A Manhattan federal judge, applying new precedent from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, has found that a proposed class of General Electric Co. employees had standing to sue the company and a third-party vendor over a data breach that put their personal information in jeopardy.

The ruling, published Wednesday, adhered to the Second Circuit’s April 26 opinion in McMorris v. Carlos Lopez & Associates, which found for the first time that plaintiffs may establish Article III standing based solely on an “increased risk” of harm following the unauthorized disclosure of their data.