SC law limits payout in hacking lawsuit to $600K

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Story Created: Nov 1, 2012 at 1:15 PM EDT

Story Updated: Nov 2, 2012 at 3:15 AM EDT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — One lawsuit already has been filed against South Carolina's revenue department over a hacking scandal that officials say affects millions of tax returns.

But state law limits the amount that public agencies can be ordered to pay to $600,000 per occurrence. That means that, under a single hacking incident, all the people seeking to recover money from the Department of Revenue would have to split the $600,000.

A former state lawmaker has filed a class-action lawsuit accusing the Department of Revenue and Gov. Nikki Haley of failing to protect taxpayers from the security breach.

Authorities say roughly 3.6 million personal South Carolina income tax returns were compromised after a hacker attack. Experts say this may be the largest cyber-attack against a state tax department in the nation's history.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP