SPG Law launches Group Action against Cathay Pacific following massive global data breach

LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom, Oct. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SPG Law has today announced that it will be launching a Group Action against Cathay Pacific following the airline’s announcement on Wednesday October 24^th that 9.4 million customers’ personal data was compromised in one of the global travel industry’s most serious data breaches ever.

SPG Law will launch the Group Action following Cathay Pacific’s failure to offer financial compensation to individuals affected by the data breach for the inconvenience, distress and misuse of their personal information. Consumers around the world will be able to sign up to this claim, which will be brought in the High Court in London.

Cathay Pacific has admitted that it discovered suspicious activity on its network in March 2018 and, by early May 2018, the airline knew that unauthorised access to the personal data of millions of its customers had taken place.

To-date, Cathay Pacific has not offered to compensate individuals for direct financial losses or agreed to pay compensation for non-material damage despite being liable to do so for European customers under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) that came into force in May 2018.

SPG Law Partner Tom Goodhead commented that: “It is shocking that it took Cathay Pacific nearly 6 months to admit this catastrophic data breach. The fact that passport numbers, historical travel information and other sensitive personal data was compromised has caused serious inconvenience and distress to millions of people around the world. Cathay Pacific is liable to compensate European claimants for non-material damage. GDPR and SPG Law will hold them to account.”

SPG Law estimates that each affected person may be able to claim up to GBP £1,800/USD $2,300 in compensation against Cathay Pacific and in some instances even more depending on the individual circumstances. SPG Law believes that a significant aggravating factor in this case will be the sensitive nature and extent of the personal data that was compromised.

Notes to editors:

1. For further information, please visit www.spglaw.co.uk and www.cathaydatabreach.com .
    
2. Cathay Pacific admitted on 24^th October 2018 that the personal data of 9.4 million people has been compromised including: passenger name; nationality; date of birth; phone number; email; address; passport number; identity card number; frequent flyer programme membership number; customer service remarks; and historical travel information.
    
3. SPG Law is a unique partnership of top UK and US lawyers who all have expertise in group litigation related to consumer, pharmaceutical and environmental cases. SPG Law opened offices in Liverpool and London in September 2018.
    
4. SPG Law is already pursuing a group claim in the UK against British Airways and the German carmaker VW for misleading customers over its emissions figures.
    
5. Press enquiries and interview requests:
   (e) spg@pagefieldglobalcounsel.com              (t) +44 (0)203 143 3595

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