If a company gave away my credit card and other personal info and are trying to settle with me, what am I legally entitled to?
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If a company gave away my credit card and other personal info and are trying to settle with me, what am I legally entitled to?
A store failed to remove all of my personal info on a system I traded in and sold it. The customer then made multiple purchases using all of my personal info. What am I legally entitled to in compensation for this? It seems to be a malpractice or negligence issue as well as giving someone the ability to commit credit card fraud. I also want to sue the individual and do not know how to go about it as the store won’t release personal info to me.
Asked on April 7, 2012 under Business Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
1) A reasonable settlement would be reimbursement of any/all costs (e.g. purchases by another, which you've had to pay for) you incurred, plus some amount to pay for a credit monitoring service for the next several years. The amount of compensation you can get in cases like this is related to the actual losses or costs you suffered, plus the cost to repair or prevent damage (e.g. the credit monitoring service).
2) The store is not under a legal obligation to provide this information to you unless you invoke legal process. One option is to file a lawsuit against one or more "John Does"--fictititious defendnats, which is a mechanism used when the plaintiff does not yet know the identify of defendants--then use a subpoena or other discovery mechansm directed to the store to obtain the information you seek.
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