20,000 lawsuits filed on behalf of NJ cops, as companies fail to comply with Daniel's Law
Daniel Anderl was killed in 2020 when a man, posing as a delivery person, shot him at his family's front door. Daniel was 20.
His father was also critically wounded, but the target had been Daniel's mother, New Jersey District Judge Esther Salas. The gunman had been a lawyer in her courtroom and found her personal information on the internet.
Daniel's Law was enacted in New Jersey in 2021 to protect families, like Salas's. It provides a means for some public servants to request the redaction of certain personal information from public-facing state, county, and municipal websites, according to New Jersey's Department of Community Affairs. A year after Daniel's Law became effective in New Jersey, Congress passed the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act with the same intention.
The law now has been the basis of more than 20,000 class action lawsuits, filed against multiple companies for violating it, the New Jersey Law Journal reported.
Daniel's Law bans both public and private entities from disclosing personal information about judicial officials, child protective service investigators, law enforcement officers and their immediate relatives living with them.
The 20,000-plus lawsuits are on behalf of law enforcement officers who allege they are being put in danger because of data brokers not adhering to Daniel's Law. A cybersecurity and consumer data protection company, Atlas Privacy, is presenting the complaints on behalf of most of the plaintiffs.
"Our goal is to ensure these companies comply with the law and change their behavior going forward. What these officers, troopers, and prosecutors hope for is what anyone in their shoes would want for themselves and their families — to feel safe and protected,” Atlas Privacy said in a statement.
And the number of suits keeps growing. A report by Cooley, an elite global law firm, says that more than 100 complaints have been filed in state courts on behalf of covered individuals in recent days.
Defendants for this class action litigation include California-based companies MyLife.com, Enformion, Social Catfish, Attom Data Solution, and a New York company, The Lifetime Value Co.
Among the plaintiffs are Justyna and Scott Maloney, a married couple who are both police officers in Rahway. Ever since the Maloney's got involved in a potential crime case, the couple alleges they received death threats through online posts that included links to their home address, New Jersey Law Journal reported.
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The class action complaints state that defendant companies have refused to comply with Daniel's Law.
Under the law, entities that receive a complaint have 10 days to redact or eliminate the personal information.
Entities violating Daniel's Law should pay damages at the rate of $1,000 per violations, in addition to punitive and attorneys fees. According to Cooley's estimation, at least $20 million is at stake with this class action lawsuit.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ class action lawsuits filed for thousands of complaints by police
