I saw an interview with her and of course she said it's not about the money but rather the principle behind how she was treated and the potential issue of identity theft. That's all well and good but 54 million is quite a bit ridiculous.
The suit will go nowhere and her attorney was not at all impressive in the interview, in fact it seemed like he didn't have any rational explanation for the suit or the requested damages. All he sees is the potential for 1/3 of a giant settlement.
She was apparently compensated by Best Buy over and above the cost of the laptop. Potential identity theft from data left behind is a real concern but in no way rises to $54M. It's just your typical abuse of the legal system which will go nowhere.
Yes, $54 million seems excessive, but I don't think this is a typical abuse of the legal system at all.
The $54 million was deliberately chosen because of a previous lawsuit in the local Washington area that may not have gotten widespread attention. A local civil court judge sued a dry cleaning shop over the loss of a pair of pants worth no more than $250, but he sued them for $54 million. The case was eventually thrown out of court and this judge no longer has a job.
The woman with the laptop decided that $54 million was a sure way to get attention from the news media and generate bad publicity for Best Buy. They certainly deserve it. Whether this woman's laptop was sold deliberately or by accident is unclear now. There is some reason to believe that BB has done this before and may have an established pattern of selling used gear as if it were new. This is fraud and I think Best Buy deserves large punitive damages as well as boatloads of bad publicity.
