By Gina Smith and Tom Ewing, additional reporting by Jim Kelly
aNewDomain — Almost every day since so-called Impact Team hackers dumped a second file containing some 32 million names, emails, sexual preferences and other data about alleged customers and executives at the adultery site Ashley Madison, class action suits against the site’s parent company, Avid Life Media, have been popping up in U.S. Federal District Courts around the country. We’re collecting all the complaints, readable here.
Below, find the full text of two class actions filed in California, one in Texas and one in Missouri. There is also a third California lawsuit whose complaint is not yet available.
That makes five class actions lawsuits in the U.S. at this writing (August 25, 2015). First to file weren’t lawyers in the U.S., but in Canada, where Avid Life is based. That is a spectacularly huge $550 million class action. We’ll be updating this piece with more court docs from all class action suits as they become available, plus analysis.
Ed note: Despite reader demand, we at aNewDomain will not be posting the dumped information from the Tar files in any form on this site. We’re not in the business of ratting people out. We want no part in aiding haters and harassers. Whether any particular person or religious leader considers the AM clients moral or not is of no interest to us. These consenting adults, if indeed they even frequented Ashley Madison, were led to believe their activities were private and they are the true victims here.
We are deeply disturbed about the possibility of these names getting in the hands of the some 70+ countries who punish homosexuality and adultery as criminal offenses. Homosexuality is punishable by death in seven of those countries. We urge all our readers to show tolerance here. And we implore all international police authorities to realize that a released name in these leaked files does not necessarily indicate that person was an Ashley Madison customer, or an adulterer, or a homosexual or necessarily anything more than a mailing list entry designed to artificially beef up the site’s rolls. GS
John Doe v. Avid Life Media (California)
Here’s the second class action case that’s been filed in California Federal Court.
Lots of Does v. Avid Life Media (California)
Here’s the Texas class action suit against Avid Life, dba Ashley Madison.
John Doe v. Avid Media (Texas)
Here is the Missouri class action against Avid Media, as filed in July in U.S. Federal Court in St Louis.
Jane Doe v. Avid Life Media (dba Ashley Madison)
Further reading: Here is a case from a few years ago you might find interesting. It’s Avid Media’s own lawsuit against someone they thought was ripping them off. Here’s Avid v. British Marital Affair, below.
It’s interesting reading. And it does suggest who may profit the most from this unseemly affair going on now. The lawfirm, K.L. & Gates, seems to be Avid’s attorneys. If they are still, they’ll be making a bundle for the next several years as a result of the Ashley Madison hack and resulting suits.
By the way, the Gates in K.L. & Gates refers to Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ father, William H. Gates, who has long been a partner in the firm.
Strange bedfellows, to be sure.
Ashley Madison v. Marital Affair
For aNewDomain, I’m Gina Smith, with Tom Ewing.
We are updating this piece with more class action suits you can read in the coming days and hours. Comment from legal experts and involved parties will follow.
