By Katie Bo Williams – 08/29/15 11:14 AM EDT
The infidelity website Ashley Madison is fighting for survival after a hack that exposed the personal information of up to 37 million people.
Class-action lawsuits are flooding the parent company of the website, with people seeking millions of dollars in damages for having been revealed to the world as having sought extra-marital affairs.
At least four lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed in the United States, including two in California, one in Texas and one that was filed in Missouri before the data dump.
In Canada, two leading firms have filed a $578 million class-action suit on behalf of users who were outed.
All four U.S. cases has been filed on behalf of anonymous clients and accuse Ashley Madison and its parent company, Avid Life Media, of failing to adequately protect sensitive information.
The plaintiffs argue Ashley Madison knew about its security deficiencies but did nothing to address them — an allegation that they say is supported by internal company communications also released by the hackers.
The suit filed in Los Angeles this week also accuses the company of emotional distress and violating privacy laws.
https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/252203-trial-lawyers-circling-ashley-madison
