Goodwill Data Breach Parties Seek to Stay Their Case Pending Nov. 10 Mediation

Plaintiffs Wendy Booker and Francis Mascaro and defendant Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey seek a temporary stay in their case pending mediation, said their joint motion Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-04764) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. Booker and Mascaro allege in their June 26 class action that Goodwill kept them and other data breach victims in the dark for seven months (see 2306270002). After Booker and Mascaro filed their complaint, the parties “began discussing a possible early resolution and they recently agreed upon a mediator and date,” said their joint motion. The matter is scheduled to be mediated Nov. 10 via videoconference by retired 11th Circuit Judge John Thornton, now with JAMS, it said. Nov. 10 was “the earliest available date” that worked for the judge and the parties and their counsel, it said. To conserve judicial resources, the parties asked that the case, and all litigation deadlines, including Goodwill’s Sept. 18 deadline to answer the complaint, be temporarily stayed until after the mediation date, it said. The parties propose to file a joint status report after the mediation date to advise the court on whether the mediation was successful, plus whether additional time is needed and proposed next steps, it said. “Because cases of this complexity often are not resolved in a single day of mediation,” the parties propose to submit this joint status report by Nov. 22, it said.