Lawyers for outraged District workers on Tuesday filed a class-action suit against ING Inc. over the loss of a laptop computer that carried the identities of 13,000 District employees.
The lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, names seven D.C. workers — including three police officers — as plaintiffs, and demands at least $10,000 for each. If the case is certified as a class-action and it is successful, it could cost ING $130 million.
ING announced earlier this month that thieves had stolen an laptop from the employee’s home. The personal data on thousands of District government employees was stored in the computer. It was not encrypted.
Lawyers Gregory L. Lattimer and Ted J. Williams filed the suit. They say ING had was “grossly negligent” in not encrypting the information. They also say that ING had ample warning about the dangers of unsecured data after someone stole a company laptop containing the personal data of 8,500 Florida medical workers in December.
In astatement e-mailed to The Examiner, ING refused to comment on Tuesday’s suit. But it said the company “takes full responsibility for the incident and is working diligently to protect customers whose information was stored on the computer.”
D.C. police sergeants Regina Randolph and Tony Giles are plaintiffs in the suit. They joined their lawyers at a news conference Tuesday.
“I’m appalled and I’m discouraged and a little terrified,” Randolph said.
The officers said they are very worried because the home addresses of many officers were stored in the stolen laptop.
On Friday, the police union filed a grievance over the missing data, claiming that it was part of a pattern by the police department that exposes officers’ private information.
ING has promised to indemnify workers against any fraud stemming from the laptop theft.
“It’s not enough,” Lattimer said Tuesday.
