http://www.csoonline.com/article/704288/law-firms-see-big-money-in-healthcare-breach-cases By Taylor Armerding CSO April 16, 2012 Cybercriminals are not the only ones looking to make money from health data breaches. In California, where a unique state law provides for damages of $1,000 per person per violation of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act of 1981 (CMIA), plaintiff law firms are lining up to file privacy data breach class-action lawsuits against hospitals, medical service providers and health insurers that, if successful, could easily yield payouts in the multiple millions. The San Francisco-based legal publication The Recorder reported April 6 that at least a half-dozen plaintiff firms had filed complaints for privacy breaches so far, seeing it as a lucrative new source of income. Brian Kabateck of the Los Angeles plaintiffs firm Kabateck Brown Kellner told The Recorder, "There's an awful lot at stake here." Indeed, a suit pending against St. Joseph Health System involves the exposure of medical information of about 31,800 patients. At $1,000 each, even if only one violation is involved, it is simple math to see that would yield damages of $31.8 million. But there is considerable distance between that gleam in a law firm's eye and reality. The attorneys filing the complaints and the attorneys defending their targets agree that they are in untested legal waters. Filing privacy breach cases as class actions is new, and all those involved say new legal precedents will be made in the next several years. [...] _______________________________________________ LayerOne Security Conference May 26-27, Clarion Hotel, Anaheim, CA http://www.layerone.orgReceived on Mon Apr 16 2012 - 23:59:18 PDT
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