Hair clinic must pay $500,000 to resolve data breach

Courts Privacy, Cyber Risk & Data Security Data Breach Class Action Settlement

On November 21, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted final approval to a $500,000 class action settlement resolving allegations that a ransomware attack and data breach exposed the personal information of over 100,000 of the defendant hair-restoration clinic’s customers. According to the order, the plaintiffs alleged that defendant violated California's consumer protection statutes by failing to: (i) protect consumers' personal information; (ii) notify them quickly enough about the breach; and (iii) monitor its network for vulnerabilities and breaches. The order provided attorneys’ fees of $262,500, and awards of $1,250 each to the class representatives.