Ashley Madison Gets Sued by 'John Doe'

In a not-so-surprising development, the lawsuits are piling up against Ashley Madison. In California, for example, "John Doe" filed a suit in federal court accusing parent company Avid Life Media of negligence for failing to stop the hack of customers' data, reports the Guardian. The suit, which is seeking class-action status, says the company didn't take basic precautions such as encrypting data and thus caused emotional distress.

And John Doe is not alone: NBC News counts at least three other such lawsuits filed in the US by John or Jane Does, as well as a fifth filed in Canada last week by Eliot Shore; that suit seeks $573 million. The US-based suits, which do not yet have class-action status, don't put a number on the damages the plaintiffs intend to seek, though NBC notes they "all say reasonable penalties would exceed $5 million." (More Ashley Madison stories.)