In today's digital age, the risk of identity theft is higher than ever before. With the rise of online transactions and the sharing of personal information on social media platforms, it has become easier for fraudsters to steal personal information and use it for their own gain. Identity theft not only causes financial harm, but it can also lead to significant emotional distress and can even result in personal injury. In this blog, we will explore the complex relationship between identity theft and personal injury law. We will discuss how the harm caused by identity theft can lead to a personal injury claim, as well as the challenges involved in proving such a claim. We will also provide tips on how to protect your personal information and what to do if you have become a victim of identity theft.
Can a person who has had their identity stolen sue for financial damages? This question comes up on a fairly regular basis, and the answer is not as cut-and-dry as you may thin. Before we can answer this question, we need to look at the situations that can lead to identity theft. The most common situations include:
First, let's take a look at situation number three to see if there could be a personal injury lawsuit involved. In order for there to be a personal injury lawsuit, there needs to be some sort of injury. The definition of "injury" is expanded to include financial damage. If you have to spend a lot of money reclaiming your identity and you are told that you owe a lot of money to creditors that you never did business with personally, then you could sue the hacker who stole your information. The problem is that, in most cases, that person is never found.
in 2015, IBM tried to sue its data management company because IBM said that company allowed the personal information of nearly 500,000 current and past employees to be stolen. IBM claims that the tapes were physically lost while being transferred from one location to another, and now the data management company is responsible for the $6 million IBM spent to protect the identities of all 500,000 people.
It sounds like an airtight case against the data management company, but IBM lost that case. The judge said that since the loss of the data did not result in direct financial harm to any of the 500,000 current and past employees, then there was no basis for IBM to claim personal injury and recover its $6 million.
In another high profile case, the Sony Corporation was the victim of a malicious computer hack that saw the email addresses and other personal information of many of its employees released to the public. In this case, a judge ruled that Sony employees could sue Sony for the data breach despite the fact that no financial harm had come to any of the employees who had their information released. The judge said that Sony was financially responsible for any steps the employees felt they had to take to protect their identities, and any financial losses the employees may have suffered as a result of the breach.
Personal injury laws are very specific when it comes to incidents such as slip and fall accidents, but anything to do with technology is still a developing field. Identity theft is not something that just came up with the advent of the Internet, it has been around for a very long time. While a civil personal injury lawsuit is an effective way to recover losses associated with identity theft, the big problem is actually catching the guilty party.
If you find yourself the victim of identity theft, then you should file a police report immediately. When you file a police report, you are officially reporting a crime and can use the legal system to defend yourself. If you are getting deep into financial trouble over your identity theft, then hiring an attorney can help you to stop the financial bleeding and start to get your life back.
