Premera Sued in Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit

On March 26, a proposed class lawsuit was filed in Washington federal court against Premera Blue Cross, alleging the largest insurance provider in the Pacific Northwest region demonstrated neglect when a data breach exposed 11 million consumers’ personal data.

The Premera Blue Cross class action lawsuit claims that the insurance company waited six weeks after the data breach was discovered before announcing the event on March 17. Even though, by law, Premera has 60 days to notify their health care consumers about a data breach, some notification letters may not reach consumers until as late as April 20, according to the company.

An internal investigation found that the breach had occurred on or about May 5, 2014, which means hackers had been operating undetected within Premera’s system for nearly nine months before they were discovered.

The class action lawsuit says Premera was warned by federal auditors nearly three weeks before the data breach occurred that its cyber security systems were inadequate and vulnerable to attack.

Premera’s “[f]ailure to promptly install important updates increases the risk that vulnerabilities will not be remediated and sensitive data could be breached,” the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said in its audit, which was detailed in the class action complaint. Auditors had identified 10 areas in which Premera’s systems were inadequate, including the use of computer servers that were running old applications that had known problems.

In its March 17 announcement of the hack, the health insurance provider offered to provide approximately 11 million consumers affected by the Premera Blue Cross data breach with two years of free credit monitoring and identify theft protection. However, the plaintiffs this data breach class action lawsuit claim that what Premera is offering them now does not guard consumers against insurance and tax fraud.

“What is Premera doing to safeguard against medical identity theft, inappropriate disclosure of patient clinical information, or fraudulent tax filings?” an attorney for the plaintiffs said in a statement. “This type of fraud is far more pernicious given the data types that were compromised.”

According to Premera’s internal investigation, the hackers were able to access consumers’ medical, financial, and clinical information in addition to bank account and Social Security numbers. All the information illegally accessed during the Premera cyberattack allegedly dates back to 2002 and affected Premera Blue Cross, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, Vivacity, and Connexion Insurance Solutions Inc.

The plaintiffs of the Premera class action lawsuit are seeking to represent themselves and a Class of consumers that includes:

“All persons in the United States who were insured by Premera and/or its affiliates for any period of time beginning in 2002 until January 29, 2015, and all persons in the United States who were not Premera insureds but who are or were Blue Cross Blue Shield customers and who received medical treatment in Washington or Alaska between 2002 and January 29, 2015.”

The Premera Blue Cross data breach class action lawsuit also seeks to represent a subclass of Washington state consumers whose sensitive personal information was allegedly compromised during last year’s cyberattack.

The plaintiffs are represented by Beth E. Terrell of Terrell Marshall Daudt & Willie PLLC, John A. Yanchunis of Morgan & Morga, Robin L. Greenwald and James J. Bilsborrow of Weitz & Luexenberg PC, Steven W. Teppler of Abbott Law Group PA and Joel R. Rhine of Rhine Law Firm PC.

The Premera Blue Cross Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Tennielle Cossey, et al. v. Premera Blue Cross, Case No. 2:15-cv-00472, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Join a Free Premera Blue Cross Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were insured by Premera and/or its affiliates between 2002 and Jan. 29, 2015, you may have a legal claim for compensation. This includes all individuals who fall into one of the following categories:

• Premera Blue Cross subscriber or applicant
• Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska subscriber or applicant
• Vivacity applicant, customer, or member
• Connexion applicant, customer, or member
• Individuals “doing business” with Premera
• Members of other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans who sought treatment in Washington or Alaska
• Members of LifeWise Health Plan of Oregon and other Premera subsidiaries

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