Federal lawsuits related to a data breach affecting more than 1 million Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger patients are expected to be consolidated into a class action, PennLive reported July 29.
A filing on July 26 in the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania reveals that both plaintiffs' and defendants' attorneys agree this is the most effective approach. According to the news outlet, 10 lawsuits have been filed and they all seek to be treated as a class action.
The case for consolidation is that it would prevent redundancy, as the facts, defendants and potential witnesses are identical across the lawsuits.
The lawsuits stem from a Nov. 29 data breach in which Geisinger allegedly found that an ex-employee from vendor Nuance Communications accessed information related to more than 1 million of its patients.
Geisinger notified patients of the incident on June 24 and the ex-employee, Max Vance, is awaiting trial.