Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On August 25, 2017, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh signed an order granting preliminary approval of the record class action settlement agreed to by Anthem Inc. this past June. The settlement arose out of a 2015 data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 78 million individuals, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and health care ID numbers. The terms of the settlement include, among other things, the creation of a pool of funds to provide credit monitoring and reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs for customers, as well as up to $38 million in attorneys’ fees. Anthem will also be required to make certain changes to its data security systems and cybersecurity practices for at least three years.

In granting preliminary approval of the settlement agreement, the court stated that the terms of the settlement “fall within the range of possible approval as fair, reasonable, and adequate” and also preliminarily certified the settlement class. KCC, the settlement administrator designated by the parties, will provide notice of the proposed settlement to class members by October 30. After notice is completed, class members will have the opportunity to object or opt-out of the settlement until December 29, 2017. The final approval hearing will be held on February 1, 2018.