Victims of Coupang data leak file class-action lawsuit in U.S. court, seeking punitive damages

▲ The headquarters of Coupang Corp. (Yonhap)

Coupang-lawsuit

Victims of Coupang data leak file class-action lawsuit in U.S. court, seeking punitive damages

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- A group of victims of a massive data leak involving e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. filed a class-action lawsuit in a New York court on Friday to seek punitive damages, their legal representatives said.

Led by two Korean Americans surnamed Lee and Park, the group filed the suit against the U.S.-listed firm and its founder Kim Bom-suk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, claiming that Coupang failed to fulfill its obligation to protect personal data and take appropriate security steps.

SJKP Law Firm LLP, a U.S. subsidiary of Daeryun Law Firm LLC, is representing the case.

The lawsuit did not indicate the specific number of plaintiffs in the case, but a SJKP lawyer said that more than 7,000 people affected by the data leak have contacted the law firm regarding the class-action suit.

The legal case is expected to proceed separately from the lawsuits filed against Coupang in South Korea and in a California court.

The Seoul government has been conducting a probe into the data leak incident involving Coupang, in which about 33.7 million customers are believed to have been affected.

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