Judge Says Equifax Class Action Settlement Is Fair

A Georgia federal judge has explained why he granted final approval to an Equifax data breach settlement, saying the settlement likely gives Class Members more compensation than they could expect to receive had the Equifax class action lawsuit gone to trial.

Equifax agreed to pay $425 million to end class action claims that the credit reporting agency did not take proper steps to protect the public from a massive data breach that occurred in November 2017.

In addition to the settlement fund, Equifax has agreed to spend at least $1 billion to improve its information security.

According to Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr., the combination of both the settlement fund and the commitment to improve cybersecurity made the Equifax data breach class action settlement worthy of final approval.

Around 147 million consumers had their personal information exposed in the data breach, and around 3.3 million affected individuals have already filed benefit claims for credit monitoring services.

Per the terms of the settlement, all class members will be eligible for identity restoration services for the next seven years to help them cope with the effects of the data breach.

The judge went on to say it’s likely that all claims for out-of-pocket losses will be completely covered by the settlement fund.

The judge also noted he felt that the Equifax data breach class action settlement was fair and reasonable, stating that “the reality is that, if the court does not approve the settlement in this case, there is a serious risk that many if not all Class Members will receive nothing.”

According to the judge, the total benefits in credit monitoring, settlement funds and future Equifax security provided more than $7 billion in total benefits to Class Members.

Some Class Members did object to the settlement, but the objections represented a small portion of the settlement class, according to the judge. Judge Thrash overruled most objections on the basis that they were invalidated by procedural requirements. Allegedly, 2,770 Class Members requested to be excluded from the settlement.

The judge also requested $77.5 million to cover attorneys’ fees and $3 million to cover litigation expenses, stating that was an acceptable amount based on the amount of work that the consumers’ attorneys put into the case, the risk involved in the Equifax data breach class action lawsuit and the total settlement amount.

Have you been affected by a data breach? Let us know in the comments below.

The consumers in the multidistrict litigation and settlement are represented by co-lead counsel Amy Keller of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, Kenneth Canfield of Doffermyre Shields Canfield & Knowles LLC and Norman Siegel of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP. Barnes Law Group LLC and Evangelista Worley LLC  serve as co-liaison counsel. Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, Girard Gibbs LLP, Hausfeld LLP, Tadler Law LLP, Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, Murphy Falcon & Murphy and The Doss Firm LLC are on the plaintiffs’ steering committee. Griffin & Strong PC serves as state court coordinating counsel.

The Equifax Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Equifax Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 1:17-md-02800, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

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