La. Man, a Former Employee of Pfizer, Sues Company over Data on Net

July 23, 2007

A Baton Rouge, La., man who once worked for Pfizer Inc. is suing the world's largest drug maker, saying he is among about 17,000 current and former workers whose personal information was posted on the Internet.

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Randall Ponder wants the federal district court in Baton Rouge to make his suit a class action. He asks for long-term identity theft insurance and a fund to pay any damages for all 17,000 people.

Pfizer is providing a one-year, $25,000 identity theft policy and a year of free access to a national credit reporting company, according to a "Frequently Asked Questions" section on the New York-based company's Web site.

It states that the company learned in April that the names and Social Security numbers, and in some cases addresses, home and cellular phone numbers and bonus information, had been posted on the Internet about three weeks earlier.

It had happened when the spouse of a sales worker whose job included analyzing such data - and who no longer works for the company - used a company laptop computer to install unauthorized software and access a file-sharing network. The company said its policy keeps it from revealing whether the worker was fired.

Pfizer did not start notifying the affected people until June 1, more than nine weeks after the breach was discovered. According to its FAQs, it took that long to put together all the information needed to do so.

It was not clear whether other people have brought federal or state court suits like the one which Ponder filed June 29. A spot check of about 10 of the many federal suits filed since June 1 in which Pfizer is a defendant did not turn up any.

Pfizer spokesman Ray Kerins did not immediately return a call July 20 from The Associated Press.

He said July 19 that he could not comment about Ponder's suit because he cannot talk about pending litigation. But he referred to the insurance and credit report access, saying the 17,000 are to be notified immediately if their credit standing changes.

"We take this very seriously,'' Kerins said. "We're doing our best to make sure current and former employees are as protected as we can.''

Ponder's attorney, Scott Wilson, argues in the lawsuit that those affected by it "suffered damages including fear and apprehension of fraud, loss of money and identity theft.''

Wilson also contends the current and former employees now are forced to monitor their credit, close compromised accounts and open new ones, and scrutinize credit card statements and other statements for unauthorized transactions.

On the Net: http://www.pfizer.com/pfizer/contact/071707_faq_privacy.jsp