When Are Data Breach Victims Successful in Bringing Class-Action Lawsuits?

The West Virginia Supreme Court has held data breach victims whose information was posted to a publicly accessible website have standing to sue the clinic who experienced the data breach even though no one had suffered any quantifiable economic loss as a result of the breach, according to a National Law Review report.

The West Virginia Supreme Court's holding is in direct conflict with many other state and federal courts, including a holding in April by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In that case, a federal judge dismissed a majority of the plaintiffs from a class-action lawsuit filed against TRICARE and Science Applications International Corporation, which was filed as a result of a 2011 data breach.

The 2011 breach occurred when backup tapes from an electronic health record used by TRICARE were stolen from an SAIC employee's vehicle. .The D.C. federal judge dismissed 31 of the 33 plaintiffs named in the lawsuit by stating they had not suffered an "actual injury" that was quantifiable. The court held an increased risk of identity theft due to a data breach is irrelevant, and the plaintiffs must show "harm is certainly impending."

The federal court's holding is the standard, as the most frequently relied upon defense against suits for damages for release of personal information is the plaintiff's lack of standing because the plaintiff's harm is conjectural or speculative, according to the National Law Review.

The West Virginia court did note the mere risk of future identity theft alone does not constitute an actual injury sufficient to allow plaintiffs to bring a lawsuit after being affected by a data breach. The court allowed the plaintiffs to bring their action under an invasion of privacy cause of action because under West Virginia law, invasion of privacy with no other accompanying harm is the basis for damages, according to the National Law Review.

In states with similar privacy laws as West Virginia, it may now be easier for plaintiffs to bring a lawsuit concerning data breaches.

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