The T-Mobile Sidekick data service went down in early October and then T-Mobile admitted that Microsoft’s Danger, Inc. subsidiary, which is responsible for the Sidekick data service, lost most all of the personal data it was entrusted with protecting, and that it was highly unlikely it would recover any data.

The lawsuit alleges that T-Mobile, Microsoft, and Danger actively marketed the Sidekick mobile phones as automatically backing up all the data that users would store, such as contacts, appointments, photos and more, and then failed to follow through on these promises.  According to the lawsuit, most Sidekick users have “suffered a complete and catastrophic” loss of data.

The suit is brought by Maureen Thompson of the Atlanta area. 

Ms. Thompson owns a Sidekick used primarily by her daughter, Káhryn Thompson-Gayle, an aspiring model, singer, and songwriter who used her Sidekick to store personal and business contacts, appointments, and even irreplaceable song lyrics not stored anywhere else.  Ms. Thompson bought the Sidekick for her daughter primarily because T-Mobile promised that any data would be protected and available no matter what happened to the phone.

Upon facing a barrage of criticism for this overwhelming data loss, T-Mobile has offered Sidekick users a free month of Sidekick data service worth about $20 and as much as $100 in credits to spend on T-Mobile products or services.

“T-Mobile’s initial efforts to reimburse Sidekick users are a step in the right direction, but fail to sufficiently compensate Sidekick users for this disastrous loss of data,” explained Jay Edelson, the lead attorney for the class action.  “T-Mobile and Microsoft promised to safeguard the most important data their customers possess and then apparently failed to follow even the most basic data protection principles.  What they did is unthinkable in this day and age.”

The class action seeks injunctive relief and monetary damages for failing to protect Sidekick user data, and false advertising.

Edelson’s firm, KamberEdelson, LLC, is a leading class action firm that focuses on internet, technology, and privacy issues.  According to Edelson, “this devastating data security failure demonstrates that companies must do more than promise security; they must actually take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that their customers’ data are safe.”

Edelson is joined on the lawsuit by Michael Aschenbrener of KamberEdelson.

Download: http://www.prnewschannel.com/pdf/10-14-09_Complaint_SideKick.pdf    

About Jay Edelson:  Jay Edelson testified before the U.S. in 2008 in connection with the contaminated pet food recall, which resulted in a settlement of over $24 million. He has a reputation for bringing and winning high profile class action lawsuits. Just last year, Edelson settled a nationwide case involving lead paint contamination with Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Wooden Railway children’s toys that was valued at over $30 million. Edelson’s firm also was lead counsel in the lawsuits coming out of the 2008 contaminated pet food recall, which resulted in a settlement of over $24 million. Edelson testified before the U.S. Senate in connection with that case.

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