A former student athlete from Simmons University decided to take some serious legal action this week. They filed a big ol’ class action lawsuit, claiming that the school, along with former University of Michigan and Baltimore Ravens football coach Matthew Weiss, went and got themselves some unauthorized access to athletic trainers’ databases at over 100 colleges and universities. The plaintiff is all up in arms, saying that Weiss’s sneaky scheme might just be “the biggest incident of cyber voyeurism of student athletes in U.S. history.” Apparently, the university and Weiss teamed up with Keffer Development Services, the company that handles the Athletic Trainer System’s database, to peek at sensitive health and personal info of more than 150,000 students. And get this, they even got access to the students’ intimate photos. Yikes!
Now, this whole situation just goes to show how common data breaches and cyberattacks have become. Companies gotta be on their toes when it comes to protecting customer data, or else they’ll find themselves in some deep legal trouble. Colleges and universities especially need to step up their game in safeguarding both current and former students’ personal deets. Just look at New York University, currently facing not one, not two, not three, but four class action lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. These suits claim that NYU dropped the ball in preventing a data breach back in late March, which exposed the personal info of over 3 million students and applicants dating all the way back to 1989.
Seems like everyone’s getting hit with legal drama these days. Aviation experts are all riled up about the emotional damages missing from New York’s laws after that helicopter tragedy. And speaking of tragedies, a couple who got banged up in a crash with a trash truck decided to settle for a cool $4 million. Must’ve been one heck of a ride! Meanwhile, Legora is making moves with a global Cleary rollout, and Palm Beach hospitals are throwing shade at Leapfrog over their safety grade system.
In other news, J. Brugh Lower from Gibbons is stepping up to bat for Devco Corporation in a trademark infringement lawsuit. They’re accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, and things are getting real in New Jersey District Court. Over in New York Southern District Court, Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz are representing Hanaco Venture Capital and its execs in a securities lawsuit. The plaintiff, Goldeneye Advisors, is not too happy about how their $1 million investment was handled, to say the least.
But wait, there’s more! A&O Shearman is diving into the defense for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a securities class action. Crown Castle International is also in hot water, facing a breach-of-contract lawsuit for allegedly failing to cough up some utility payments. And let’s not forget about Electrolux Home Products Inc., who’s caught up in a product liability lawsuit over some pesky fridge drawers and shelving that just won’t stay put.
It’s a wild world out there, folks. Stay safe, protect your data, and watch out for those knock-off products!
