Brown, Jake & McDaniel Data Breach: 43,605 People, Two Federal Lawsuits
Questions about this case?
AI Legal Assistant · free · answers in seconds · general information, not legal advice
Brown, Jake & McDaniel, P.C. is a Knoxville, Tennessee accounting firm that prepares tax returns and does bookkeeping and payroll. An intruder was inside its network from January 13 to January 21, 2026. Notices went out in September 2026, and on September 15, 2026 two lawsuits were filed in federal court in Knoxville. As of October 2026 there is no settlement and no claim form.
Editorially Reviewed — Content reviewed for accuracy using published legal research, government data, and verified court records. See our methodology
Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
What Happened in the Brown, Jake & McDaniel P.C Data Breach
According to the firm’s notice letter as quoted in breach trackers, Brown, Jake & McDaniel noticed unusual activity on its network on January 20, 2026. With outside cybersecurity experts, it found that an unauthorized actor had access between January 13 and January 21, 2026 and may have downloaded files.
The firm finished reviewing those files on August 13, 2026 — about seven months after the intrusion. Notice letters went out by U.S. Mail, with the consumer notification date reported as September 4, 2026.
Data involved: names, Social Security numbers, financial account information and driver’s license numbers, per the report filed with Massachusetts regulators. That is the full kit for tax-refund fraud and new-account fraud, which is why an accounting-firm breach matters more than its size suggests. No ransomware group has publicly claimed the attack.
Case Details
Two cases were filed on September 15, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville):
Moles v. Brown Jake & McDaniel, P.C., No. 3:26-cv-00451 — docketed as a class action complaint, with the breach notice attached as an exhibit and a jury demand.
Henry v. Brown Jake & McDaniel, P.C., No. 3:26-cv-00449 — a parallel complaint over the same notice.
Both are assigned to District Judge Thomas A. Varlan (magistrate judges Debra C. Poplin and Jill E. McCook). Both were filed under federal diversity jurisdiction and coded as contract cases. The firm has not been found liable for anything; these are allegations.
Status: Two New Federal Suits, No Settlement
There is no settlement, no fund, no administrator, no claim form and no deadline. No order combining the two cases appears in the docket entries we reviewed. Anyone telling you to “file your Brown, Jake & McDaniel claim” today is describing something that does not exist yet.
Follow this case
There's no claim deadline yet. We'll email you if a settlement opens a claim period.
Am I Affected?
The practical test is your mail. If you were a client of the firm, or your information was in a return or payroll file it handled, you may have received a letter in September 2026. Keep it and the envelope: it says which of your data fields were involved and carries your credit-monitoring enrollment code.
Reported state counts include 1,087 South Carolina residents, 779 in Texas, 145 in Indiana, 79 in Massachusetts and 16 in Vermont. Breach trackers put the total at 43,605 people; we could not read a regulator page stating the total ourselves, so treat it as reported.
You do not need to sign up anywhere to be part of a class. If a class is certified or a settlement is reached, notice comes from a court-appointed administrator.
Is There Money, and When?
What does exist now is the firm’s offer of free single-bureau credit monitoring through Cyberscout, a TransUnion company. You enroll with the code in your letter, and enrollment must be done within 90 days of the date printed on your letter. For a letter dated in early September 2026, that window closes in early December 2026 — check your own letter date.
For a sense of how comparable resolved breach cases pay, our data breach settlement calculator gives ranges; it is context, not a prediction for this case.
How cases like this one end
Our copy of the federal courts’ own case database covers 129,730 other contract casesclosed in U.S. federal district courts between 2015 and 2026, 6% of them filed as class actions:
- 30.7% ended in a settlement recorded by the court. Another 20.2% were dismissed voluntarily, which often follows a private settlement — so the real settlement share sits between 30.7% and 50.9%.
- 7.5% were decided on a motion before any trial.
- 1 in 72 reached a trial (1.4%), after a median of 29.3 months.
- Median time from filing to the end of the case: 7.6 months.
- Only 7,691 of them (5.9%) record a money award at all; the median of those is $407,000.
These are base rates for this type of case (federal other contract cases) — not a prediction about this lawsuit, and not legal advice. Source: Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (civil), analysed by Settlement Insight. Cases heard in state courts are not included.
Brown, Jake & McDaniel Breach Timeline
- 1
January 13–21, 2026 — Network Accessed
An unauthorized actor is inside the firm’s network and may download files.
- 2
January 20, 2026 — Unusual Activity Spotted
The firm notices the activity and brings in outside cybersecurity experts.
- 3
August 13, 2026 — File Review Finished
The firm completes its review of which people’s information was in the affected files.
- 4
September 3–4, 2026 — Regulators and Victims Notified
Reports go to Massachusetts and South Carolina regulators on September 3 and the Texas Attorney General on September 4; letters go out by mail.
- 5
September 15, 2026 — Two Lawsuits Filed
Moles (3:26-cv-00451) and Henry (3:26-cv-00449) are filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee, both before Judge Thomas A. Varlan.
- 6
October 2026 — Early Stage, No Settlement
As of October 13, 2026 both cases are open. No settlement, fund, claim form or deadline exists.
Three Things to Watch For
Tax-preparer breaches attract a particular kind of fraud, because the stolen data is exactly what a fake tax return needs:
A tax return filed in your name
With a name and Social Security number, a fraudster can file a return before you do and take the refund. If the IRS rejects your e-filed return as a duplicate, or sends a letter about a return you did not file, act on it at once. An IRS Identity Protection PIN blocks this.
“Claim your Brown, Jake & McDaniel settlement”
There is no settlement and no claims portal as of October 2026. A form asking for your Social Security number or bank details to “secure your share” is collecting data, not filing anything. Lawyer sign-up forms are not claim forms either.
Fake Cyberscout enrollment messages
The real offer uses a code printed in your mailed letter. An email or text with a link to “activate monitoring” that asks for your full Social Security number or a card number is not from the firm. Type the enrollment address from the letter yourself; our Cyberscout letter guide explains what a genuine one looks like.
Brown, Jake & McDaniel Breach — Questions People Ask
Is there a Brown, Jake & McDaniel P.C data breach lawsuit?
Yes. Two cases were filed on September 15, 2026 in the Eastern District of Tennessee: Moles v. Brown Jake & McDaniel, P.C., No. 3:26-cv-00451 (a class action complaint), and Henry v. Brown Jake & McDaniel, P.C., No. 3:26-cv-00449. Both are before Judge Thomas A. Varlan and both were open as of October 13, 2026.
Is there a Brown Jake & McDaniel P.C data breach lawsuit payout?
Not as of October 2026. There is no settlement, no fund, no claim form and no deadline. If that changes, class members are notified by a court-appointed administrator, usually by mail or email to the address the firm has on file.
How many people were affected?
Breach trackers report a total of 43,605 people. State filings list 1,087 South Carolina residents, 779 in Texas, 145 in Indiana, 79 in Massachusetts and 16 in Vermont. Most of the rest are presumably Tennessee clients, since the firm serves East Tennessee, but no Tennessee figure has been published that we could verify.
What information was exposed?
Names, Social Security numbers, financial account information and driver’s license numbers, according to the report filed with Massachusetts regulators. Your own letter says which of those applied to you.
How do I check if I’ve been data breached here?
Look for a letter from Brown, Jake & McDaniel mailed in September 2026; affected people were notified by U.S. Mail. If you were a client and got nothing, you can contact the firm directly using contact details you find yourself, not ones from an unsolicited email or call.
Is the Cyberscout credit monitoring offer real?
Yes — the firm is offering free single-bureau credit monitoring, credit report and credit score services through Cyberscout, a TransUnion company. You need the enrollment code in your letter, and you must enroll within 90 days of the letter date.
What is the average payout for a data breach?
There is no single average, and there is no payout in this case. In resolved breach settlements, payments usually come from reimbursement of documented losses plus a smaller flat payment, and depend on how many people file. Our calculator shows ranges from comparable cases.
What should I do right now?
Enroll in the free monitoring before your 90-day window closes. Freeze your credit at all three bureaus — free and reversible. Request an IRS Identity Protection PIN, which stops someone filing a tax return with your Social Security number. Keep your notice letter.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.
Related Consumer Brand Lawsuits
Is a Cyberscout Letter Real?
The monitoring service named in this breach notice, explained
Data Breach Settlement Calculator
Rough ranges from comparable resolved breach cases
Open Class Action Settlements
Settlements taking claims right now, with deadlines
Class Action Payout Calculator
How a settlement fund divides across claimants