Easyjet woes grow after it is hit with massive group action claim over data breach
Struggling budget airline Easyjet suffered another blow today after it was hit with a massive group action claim following its data breach which was announced earlier this month.
Law firm PGMBM today said it had issued the group action claim in the High Court on behalf of customers whose details were exposed in the breach.
Earlier this week Easyjet said hackers had obtained the email and travel details of 9m customers, and the credit card details of a further 2,000.
The law firm said the potential claim could reach £18bn, representing £2,000 per impacted customer.
PGMBM said it was seeking a group litigation and said it had instructed a team of barristers from Serle Court and 4 New Square chambers to advise on the claim.
Tom Goodhead, PGMBM managing partner, 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 nine million customers from all around of the world.”
Last year, British Airways was fined £183m by the Information Commissioner’s Office after hackers harvested the details of 500,000 customers.
Fines for breaching the European GDPR data regulations can reach 25 per cent of annual turnover.
Easyjet today said that its founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has failed in his bid to oust key management including the chief executive, according to the initial result of a shareholder vote.
Haji-Ioannou launched the attempt to remove the management team after a row over Easyjet’s continuation of a deal to buy 107 Airbus planes for £4.5bn which Haji-Ioannou says puts the future of the business at risk.
The chair of the company told a virtual shareholder meeting that Haji-Ioannou’s resolutions would be defeated.
“Based on the proxy votes lodged with our registrar before the meeting, we expect all four resolutions put to the meeting to be defeated,” chair John Barton said.
Easyjet was contacted for comment.