Sony Reaches $4.5M Class Action Settlement Over Data Breach

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Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. will pay $4.5 million to settle a data breach class action lawsuit filed against the filmmaker by employees who had their information compromised when the company’s computer networks were hacked.

According to the motion for preliminary approval of the Sony data breach class action settlement, Sony will pay $2 million in reimbursement costs for Class Members who have spent money to protect themselves from identity theft as a result of the Sony cyberattack.

Class Members may receive up to $1,000 for claims if they have documentation and $50 without documentation. If there aren’t a large amount of claims filed, Class Members may receive a maximum of $1,500 with documentation and $500 without.

Sony will also pay for Class Members to receive identity protection services through AllClear ID for two years. As part of AllClear ID, Class Members will be automatically enrolled in AllClear Secure, which is a service that helps with “identity repair and restoration assistance.”

In addition, Class Members will have the option to enroll in AllClear PRO, which provides credit monitoring and $1 million in identify theft insurance.

Class Members who were already enrolled in AllClear’s services at Sony’s expense will receive an additional two years of identity theft protection paid by Sony. The identity theft services provided by the class action would cost $350 for Class Members, if they had to pay for them themselves.

Any of the $2 million that is left over will be split among the Class Members.

Sony will also pay $2.5 million to Class Members who did suffer losses as a result of identity theft linked to the Sony cyberattack. If there are any identity theft problems that Class Members experience that aren’t covered by AllClear PRO, they may claim up to $10,000 until December 2017.

This class action settlement is for all current and former Sony Pictures Entertainment employees as well as individuals who never worked for Sony, who had their information compromised as a result of the 2014 cyberattack.

“The proposed settlement provides significant benefits to the proposed class members that is well-tailored to the nature of the harm alleged,” Class Members wrote in their proposal to the California federal court.

The Sony data breach class action lawsuits are the result of the November cyberattack, which the U.S. government determined was linked to North Korea as the result of Sony’s pending release of the movie “The Interview,” which was supposed to be released Christmas Day.

The employees that have filed the class action lawsuits say that their personal identifiable information was compromised and released by those behind the cyberattack. They charged Sony with negligence.

The information that was allegedly compromised included names, birthdates, addresses, social security numbers, salaries, passport and visa information, medical information and employment records.

The first data breach class action lawsuit was filed against Sony in December 2014.  After additional Sony data breach class action lawsuits were filed, the law firms representing those allegedly affected by the data breach tried to have the class action lawsuits consolidated.

Sony tried to have the data breach class action lawsuits dismissed in February, saying that the employees behind the lawsuits have not suffered any harm and they do not have the standing required to sue the entertainment company.

The two parties said that they began working on the class action settlement agreement in June. The agreement was reached in September.  

The plaintiffs are represented by Matthew J. Preusch, Lynn Lincoln Sarko, Gretchen Freeman Cappio and Cari Campen Laufenberg of Keller Rohrback LLP, Daniel C. Girard, Amanda Steiner and Linh G. Vuong of Girard Gibbs LLP, and Michael W. Sobol, Roger Heller, RoseMarie Maliekel and Nicholas Diamand of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, among others.

Sony is represented by David C. Marcus, Christopher T. Casamassima, William F. Lee, Felicia H. Ellsworth, Noah Levine and Alan E. Schoenfeld of WilmerHale.

The Sony Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Michael Corona et al. v. Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-09600, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On Feb. 26, 2016, the Sony Pictures cyberattack class action lawsuit settlement is now open! Click here to file a Claim Form or visit http://www.cyberattacksettlement.com.

UPDATE 2: On Aug. 22, 2016, Top Class Actions readers who submitted “preventive measure” claims in the Sony data breach class action settlement started receiving checks worth as much as $475.17!