FORT WAYNE (Legal Newsline) - A California man and woman are suing a large medical data base over claims that negligence led to a personal identity leak.
Steve Walker and Shicola Washington, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, filed a class action lawsuit on Sept. 8 in the Northern Indiana District Court, Fort Wayne Division against Medical Informatics Engineering Inc., citing negligence and breach of contract that resulted in theft of identity.
The plaintiffs claim that defendant failed to adequately safeguard class members' personal information such as name, address, birth date, Social Security number, spousal information, phone number and medical records. They allege that on or about May 7, unauthorized third parties accessed the defendant’s network and it took 19 days for the company to discover the breach on May 26. Medical Informatics Engineering did not disclose the breach publicly until June 10, the complaint states
The plaintiffs claim that during that time, members were exposed to heightened and imminent risk of fraud and identity theft. According to the complaint, Walker received an unknown call from a suspicious solicitor inquiring about his blood pressure medicine on or around Aug. 15. This data breach has supposedly put undue duress on plaintiffs.
They are requesting jury by trial and are suing for damages for an undisclosed amount, an award of further credit monitoring paid by defendant, injunction requiring defendant to increase their data security, court costs, and other compensation as deemed fit by court.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Lyn A. Toops, Irwin B. Levin, Richard E. Shevitz and Vess A. Miller of Cohen & Malad, LLP in Indianapolis; Sherrie Savett, Shanon Carosn and Jon Lambiras of theBerger & Montague, P.C. in Philadelphia, Pa.; and Kenneth A. Wexler of Wexler & Wallace LLP in Chicago.
U.S. District Court, Northern Indiana District, Fort Wayne Division Court case number 1:15-cv-00248-RLM-SLC.