Los Angeles, CA: Donald Trump' hotel chain, The Trump Hotel Collection, is facing a data breach class action lawsuit alleging the Trump Hotel Collection failed to safeguard its computer network, thereby enabling hackers to access consumers' personal financial information.
The hotel chain recently confirmed a data breach on its website and has said that it had found malicious software on payment card systems at two locations in New York and others in Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Waikiki and Toronto. The breach reportedly gave unauthorized access to the hackers for card numbers, expiration dates and security codes. It is so far unclear whether any customer information had been taken.
The lawsuit asserts that the data breach occurred at seven locations over a period of more than one year. Specifically, Customers who used their credit cards at any of the seven locations from May 19, 2014 to June 2, 2015, were potentially affected by the data breach. According to a statement by the hotel group, people who used their cards to pay at either the Las Vegas or Waikiki locations may have also had their names exposed.
The complaint alleges that "the root cause of the data breach was defendants' failure to fix elementary deficiencies in their security systems, abide by industry regulations and respond to other similar data breaches directed at retailers. ... Had defendants acted competently, criminals would have been unable to access the [personal identifying information]."
Further, the proposed class action alleges that illicit websites are selling the stolen payment card information to international card counterfeiters and fraudsters.
The complaint also claims that the Trump Hotel Collection failed to disclose the breach or notify the plaintiffs about it in a timely manner, preventing them from protecting themselves from the fallout of the data breach.
The Trump Hotel Collection has stated that it would offer a year of free credit monitoring to potentially affected customers. The malware was removed and the hotels are in the process of restructuring systems to enhance security, according to the announcement.
The proposed class includes thousands of people who made payment card transactions at the hotel' properties, whose personal information was subject to its alleged security failures and who suffered damages in the loss of time and use of their credit and debit cards until replacement cards could be obtained.
The plaintiffs are represented by John Hipskind and Brady M. McAninch of Hipskind & McAninch LLC. The case is John Driscoll et al. v. Trump International Hotels Management LLC et al., case number 3:15-cv-01089, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
