Cancer Patients Seek OK For $8M Data Breach Deal

Cancer patients recently proposed an $8 million settlement deal with a cancer treatment provider to resolve allegations of a large data breach.

Patients who received cancer treatment from 21st Century Oncology have asked the court to approve the $8 million settlement fund to resolve claims that the cancer treatment center failed to protect patient information in a 2015 data breach.

Under the terms of the settlement, a $7.85 million non-revisionary settlement fund will be established to provide cash payments to affected cancer patients. However, the patients note that the actual value of the settlement could be much higher considering the non-monetary benefits provided.

For example, the settlement deal proposes two years of credit monitoring and insurance services to affected cancer patients. Even if only 1% to 4% of Class Members file a claim for these benefits, the settlement value could reportedly skyrocket to between $16.1 million and $42.7 million.

“Given a settlement class of more than 2.2 million individuals, this is an enormous benefit in savings to settlement class members obtaining similar, or even inferior, credit monitoring products on their own,” the cancer patients state in their settlement motion.

In addition to credit monitoring and other benefits, Class Members could collect cash payments of $40 for two hours of time used to mitigate the consequences of the data breach. Additional payments of up to $260 will be available if Class Members can document up to 13 hours of lost time. Finally, up to $10,000 in reimbursement will be available for expenses directly related to the data breach – including fraudulent charges, fees, and more.

21st Century Oncology is a cancer treatment provider with 181 centers across the country – making it one of the largest centers in the United States. 145 of these centers are reportedly located in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, and several other states.

In these states, 21st Century Oncology has reportedly been providing cancer treatment for more than 30 years – caring for countless cancer patients in their time of need. Unfortunately, the cancer treatment center allegedly failed to protect their patients when faced with a modern threat – a data breach.

Cancer patients filed their class action lawsuit against 21st Century Oncology in 2016 – challenging the company’s response to a 2015 data breach.

Allegedly, the breach occurred in October 2015 and exposed sensitive information such as names, Social Security numbers, physicians’ names, treatment information, medical diagnoses, and insurance information.

Despite learning of the incident in November 2015, 21st Century allegedly failed to warn cancer patients of the data breach until March 2016.

Although the company blamed this delay on a FBI investigation and direction to delay the announcement, the cancer patients argued that they deserved to know as soon as possible that their information was compromised.

The plaintiffs noted that, in the months following a data breach, time is valuable. This time can be used to proactively monitor credit reports, change passwords, and take other action to protect from fraud. Without this valuable time, cancer patients were allegedly denied the ability to proactively protect themselves.

21st Century cancer treatment center has not admitted any wrongdoing but has agreed to resolve the claims against them in this proposed settlement deal. In the four years of litigation since cancer patients filed their claims against 21st Century, the allegations have survived several contentious motions including a motion to dismiss, 21st Century’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, a bankruptcy court settlement, and a separate lawsuit regarding insurance coverage. After over two years of settlement negotiations including three mediation attempts and two mediators, the company has agreed to provide at least $12.5 million in benefits.

If the court finds that the settlement terms are fair and reasonable, the settlement will be able to move forward and proposed Class Members will be eligible to file claims for credit monitoring and insurance services.

What do you think of the cancer patients’ proposed settlement deal? Would you benefit from the settlement? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

The plaintiffs and proposed settlement Class are represented by attorneys from Keller Rohrback LLP, Robinson Calcagnie Inc., Motley Rice LLC, Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert, The Whittemore Law Group PA, Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, Gilman Law LLP, Girard Sharp LLP, Girardi & Keese, Keller Grover LLP and Colson Hicks Eidson PA.

The Cancer Patients Treatment Class Action Lawsuit is In re: 21st Century Oncology Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 8:16-md-02737, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

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