation.

Two cases which it was claimed would open up the floodgates – a £100m claim against Equifax and the Morrisons pay roll leak – were scotched within 24 hours of each other back in April.

Nevertheless, PGMBM managing partner Tom Goodhead is adamant EasyJet must cough up. He said: “This is a monumental data breach and a terrible failure of responsibility that has a serious impact on EasyJet’s customers.

“This is personal information that we trust companies with, and customers rightly expect that every effort is made to protect their privacy. Unfortunately, EasyJet has leaked sensitive personal information of 9 million customers from all around the world.”