The U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska granted an unopposed motion to consolidate three related cases under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(a), designating Gross v. Banner Capital Bank (Case No. 7:26-cv-5007) as the lead case. The court also appointed interim co-lead class counsel under Rule 23(g) to represent the putative class.
The consolidation addresses three cases arising from an alleged unauthorized third-party access to the bank's computer network between August 20, 2025, and September 11, 2025. Plaintiffs Leslie Gross, Jason Brown, and Erica Rankin brought the suits, which allege the access compromised their sensitive personal identifiable information.
The parties agreed that consolidation was appropriate and would serve the interests of convenience, judicial economy, and cost reductions, noting that they seek the same type of remedies for injuries resulting from the data breach.
The court appointed Laura Van Note of Cole & Van Note, Carl V. Malmstrom of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLC, and Leigh S. Montgomery of Ellzey Kherkher Sanford Montgomery LLP as interim co-lead class counsel. The order cited the attorneys' experience in data security and privacy class actions, referencing briefs and resumes showing Van Note's firm has served as court-appointed counsel in dozens of data breach matters, Malmstrom has over 17 years of class action experience, and Montgomery has more than 16 years of litigation experience.
The court noted that plaintiffs received notice of the breach around March 6, 2026, and assumed more lawsuits arising from the same incident could be forthcoming.
Plaintiffs have 30 days to file a consolidated amended complaint in the lead case. The defendant will have 30 days after that filing to answer or respond. After the plaintiffs file their consolidated amended complaint, the clerk is directed to administratively close the two member cases.
The order instructs counsel to use the court's CM/ECF "spread text" feature for most filings in the lead case to automatically file documents in the member cases, though complaints, answers, and notices of appeal must be filed separately in each case.