Duke Energy settles suit over data breach exposing thousands of customer accounts
Duke Energy has settled a class-action lawsuit over a data breach last year which exposed personal information to cybercriminals, according to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for Western North Carolina.
The May 2024 data breach impacted thousands of customers of the Charlotte-based company, The Charlotte Observer reported in January. The case, with Matthew Saunders of St. Petersburg, Florida, as lead plaintiff, was filed in December.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the latest filings. There were at least 100 class members with total combined claims of over $5 million, according to the complaint.
Tuesday's actions came after both sides told the federal court in March that they had reached a deal. Duke Energy also reached settlements in six other cases in the data security incident, according to court records.
Saunders dropped all claims he brought against Duke Energy, according to a joint filing by both parties on Tuesday.
Some of the information compromised in the data breach included names, account numbers, emails, Tax IDs and Social Security numbers, court records show. The information was used by cybercriminals who sold information to identity thieves, according to court records.
Duke Energy said the claims were baseless and the company is satisfied to have the cases resolved and dismissed, spokeswoman Valerie Patterson said in a statement to the Observer.
'As we communicated to the customers who were potentially impacted by this incident, our thorough investigation revealed that no customer's personally identifiable information, as defined by state law, was exposed,' Patterson said.
Duke Energy said it takes the security of its customers' information seriously and is providing free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to eligible customers that may have been impacted by this incident.
'We are pleased that many of our customers have accepted this offer,' Patterson said.
Attorneys for both parties did not respond to requests for comment Thursday from the Observer.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs accused Duke Energy of lacking adequate cybersecurity to protect customers from cyberattacks.
They also alleged the company maintained, used, and shared personal information in a 'reckless''manner tightened and that Duke Energy transmitted personal information in a way vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Data thieves engaged in identity theft and fraud because of the breach. This included the opening of new financial accounts, taking out loans, obtaining government benefits and acquiring driver's licenses using victims' names but with different pictures, according to court records.
Concerns also arose about thieves committing future crimes and victims having to purchase monitoring services to protect against identity theft.
Duke Energy notified data breach victims in December about the incident through email.
Duke Energy is one of the country's largest energy companies. It serves 8.6 million customers in the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, according to Duke Energy's website. Its natural gas utilities serve an additional 1.7 million in several states.
The company employs 26,000 people.
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© 2025 The Charlotte Observer.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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I've spent many hours this week preparing lunch for tomorrow which has been exhausting in light of the issues I'm facing and spent a small fortune on beef eye fillet to make beef Wellingtons because I wanted it to be a special meal as I may not be able to host a lunch like this again for some time.' 'It's important to me that you're all there tomorrow and that I can have the conversations that I need to have. I hope you'll change your mind. Your parents and Heather and Ian are coming at 12.30. I hope to see you there.' Asked about her reaction, Ms Patterson told the jury she felt a bit hurt and a bit stressed by Simon's message. Questioned by Mr Mandy if the reply was true, she said: 'Apart from the fact that I'd spent a small fortune on beef eye fillet and I wanted it to be special, the rest was exaggeration.' She told the court she exaggerated because she wanted him to attend so she could discuss an upcoming medical procedure, specifically about sorting out plans for the care of their son and daughter. Earlier in the day, Ms Patterson told the jury she had misled Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, about needing a series of tests on a lump on her elbow. She said earlier the same year she had a lump but it resolved itself and she was planning to use it as a cover to get gastric bypass surgery. 'I had come to the conclusion that I wanted to do something, for once and for all about my weight and my poor eating habits. So I was planning to have gastric bypass surgery and so I remember thinking I didn't want to tell anybody what I was going to have done,' she said. 'I was really embarrassed about it, so I thought perhaps letting them believe I had some serious issue that needed treatment might mean they'd be able to help me with the logistics around the kids and I wouldn't have to tell them the real reason.' The jury was shown a series of messages between Ms Patterson and Gail Patterson over a few weeks in June where she kept up the charade, writing to her mother-in-law that she was waiting for the results of a biopsy and then needing an MRI. Asked 'were those lies?' by Mr Mandy, Ms Patterson confirmed 'yes'. 'They had shown quite a lot of care about that, which felt really nice … I didn't want their care of me to stop, so I just kept it going. I shouldn't have done it,' she said. Ms Patterson told the court she 'shouldn't have' said those things to Simon but wanted him to feel bad about cancelling at the last minute. Asked by her barrister whether it was true when she said she'd spent 'many hours' preparing for the lunch, the accused woman confirmed it was not. 'I didn't do any preparing other than shopping and researching the recipe, so I guess the answer to your question is, no, it wasn't true,' she said. 'I didn't mean to do any of that. I shouldn't have done any of that, but that's what I was thinking at the time.' Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson died in early August 2023 from organ failure linked to death cap mushroom poisoning. Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson recovered after about a month and a half in hospital. Ms Patterson is expected to return to the witness box on Thursday, where Mr Mandy told the jury he had about 15 minutes more of questions, before she is turned over to the prosecution to question. The trial continues.
