JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fidelity National Information Servicesfaces a lawsuit stemming from a data breach that was alleged tohave been caused by a former employee in its Certegy checkverification division.

In early July, the financial services processor announced thatit had dismissed an employee after the employee allegedly stoleprivate consumer information from the processor and then sold it todirect marketing firms.

The lawsuit, brought by a consumer who alleges he had datastolen by the employee, was brought as a class action complaint infederal court in Los Angeles.

“Certegy and FIS had a duty to safeguard the confidential dataof consumers from any breach, including that of their employees.Once the internal breach became known, it should have beencommunicated to the public in a timely and adequate manner,” saidEric Gibbs, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff. “The failure bythese companies to make the internal data breach immediately knownexposed consumers to direct marketing campaigns and the risk ofunauthorized use of their bank accounts and identity theft.”

The case was brought by a Los Angeles, California resident who,prior to the public announcement by Certegy and FIS of the databreach, started noticing an influx of direct marketing andpromotional offers as well as phone calls to his home. Aftersubsequently receiving a letter from Certegy informing him that hispersonal data may have been compromised by one of its employees,the plaintiff engaged a credit monitoring service, according to theplaintiff's lawyers.