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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Aon Screwed Up Big-Time, Class Claims

WILMINGTON, Del. (CN) - Aon Consulting disclosed online the names and Social Security numbers of 22,000 state retirees, a class action claims in New Castle County Court. The class claims Aon did not bother to scrub personal information before posting online a request for proposals from insurers.

"Gail Slaughter's identity is likely for sale on the Internet right now," Slaughter, the lead plaintiff, says in her complaint. "For a minimal fee, hackers throughout the world can use her Social Security number and birth date to secure credit cards, cell phones, and alike (sic). Ms. Slaughter finds herself in this position not because of anything that she did, but because the state's benefit consultant could not be counted on to scrub the personal information of nearly 22,000 state retirees before posting the date online.

"The harm is irreparable."

Slaughter claims that Aon "compiled a package of information" to seek insurers' bids to provide vision coverage for state workers and retirees. At Aon's direction, the State of Delaware posted the request for proposals online for 4 days in August, though it contained the 22,000 people's Social Security numbers, birth dates and genders, she says.

She says Aon acknowledge that it screwed up, and offered to provide 1 year of credit monitoring and $25,000 in identity theft coverage for "affected retirees." After that, she "and other similarly situated retirees will be left to fend for themselves."

Slaughter says that's not enough. She wants costs and damages for breach of contract, negligence, and other charges. Her lead counsel is Mark Billion.

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