Judge approves Anthem's $115M data breach settlement

A federal district judge in California approved a $115 million settlement to resolve a 2015 data breach at Anthem that exposed 78 million members' personal information, according to Bloomberg Law.

The payer's settlement will be split among 19.1 million plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, all of whom were required to prove that their personal information was stored in the data warehouse hackers targeted. Members' Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, healthcare identification numbers and other data were affected.

Consumers may claim up to $10,000 each, with a collective cap of $15 million, to cover out-of-pocket expenses related to the breach. Plaintiffs can also receive free credit monitoring services beyond what Anthem has already provided.

"The Court finds that the Settlement is fair, adequate and reasonable," Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California wrote in her Aug. 15 opinion, which was obtained by Bloomberg Law.

The approval marks one of the largest settlements in a consumer data breach case. Anthem reached the deal June 23 without admitting any wrongdoing.

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