PDH Files Class Action Against Madison County Clerk

Two recently filed class action lawsuits by Pittman, Dutton & Hellums, P.C., have garnered a lot of media attention the last few weeks (see my MAPCO security breach blogs from June and July for more). The latest lawsuit to receive coverage was one filed against the Circuit Clerk of Madison County Alabama, Jane Smith.

The lawsuit alleges that Madison County began charging an extra $150 for filing fees of civil court cases filed in Madison County to cover a budget shortfall in 2004. The money was supposed to be collected by the Circuit Clerk, who was and is Jane Smith, and used to help alleviate budget cuts in the district attorney's office. Nothing was wrong with this because the Clerk was instructed to do this through legislation. However, the Clerk of Court was to stop collecting this extra fee by January 1, 2006.

The problem was she never did and has been collecting the fees ever since. The money has been presumably going to the County, which they seem to have not refused.

The story behind the lawsuit has been covered by local Huntsville, Alabama reporters and journalists. See the links below for more on the story. The second link is one for a video which describes the suit in more detail than the article.

http://www.waff.com/story/22718610/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-madison-county-circuit-clerk

http://www.wsfa.com/story/22737237/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-madison-county-circuit-clerk

MAPCO Faces More Lawsuits

Three class actions have been filed in Alabama against MAPCO for alleged security breaches. Pittman, Dutton & Hellums, P.C., filed one of those suits on behalf of a Tuscaloosa resident.

Although the extent of the breach is unknown at this time, it is thought to be enormous. It may be that all 377 of MAPCO stores have been hit. The MAPCO family of stores include MAPCO Express®, MAPCO Mart®, Discount Food Mart™, Delta Express®, Fast Food & Fuel™.

Another article has been published detailing the breach and the lawsuits. Tracy Kitten, the journalist covering the story, did an excellent job: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/mapco-express-sued-over-malware-attack-a-5894

We have reason to believe that one MAPCO location in particular, located in Rising Fawn, Georgia, off of Interstate 59, was hit by the hackers.  

The relevant dates of the security breach occurred between March 19-25, April 14-15 and April 20-21 of 2013. If you used a credit or debit card at any MAPCO location  and were injured by the MAPCO breach, please contact Booth Samuels at 1-866-515-8880 or by email at booths@pittmandutton.com 

Chinese Drywall Deadline Monday July 8th

The registration deadline for all Chinese drywall settlements administered through Judge Fallon's MDL Court in New Orleans is Monday July 8th. All claimants who wish to participate in any of the various settlements must register their claims by this date or they will be prohibited from receiving settlement monies or remediation. Claim forms are not due at this time, but to file a claim form you must register.