Will the U.S. lawsuit be a ‘detonator’ for Coupang? The law firm that first sued Volkswagen for ‘Dieselgate’ joins the company

Coupang, which caused a large-scale personal information leak, is facing a series of class action lawsuits in the United States, where its headquarters are located. As judicial risks are gradually increasing, including the addition of the law firm that led the lawsuit related to the 'Dieselgate' emissions manipulation scandal by Volkswagen, Germany's largest automobile company in 2015, there are predictions that the US lawsuit could become the detonator of the Coupang incident.
 

U.S. law firm Hagens Berman announced on the 24th (local time), “We have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Coupang investors against Coupang Inc., Coupang’s parent company.” Hagans Berman is a law firm that was the first to file a lawsuit in the United States related to Volkswagen's Diesel Gate, which shocked the global automobile industry 10 years ago, and is credited with playing a leading role in obtaining compensation of $14.7 billion (about 17 trillion won in Hanwha at the time).

The law firm said, “This lawsuit focuses on whether (Coupang) misled investors about the adequacy of its cybersecurity protocols.” He also said, “An issue is also whether Coupang’s disclosure system was sufficient to notify investors in a timely manner within four days of a serious cybersecurity incident.” Coupang reported the relevant facts to the U.S. financial authorities on the 16th (local time), about a month after becoming aware of the leak incident (the 18th of last month). It is said that the rule that a serious cybersecurity incident must be announced within 4 business days was violated. This law firm plans to recruit additional Coupang Inc investors who suffered damage by February 17th next year.

The industry predicts that the judicial risk originating from the United States may be the detonator of the Coupang incident. In particular, in the United States, there is a 'discovery system' in civil litigation that mutually discloses evidence held by the parties before the trial begins, so if the law firms' claims are accepted, Coupang Inc may have to disclose sensitive data such as internal meeting minutes and emails. Another reason to pay attention to the US lawsuit is that if punitive damages are applied, the amount of compensation can be astronomically high.

On the 18th (local time), attorney Lawrence Rosen and Coupang Inc's U.S. shareholders filed a class action lawsuit, claiming, "Coupang's inadequate security protocols allowed a former employee to gain unauthorized access to customer information for six months." They cited ‘damage to shareholder value due to security failure’ and poor disclosure as justification for the lawsuit. Korean law firm Daeryun's U.S. subsidiary (SJKP) is also preparing a consumer class action lawsuit against Coupang Inc.

 

Reporter Lee Young-gwanykwan@chosun.com

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Is the U.S. lawsuit a 'detonator' for Coupang... Law firm joins first to sue Volkswagen for 'Dieselgate'