A federal judge in California has dismissed a class action lawsuit brought against Alere Home Monitoring following a data breach, according to Top Class Actions.
In September 2012, a laptop containing protected health information was stolen from an Alere employee's car, according to the report. The unencrypted laptop contained patient names, addresses, birth dates, Social Security numbers and medical histories.
The lawsuit brought against Alere Home Monitoring alleged violations of the California Medical Information Act, negligence, unjust enrichment, willful violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, negligent violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and violation of California's Unfair Competition Law, according to the report.
The lawsuit sought $116 million from Alere in damages, according to a Law360 report.
When the class action lawsuit was filed, two appeals were in the California Court of Appeals. "These two California Court of Appeals decisions are the only published opinions interpreting this California statute statutory law, and plaintiffs have cited no other data that would persuade this federal court sitting in diversity that the California Supreme Court would necessarily decide the issue otherwise," wrote U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar.
The plaintiffs have 21 days to file an amended lawsuit.
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