Magistrate Judge Orders Data Breach Plaintiff to Appear for Show Cause Hearing

U.S. Magistrate Judge Adam Abelson for Maryland in Baltimore ordered plaintiff Abigail Collins to appear in court for a Jan. 26 hearing to show cause why she hasn’t filed the required consent or declination to have her negligence case against Washington College tried by a magistrate judge, said Abelson’s signed order Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-03258). Abelson will vacate the order if Collins files the consent or declination by the hearing date, it said. Collins alleges that the school where she’s a student failed to secure her personally identifiable information (PII) in a March data breach (see 2312040021). Though Collins was aware a cybersecurity incident occurred in March, she didn't know her PII might have been exposed until the college notified her in a Nov. 15 letter.