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A class action against Optus could easily be Australia's biggest: Here's what is involved

A class action against Optus could easily be Australia's biggest: Here's what is involved

A class action against Optus could easily be Australia's biggest: Here's what is involved
Oct 04, 2022 1 min, 9 secs

With the Optus data breach exposing almost 10 million current and former customers to identity theft, law firms are circling for what could end up being the biggest — and most valuable — class action case in Australian legal history.

Most go to the Federal Court, which has been empowered to hear class actions since 1992.

These account for about a third of Federal Court class actions.

Second, it could argue breach of privacy, in contravention of the federal Privacy Act, in the Federal Court.

To succeed on a breach of privacy, the Federal Court would have to find that personal information held by Optus was subject to unauthorised access or disclosure, or lost, and that the company failed to comply with the "privacy principles" enshrined in the Privacy Act.

A second basis for a class action in the Federal Court could be to argue a breach of the Telecommunications Act.

The closest precedent in Australia to a successful class action for a mass breach of privacy is a 2019 case in the NSW Supreme court.

Given the Optus data leak is established, there's a strong basis to believe a class action would be successful.

In determining damages, a court will take into account what efforts Optus has made to remedy the leak, mitigate the potential impact on those affected and pay for the costs of replacing drivers' licences, Medicare cards or passports.

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

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