The Latin American Agents Association said two of its agent representatives have filed a class action suit against technology reporting firm ChoicePoint alleging the company failed to protect customer information and violated agreements not to sell information to third parties.
The suit filed on Sept. 19 in U.S. District Court Central District of California in Los Angeles charges misleading advertisement, fraudulent business practices, and misrepresentation of fact.
The agents Miguel Rodrigues of Wizard Insurance in Chatsworth and Deane Silke of Fiesta Auto Insurance in Long Beach, both in California, say that the Atlanta-based firm failed to maintain their clients' data and sold that data to third parties who are competitors of the agents.
A ChoicePoint spokesman said such allegations are false.
The 49 page complaint does not cite specific instances of the sale of customer data, but offers broad allegations that the company sold the data to competitors for the purpose of lead generation.
The suit follows the disclosure that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission imposed a $10 million penalty against the company for breach of data security.
“It's about time that somebody stood up and stopped companies from selling our personal and confidential information out the back door for profit,” said Mr. Silke in a statement. This lawsuit is long overdue, and we hope it will be the first step towards stopping this type of abuse.”
The suit seeks restitution for the revenues the company gained as a result of the alleged practice, plus damages and legal expense.
In an e-mail Chuck Jones, a spokesman for ChoicePoint said the company has not received the suit but, “We have heard that two California insurance agents have filed suit alleging the misuse of confidential information that insurance agents and brokers in California routinely provide to ChoicePoint.
“Those allegations are false and, if ChoicePoint is brought into such a lawsuit, we will pursue all available remedies against the plaintiffs and their attorneys who have made these allegations,” he continued.
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