When a cyber insurance provider sues vendors after a ransomware incident, it’s not just about fault—it’s about proof. In Ace American Insurance Co. v. Congruity 360 and Trustwave, we see how courts allocate responsibility—and why the side with the best evidence often pays less (or not at all).

What Happened

CoWorx Staffing Services suffered a ransomware breach. Their insurer, Ace American (Chubb), paid the bill—over $500,000—and is now suing two vendors to recoup costs:

  • Congruity 360, who hosted the virtual servers and allegedly failed to implement multi-factor authentication (MFA).
  • Trustwave, the endpoint protection provider, who allegedly spotted the breach but never escalated the alert to CoWorx.

Why This Lawsuit Matters to You

This isn’t just about who dropped the ball. The legal process will determine how much blame each party carries, and who owes what. That’s called comparative negligence.

Explainer: Comparative Negligence

In many states, courts don't assign full blame to one party. Instead, they apportion fault as a percentage. One party might be 60% liable, another 30%, and a third 10%. Damages are then divided accordingly.

So if you’re sued—and you’re 30% responsible for a $600,000 loss—you might only owe $180,000.

That’s why evidence matters. The more clearly you can show that:

  • You did your job
  • You made the right recommendations
  • You warned the client

...the lower your percentage of liability.

What You Need in Your Corner

  • Contracts – Define the scope of your work and security responsibilities
  • Risk Acceptance – Prove the client declined protections like MFA or advanced backups
  • Forensic Records – Document alerts, log reviews, and actions taken

With Cyber Liability Guard, Galactic Advisors gives you a centralized, audit-ready portal where all of this evidence lives—so when blame is being split, you have a strong defense.

Final Thought

Comparative negligence means you may not control whether a lawsuit is filed—but you can control how much of the blame sticks to you. The side with the most documentation often walks away with the smallest bill.

If you’d like to read the Complaint that initiated the lawsuit, you can download it here.