Sensitive data pertaining to millions of people was compromised in the data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. I suspect that millions of those people smiled when they heard about the filing of a class-action lawsuit filed against the OPM. They would like some recompense for the incredible hassle that data breach caused them. And they probably want to see the OPM pay for its mistakes. Unfortunately, those smiles are probably about all they will get out of the lawsuit.

Although class-action lawsuits can result in some seemingly very large settlements, the members of the classes in question hardly ever see much money from them. Such lawsuits are essentially a transfer of wealth from the defendant to the attorneys filing the lawsuit. That sounds like cynicism, but it’s realism. Because class actions are fairly common and can cover enormous classes of people, you’ve probably qualified for a payout from at least one of them in the past year. When you looked into it, did it seem worth your time to qualify? If you did bother to be established as a member of the wronged class, did you get any significant amount of money as a result? I seriously doubt it.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

…