can i sue american express for losing my personal data ?
i received a letter yesterday from amex stating that my personal identity information had been compromised by an employee of the firm. apparently, he stole my >Update:
to address an answer below. how do i know if i have suffered financial damage if it may happen to me in the future? you see, my personal data is in someone's hands right now. it could be used in the future. so, to be specific. at the present, no damage has been done. but, who is to say that something might be done in the future?
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I'm sure you must realize that your cardholder agreement with AMEX spells out their responsibility for your personal data. You need to consult that before you take any action. Furthermore, unless you can demonstrate that you have suffered financial damages as a result of the incident (about which they were professional enough to inform you), a civil suit would be groundless. Feeling cheated and vulnerable is not a valid legal theory on which to sue.
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You can't sue for damages that *might* occur in the future. You have to wait for those damages to happen.
You cannot file a lawsuit until you suffer actual damages. Well, you could, but you would lose.
Keep the letter they sent you regarding your information being stolen, get a full copy of your credit contract with the company, and monitor your credit like a hawk, as soon as your information is fraudulently used the first time, alert AMEX, and THEN if they do not do anything to recoup your credit/funds, you MAY have a lawsuit.
They could be found liable for any fraudulent USE of the information entrusted to them, but since at this point there doesn't seem to have BEEN any use of the info, there is nothing to sue for.
If you don't like Amex's way of doing business, there are lots of other cards out there. Cancel your card and move on. You should never do business with a company which you feel mistreats you.