Law Firm Blames Disposal Company for Client Files Found in Dumpster
A New York insurance defense firm is promising to investigate why six dumpsters behind its offices were found stuffed full of old case files that included personal information, including addresses and Social Security numbers.
Reporters for the New York Daily News discovered the client files behind the offices of Frenkel Lambert Weiss Weisman & Gordon, “a swanky Manhattan law firm,” according to the newspaper. “Several passersby were digging through the mountain of paper,” the story says.
Law firm partner Richard Lambert told the Daily News that the firm is preparing for a June 1 move. “We hired a licensed and bonded company to deal with the disposal of our files in a proper manner,” Lambert said. “We are investigating this issue.”
The documents were mostly from the 1990s and included medical records and insurance numbers, and copies of checks and driver’s licenses, the story says.
The newspaper found the file of a 44-year-old Bronx woman that contained her Social Security number and medical records. “I am totally freaked out. How could my information be dumped on a street?” she told the newspaper. “With identity theft, this is very valuable information that could be used to harm me.”
