Settlements have received preliminary approval to resolve class action data breach complaints against Highland Health Systems and Albany Gastroenterology Consultants that stem from breaches of patient data.
Highland Health Systems Data Breach Settlement
A settlement has been agreed to resolve a class action lawsuit against the nonprofit healthcare organization Highland Health Systems, CEO Mickey Turner, and Director of Finance Allen Stokes, stemming from a July 2023 data breach.
A security incident was identified in early July 2023, in which sensitive patient data was accessed and stolen by hackers. Data compromised in the incident included patient and employee data, including names, contact information, birth dates, Social Security numbers, account numbers, payment card information, medical information, health Insurance Information, tax IDs, and other sensitive data. The affected individuals were notified about the data breach on June 13, 2024, and the data breach was reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights as involving the electronic protected health information of 83,543 individuals.
Two class action lawsuits were filed in response to the data breach, which were combined into a single action –Weyerman, et al. v. Highland Health Systems et al.– which is pending in the Circuit Court for Calhoun County, Alabama. The lawsuit alleges that the data breach was the result of the defendants’ negligence and could have been prevented if appropriate cybersecurity measures had been implemented. The lawsuit asserted claims for negligence/negligence per se, breach of express and/or implied contract, wantonness, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of confidence, and unjust enrichment…