Block Inc. Data Breach Suits Halted as Court Appoints Lead Firms

Four Block Inc. investor suits against the company’s directors over a data breach at its Cash App unit will be consolidated and put on hold pending the outcome of any dismissal motions in a related class action.

Lead counsel for the investors will be Weiss Law and the Brown Firm PC, Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. said Monday for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The action organizes a flurry of litigation over an incident that potentially exposed the personal financial information of over 8 million users, according to the complaints.

The investors say CEO Jack Dorsey and other members of the board failed to implement appropriate internal controls over customers’ personal information despite red flags dating to 2020 that led to the 2021 breach.

The company, formerly known as Square, said in filings with SEC several months after the breach that it was carried out by a former employee after he was no longer employed at the company, according to the complaint.

The securities class action was filed Oct. 11, 2022, in the Southern District of New York.

The first of the derivative suits was filed Dec. 20, 2022, and the latest two were filed Jan. 17, according to the court. The parties agreed that the cases should be consolidated, according to the order approving the stipulation. It will be known as In re Block, Inc. Derivative Litigation.

The parties also agreed to a stay to conserve resources while dismissal efforts proceed in the class action, including appeals.

A second securities class action, not mentioned in the order, is proceeding in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP represents the directors and nominal defendant Block.

The case is Tsou v. Dorsey, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:22-cv-10747, 1/30/23.