A class action lawsuit was filed in federal court in California last week, charging the San Luis Obispo, CA operators of online sporting goods stores—Sports Warehouse, Tackle Warehouse, Tennis Warehouse, Running Warehouse and Skate Warehouse—with negligence and violations of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act due to their response to a data breach within its suite of websites.

According to the Jan. 13 complaint, filed by Jesse Pfeffer on behalf of other impacted customers,  the plaintiff began notifying customers at various state Attorneys Generals about the widespread data breach on Dec. 16, 2021 that it become fully aware of last Oct. 15. The defendant does not claim to abide by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance, which is a requirement for businesses that store, process, or transmit payment card data.

In the 23-page complaint, the plaintiff alleges that hackers, through the breach, were able to steal customers’ payment card information, address, card expiration date and payment verification values to illegally make fraudulent purchases and steal customer identities. The Maine Attorney General’s Office estimates the data breach impacted 1,813,224 people.