COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A judge has dismissed Gov. Nikki Haley and the state's former revenue director from a lawsuit over a massive security breach at South Carolina's tax collection agency.
But Circuit Judge G. Thomas Cooper said Thursday he needed more time to consider requests to dismiss the case against Haley's office, the Department of Revenue, South Carolina's Division of Information Technology and a private data security company.
Former state Sen. John Hawkins' lawsuit accuses the agencies of failing to protect taxpayers.
The cyber-thief who hacked into the agency's computer servers last year took unencrypted data from 3.8 million individual tax filers and 700,000 businesses in the nation's largest hacking of a state agency.
Attorneys for the state say the case should be halted while law enforcement officials continue their criminal investigation.
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