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The crux: > Lewis issued a court order that found West was owed money to cover the cost of up to two years of payments to online identity protection services
by kolpa 8y ago
The crux:
> Lewis issued a court order that found West was owed money to cover the cost of up to two years of payments to online identity protection services
So Equifax was liable for the insurance/protection that West bought out of fear for her financial safety.
This is a fascinating solution to the problem that general plaintiff cannot sue until after they have provable harm. Instead of waiting for a rare $XXX loss and then suing for recovery, many plaintiffs can pay $X for insurance/protection and then sue for that cost.
- seanp2k2 8y agoThe thing is, who do you think owns the identity protection companies, and what do you give you if they fail to protect your identity?
- rhizome 8y agoWhy is that "the thing?"
- burkaman 8y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17307809 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17307809 She did not actually buy insurance, she just told the court what insurance would cost her.
- rectang 8y agoFrom what I understand, this is a difficult claim to sustain because it can be argued as speculative. (See Jessamyn's own writeup.) Would it be stronger to pay for credit freezes and then sue to get that money back? And would it still take a multi-thousand-dollar chunk out of Equifax to respond?
- thesagan 8y agoIn this specific sense I’m not sure that the insurance itself is considered speculative, but merely a way to minimize/manage the possibility of potential damages in a reasonable way. If I’m not mistaken, her write up addresses speculation as potential damages as estimated before they could be realized in an uninsured situation, or otherwise taken up by insurers themselves. The insurance is another thing altogether—a tool to mitigate that real and known risk right now. (I’m on mobile so I only glanced at her post.) That said, IANAL or an actuary.
- trevor-e 8y agoTwo years is a short amount of time considering the data that was stolen will likely stay the same for a long time. What happens when someone has their identity stolen five years from now?