Taconic Employee W-2 Data Breach Class Action Settlement

A settlement has been reached ending allegations that Taconic employees’ personal information was exposed in a W-2 data breach class action lawsuit.

Current and former Taconic employees whose personally identifying information, such as name, address, or Social Security number, was exposed in a data breach that occurred around Jan. 30, 2017, could get up to $3,000 from this settlement.

Employees of the bioscience company that specializes in animal models for research alleged Taconic failed to properly secure their W-2 information.

The lead plaintiffs accused the Human Resources department of falling for a phishing scam that exposed Taconic employee W-2 information to hackers.

The Taconic employee W-2 data breach class action lawsuit claimed that an HR employee fell prey to an email purporting to be from the company’s Chief Executive Officer. The email requested access to employee W-2 information, but it was from a hacker.

According to the class action lawsuit, the Taconic W-2 data breach exposed the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and income information of nearly 700 workers. Though the breach occurred on Jan. 30, 2017, current and former employees were not notified until Feb. 13, 2017.

The plaintiffs alleged that they and other Class Members had to implement additional security measures to protect themselves from identity theft and fraud because of the Taconic employee W-2 data breach.

The Taconic class action lawsuit alleged that the breach occurred despite similar experiences in previous years and that the company failed to adequately train Human Resource employees to identify and avoid phishing scams.

Through Taconic admits no wrongdoing, it agreed to settle the class action lawsuit.

Under the terms of the Taconic employee W-2 data breach class action settlement, Class Members may sign up for credit protection, receive reimbursement for time and energy spent protecting themselves from the breach, as well as reimbursement for losses caused by identity theft or fraud they experienced because of the breach.

Taconic will provide two years of Experian credit protection service. Additionally, Class Members can claim up to five different types of cash payments based on the damages they suffered, including tax fraud, out-of-pocket expenses, and identity theft. Claims for cash payments cannot exceed $3,000.

All Class Members must submit Claim Forms. Class Members seeking cash reimbursement must provide proof of the damages and/or a statement verifying that they spent time dealing with the effects of the Taconic employee W-2 data breach.

The deadline for Class Members to exclude themselves from the settlement is May 9, 2019. The deadline to object is June 10, 2019.

Who’s Eligible

“All current and former employees of Taconic whose W-2 data was compromised as a result of the Data Disclosure which occurred on or about January 30, 2017.”

Potential Award

Up to $3,000 depending on the time and costs incurred.

Claim A: Class Members who had a fraudulent tax return filed after Jan. 30, 2017, will be eligible for a payment of $150 per tax return year.

Claim B: Class Members who experienced identity theft following the data breach can claim $100 per incident, in addition to out-of-pocket expenses available under Claim E.

Claim C: Class Members who qualify for money from Claim A or Claim B and spent at least one hour of time resolving the tax fraud or other identity theft incident, may submit a claim for time spent dealing with the effects of the data breach and be reimbursed $25 per hour, for a max of 10 hours.

Claim D: Class Members who do not qualify for cash under Claim A or Claim B and spent at least one hour of time in dealing with the effects of the data breach may submit a claim for up to 3 hours of their time at $25 per hour.

Claim E: Class Members who can provide documented, out-of-pocket financial losses that are connected to the data breach may claim reimbursement for those losses up to $3,000.

“Before submitting a claim for reimbursement of expenses in Category E as described above, Settlement Class Members who previously enrolled in Experian’s ProtectMyID service offered by Taconic must attest to have first submitted their claim to Experian and have that claim denied or exhausted.”

Proof of Purchase

All Class Members must submit a Claim Form. Class Members seeking cash reimbursement must provide documentation and/or a self-verifying statement about the time spend dealing with the data breach.

Claim Form

CLICK HERE TO FILE A CLAIM »

NOTE: If you do not qualify for this settlement do NOT file a claim.

Remember: you are submitting your claim under penalty of perjury. You are also harming other eligible Class Members by submitting a fraudulent claim. If you’re unsure if you qualify, please read the FAQ section of the Settlement Administrator’s website to ensure you meet all standards (Top Class Actions is not a Settlement Administrator). If you don’t qualify for this settlement, check out our database of other open class action settlements you may be eligible for.

Claim Form Deadline

07/15/2020

Case Name

Denier, et al. v. Taconic Biosciences Inc., Case No. 00255851, in the New York Supreme Court, County of Rensselaer

Final Hearing

07/15/2019

Settlement Website

www.TaconicBiosciencesSettlement.com

Claims Administrator

Taconic Claims Administrator
c/o Epiq
P.O. Box 3669
Portland OR, 97208-3669
1-877-845-8130

Class Counsel

MCNAMEE LOCHNER PC

FARACI LANGE LLC

Defense Counsel

BAKER & HOSTETLER LLP