Terpin Wins Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision, Reversing Summary Judgment in Landmark AT&T SIM Swap Lawsuit

General

Terpin
v.
AT&T,
the
historic
lawsuit
that
has
been
the
benchmark
for
SIM
swap
litigation,
will
be
remanded
to
US
District
Court
in
Los
Angeles
for
trial
after
the
Ninth
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals
unanimously
reversed
the
summary
judgment
of
Justice
Otis
D.
Wright
II.
The
three-judge
panel
ruled
that
customer
proprietary
network
information
(CPNI),
which
is
protected
under
the
Federal
Communications
Act,
may
have
been
violated.

“Adopting
AT&T’s
constrained
view
of
CPNI
would
lead
to
absurd
results,”
the
Court
wrote.
“Our
decision
is
also
consistent
with
the
FCC’s
views.
In
a
report
addressing
new
proposed
CPNI
rules,
the
FCC
recognized
that
SIM
swap
fraud
‘allows
the
bad
actor
to
gain
access
to
information
associated
with
the
customer’s
account,
including
CPNI,
and
gives
the
bad
actor
control.’”

On
March
8th,
the
appeal
was
argued
by
Terpin’s
lead
attorney,
Pierce
O’Donnell,
senior
partner
at
Greenberg
Glusker.
“This
is
a
major
precedential
decision
of
national
significance,”
said
O’Donnell.

“Rejecting
all
of
AT&T’s
arguments,
the
Court
of
Appeal
held
that
AT&T
can
be
liable
in
damages
under
the
Federal
Communications
Act
when
it
allows
a
hacker
to
get
into
its
system,
access
the
customer’s
AT&T
account,
and
steal
the
customer’s
private
information
or
assets–in
this
case
$24
million
of
cryptocurrency.
The
decision
paves
the
way
for
our
client
to
go
to
trial
and
hold
AT&T
accountable
after
more
than
six
years
of
litigation.
We
look
forward
to
asking
a
Los
Angeles
federal
jury
to
award
Mr.
Terpin
$24
million
plus
at
least
$14
million
of
interest
plus
his
attorney’s
fees
for
a
total
of
at
least
$45
million.”

A
Victory
for
Consumers

“This
is
not
just
a
victory
for
me,
but
for
thousands
of
innocent
consumers
who
had
their
identity
compromised,
their
safety
and
privacy
breached,
and
in
many
cases
their
funds
stolen
due
to
lax
and
indifferent
security
practices
by
AT&T,”
said
Terpin.
“Letting
this
summary
judgment
stand
would
have
been
a
horrific
precedent.
I
am
grateful
to
the
Ninth
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals
for
their
comprehensive
analysis
and
just
decision.”