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by DeathRabbit 3204 days ago
OK, on the site under the reg info it says to "Verify" you were part of the breach by using Equifax's verification site. Hasn't it already been established that this site is giving (at best) inconsistent results? So if their of-dubious-use tool says I wasn't impacted I have no recourse?

Also, the amounts available in small claims court seems like peanuts compared to my data being "out there" permanently. This is just a general observation--I'm not impugning Legalist with this statement at all. I guess it may seem like small potatoes weighed against the risks, it's not like everyone impacted by this could get appropriate remuneration for the potential lifelong BS caused by this.
1 comments
k3oni 3204 days ago
What do you think will come out of the class-action lawsuits and how much do you think people will get per capita after the lawyers are paid?

I have a feeling that in small courts you can at least get more than that. PA for example has a max of $12k claim amount.

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DeathRabbit 3204 days ago
Oh, yes, totally agree that the class action suits will result in a sweet $15 check or something. I guess my poorly phrased lament was just in reflection that even the max payout in small claims doesn't seem like a great result given that this stuff is out there permanently. I read some stats that indicated an average of 330 hours for a person to work through fraud on their credit reports or otherwise clean up an ID theft event.
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jlgaddis 3204 days ago
Note that you don't have to file in small-claims court. Small-claims court was established as a convenient, easier way to handle dispute of (relatively) smaller amounts.

If you feel that Equifax has caused you, say, USD $100k in damages, you can certainly file a "regular" civil suit against them and ask for that amount.

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k3oni 3204 days ago
The other way to deal with this would be to not do anything right now and exclude yourself form the class action. In case something would be to happen you have the option to sue for full face value as long as it can be proven that this hack is related or the cause, but again that is a big if.

And i'm not a lawyer just thinking out loud.

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whataretensors 3204 days ago
Having been a victim of identity theft I'd say that's accurate, if not low. It took me 10 years to clean up the whole thing(and I'm still worried about random letters).
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smsm42 3204 days ago
Except you couldn't sue for potential identity theft - to sue Equifax for damages from identity theft, you'd have to prove it actually happened to you personally, and probably also prove Equifax is to blame (which may ironically be harder the more leaks are out there, as they could always claim it's not their leak that led to the theft but someone else's).
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