Total Health Care, a health plan based out of Detroit, Michigan, announced a data breach that compromised the personal information of health plan members and physician partners. Those responsible for the cyberattack gained access to employee email accounts.
The Total Health Care data breach was limited to email accounts, accessed by between December 16, 2020 and February 5, 2021. No evidence was found to suggest any protected health information was viewed or misused, but emails in the accounts contained names, addresses, dates of birth, member IDs, claims information, and Social Security numbers.
Affected Total Heath Care clients have been offered free credit monitoring services for up to two years, and additional security awareness has been stressed in the wake of the breach. However, plaintiffs in a filed class action say that is not enough to satisfy those affected by the hack.
The breach, reported to the HHS, affected 221,454 individuals connected with Total Health Care.
The rise of healthcare hacks have left millions of patients vulnerable to stolen medical records and identity theft. The vast majority of hospitals and health insurance companies have reported medical record data breaches, and although it is unknown what can be done with medical data, patient’s financial data and personal information can easily be used in nefarious ways.
With the rise of electronic medical data storage in place of old paper files, there are more and more instances of healthcare related security breach incidents and subsequent class action lawsuits.
An experienced class action attorney can determine if you are eligible to file a data breach lawsuit or join a class of plaintiffs. A lawyer can assist in determining the following:
Please complete the form below for a FREE consultation.
ABOUT THE LYON FIRM
Joseph Lyon has 17 years of experience representing individuals in complex litigation matters. He has represented individuals in every state against many of the largest companies in the world.
The Firm focuses on single-event civil cases and class actions involving corporate neglect & fraud, toxic exposure, product defects & recalls, medical malpractice, and invasion of privacy.
NO COST UNLESS WE WIN
The Firm offers contingency fees, advancing all costs of the litigation, and accepting the full financial risk, allowing our clients full access to the legal system while reducing the financial stress while they focus on their healthcare and financial needs.
Without data breach class actions, large corporate defendants would be able to cause small amounts of harm over a large group of individuals without any risk of monetary penalty.
Holding companies accountable for poor cybersecurity and data theft incidents helps ensure that consumers are better protected in the future.
Yes, in most cases. However, each case is different, but some recent lawsuits have proven to be quite valuable. In one data breach suit, Ohio Attorney General and attorneys general in other states obtained a $17.5 million settlement against The Home Depot due to a data breach in 2014. The settlement resolves a multistate data breach which exposed the payment card information of approximately 40 million Home Depot consumers.
The Home Depot data breach made vulnerable the company’s self-checkout point-of-sale system. In addition to the $17.5 million settlement, The Home Depot has agreed to improve network security and maintain data security practices in order to strengthen its data security program and protect the personal information of consumers.
Under current privacy law the firm or organization that is storing user data are responsible for data breaches and will pay any fines or damages that are the result of legal action. The actual data holder—an organization that provides cloud storage—is not usually legally implicated or held responsible in litigation.
The majority of data breach incidents are accidental, and not actually hacking events. Outside threats do pose personal data risks for consumers, though the bigger risk is the internal security and cloud-based data network. Some common ways data can be compromised include:
Luxottica, the eyewear company that produces popular brands like Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Armani, Bulgari, Chanel, Prada, Ferrari, Michael Kors, Burberry, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Miu Miu, and Tory Burch, suffered a ransomware attack which affected the company worldwide. The data breach has exposed the personal and protected health information of more than 829,000 LensCrafters, Target Optical, and EyeMed patients.
Luxottica operates eyecare providers like Pearle Vision, LensCrafters, and EyeMed, and the retail outlet Sunglass Hut. A security professional said that no data had been stolen during the malware attack, but after Luxottica determined on August 28 that the attacker gained access to patients’ personal information.
The exposed information includes personal data and protected health information, including medical histories of clients. For some patients, credit card numbers and social security numbers may have been exposed.
Privacy laws are meant to protect patients’ personal health data, and when institutions fail to protect personal data they may be sued for damages. In recent years much health data has been leaked and stolen, causing significant damages to plaintiffs who have have taken legal action.
In a recent case the American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) settled with nearly 21 million people in 40 states and Washington D.C. concerning a data breach that may have exposed their personal information. The breach, which occurred in 2018, lasted nearly a year until official notice of the intrusion.
An unauthorized user gained access to the AMCA internal data system and collected the personal information, including Social Security numbers, financial information, and personal health information, such as medical tests and diagnostic codes.
Quest Diagnostics was alerted that the hack exposed the personal medical data of 11.9 million of its patients. LabCorp had 7.7 million patients exposed. A number of class action lawsuits were filed throughout the country, alleging negligence, breach of contract, and a variety privacy violations concerning data security.
A Class Action is a lawsuit brought by an individual on behalf of all other similarly situated individuals. Rule 23 of the Federal and State Rules of Civil Procedure allows for Class Action lawsuits to resolve disputes in an efficient format.
Class Actions are typically filed when the amount of money in dispute for a single plaintiff would not justify litigating the case, but where the amount of damages of the entire class of Plaintiffs would justify the cost of litigation. Without class actions, large corporate defendants would be able to cause small amounts of harm over a large group of individuals without any risk of monetary penalty.
In order for a case to be certified as a Class Action, the Court must determine that the case is appropriate for class action treatment under Rule 23. There are different elements depending on whether the case is seeking monetary or injunctive relief. In general, the Court must find the following elements are satisfied:
Filing Class Action lawsuits is a complex and serious legal course and can carry monetary sanctions if proper legal course is not followed. The Lyon Firm is dedicated to assisting injured plaintiffs work toward a financial solution to assist in compensating for medical expenses or other damages sustained.
We work with law firms across the country to provide the most resources possible and to build your case into a valuable settlement. The current legal environment is favorable for consumers involved in data breach class actions, deceptive marketing lawsuits, TCPA telemarketing claims, and financial negligence claims.
CINCINNATI HYDE PARK OFFICE
2754 Erie AveCLEVELAND OFFICE
6105 Parkland Boulevard