Grayson Wells, a member of Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, PLLC, has been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the In re: Instructure Data Breach Litigation putative class action, filed in May 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.
The lawsuit stems from an April 2026 data breach involving Canvas — Instructure’s web-based learning management system used by schools, educators and students to access and manage online course materials and communicate about learning and academic achievement.
“It is an honor to have been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and to work with my fellow appointees to represent the individual users impacted by the data breach,” Wells said. “Together, and at the direction of the court-appointed co-lead counsel, we will work to litigate this matter competently and efficiently — and help bring this case to a positive conclusion that supports and benefits the class members who entrusted Instructure with sensitive personally identifiable information.”
According to the plaintiffs, the breach compromised sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) stored within Canvas LMS databases. Cybercriminal group Shiny Hunters claimed responsibility for exfiltrating user data. While the breach reportedly did not involve Instructure’s core infrastructure, the plaintiffs allege that confidential user information was accessed from an estimated 275 million records associated with approximately 8,800 institutions worldwide.
The plaintiffs allege that Instructure failed to properly secure and safeguard private information entrusted to the company, including its responsibility to appropriately store and transfer that information.
To efficiently manage the litigation, the court established three separate tracks:
- Track 1 for individual users;
- Track 2 for school districts; and
- Track 3 for educators.
In August, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby directed attorneys in the action to apply for leadership positions. Wells is one of six attorneys that the court appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for Track 1, which represents individual users.