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District Court approves contact tracing suit settlement

Courts Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security Covid-19 Class Action Settlement

Courts

On October 31, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted plaintiffs’ motion for attorneys' fees, expenses, and service awards related to a class action settlement alleging that an internet platform (defendant) violated the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, as well as other state laws through its “contact tracing” system that operated on consumers’ mobile devices. According to the motion, the defendant co-designed a digital contact tracing system to combat the spread of COVID-19 on mobile devices using the defendant’s mobile device operating system. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant unlawfully exposed confidential medical information and personally identifying information through this system. Furthermore, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant's system was "fundamentally flawed in its design and implementation" because it left users’ private medical and personally identifying information unprotected on mobile device “system logs” to which the defendant and third parties had routine access. Under the terms of the settlement, class counsel will receive approximately $1.95 million in attorneys’ fees and $56,457.44 in expenses. Additionally, the defendant must pay service awards to class representatives.