7th Circuit Revives P.F. Chang's Data Breach Class Action Suit

Article by Anthony Kim, Aravind Swaminathan, Emily Tabatabai, and Sam Castic

Last week, the Seventh Circuit revived a data breach class action against P.F. Chang's restaurant in an important opinion that continues a plaintiff-friendly trend that began with the court's opinion in the Neiman Marcus case that we previously reported on here.  The court used statements that P.F. Chang's made in response to the breach and protective remediation measures it implemented to draw inferences that customers were at a risk of identity theft and harm, and then used those inferences to find that plaintiffs had standing to proceed with their litigation.  The case raises new issues that organizations should consider in crafting post-breach communications, and important takeaway lessons that may help increase the likelihood of obtaining dismissal of data breach class actions at the pleadings stage.