Securing anonymity in breach litigation: the uncertainties

Following the Ashley Madison hack of the summer of 2015, legal action in the US has commenced against the website’s parent company Avid Life Media Inc. (‘ALM’), with ALM accused of failing to protect user information adequately. A curveball was thrown in the way of such lawsuits however in the shape of a recent Missouri court decision in which the Judge ruled that participants in a class action suit against ALM cannot proceed in the action anonymously. In the UK, Ashley Madison has a significant number of users, who may wish to take similar legal action. In this article, Bryony Hurst of Bird & Bird considers the potential for those affected to take such action while retaining their anonymity.