Posted onJune 3, 2015byHenry Sneath|Comments Off on Pittsburgh Court Rules on Data Breach Class Claims – Denying Cause of Action
Posted By Henry M. Sneath,Chair of the Cybersecurity and Data Breach Prevention and Response Team at Pittsburgh, Pa. law firm Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, P.C. hsneath@psmn.com or 412-288-4013
A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Judge has ruled at the trial court level that there is no private cause of action for the alleged failure of a major hospital network to secure and protect PII and PHI. Denying Class claims, Judge Wettick has ruled that because the legislature has not created such a right, that only the Pennsylvania Attorney General has the right to bring a claim in this circumstance. See the Legal Intelligencer article here: http://tinyurl.com/nphostc We will get more details on this case and pass them along with our analysis.
Posted onMay 21, 2015byHenry Sneath|Comments Off on Business Leaders Rank Cyber Risk #2 on List of Main Concerns
Posted By Henry M. Sneath,Chair of the Cybersecurity and Data Breach Prevention and Response Teamat Pittsburgh, Pa. law firm Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, P.C. hsneath@psmn.com or 412-288-4013
Travelers Indemnity and Insurance released its annual Business Risk Index, which is a survey of the concerns of business leaders and decision makers. Not surprisingly, for 2015, Cyber Risk moved up to the number 2 concern on that list, right behind rising healthcare costs. In some industry sectors it is the number 1 concern. The Banking and Financial Services, Professional Services, and Technology sectors each ranked cyber risks as the main driver of sleepless nights. The chart on page 3 of the survey is very instructional as to the different concerns between small, medium and large businesses. Small businesses have less concern about data breach than larger businesses, but perhaps small businesses are overlooking their vulnerability and attractiveness as targets. If they care less, they will likely protect less, and become easy targets for hackers. It should be a huge concern for all businesses in all industries as no one appears immune. If you data store or deal in Personal Identifiable Information (PII) or Personal Health Information (PHI) as part of your business, then you are a valuable target. If you have financial or credit information, or trade secrets to protect, then perhaps your competitors, foreign governments and political hackers want to look inside your data. Many insurers are now offering Cyber Risk Insurance to provide defense and indemnity against these risks. Every business should have a data breach prevention and response team of employees and outside consultants and lawyers to audit the company’s vulnerability and to set the plan for a response when a breach occurs. See the complete Travelers Business Risk Index at: https://www.travelers.com/prepare-prevent/risk-index/business/index.aspx
Posted onMarch 20, 2015byHenry Sneath|Comments Off on Target Agrees to Settle Class Claims Over 2013 Data Breach for $10M
Posted By Henry M. Sneath,Chair of the Cybersecurity and Data Breach Prevention and Response Team at Pittsburgh, Pa. law firm Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, P.C. hsneath@psmn.com or 412-288-4013
Target Corp. agrees to settle the 2013 data breach class claims prior to argument on class certification. Lead plaintiff’s counsel admitted the uphill battle he faced to obtain class certification due primarily to the difficulty in these consumer data breach cases of proving commonality of claims. This settlement, which still needs court approval for its proposed $10M payout, will not settle claims by commercial entities, but only individual consumer claims. Here is a good article with more detail from the National Law Journal. We will continue to follow this settlement and the handling of the commercial claims as this blog increases our focus on Cybersecurity and Data Breach Prevention and Response issues.
On March 3, 2015, the Third Circuit heard oral argument in FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (No. 14-3514) on the novel issue of whether or not the Federal Trade Commission can sue a company for failing to properly secure consumer data. The case arose when the FTC sued Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, after Russian hackers broke into the Wyndham’s computer network and stole the credit card information for thousands of customers. The FTC filed the suit based on its authority under federal law to patrol unfair business practices. The Wyndham Hotel contends that its cybersecurity system is outside the realm of the FTC’s authority and that the FTC had not given notice about what the law would require with regard to corporate data security practices. The case reached the Third Circuit after the District for New Jersey denied the Wyndham’s motion to dismiss, and the Wyndham filed an interlocutory appeal. The panel’s, consisting of Judge Thomas Ambro and Senior Judges Anthony Scirica and Jane Roth, interest in the novel issue was apparent from the fact that oral argument lasted twice as long as the allotted time and the Court requested supplemental briefing.
See this article for additional information (subscription required). A recording of the oral argument can be found here at the 3rd Circuit’s website.
Contact our Pittsburgh Intellectual Property, Cyber and Data Security, Trade Secret, DTSA and Technology Attorneys at Houston Harbaugh, P.C. through IP and Litigation Sections Chair Henry M. Sneath at 412-288-4013 or sneathhm@hh-law.com. While focusing first on health care and prevention issues for family, friends and employees, we are also beginning to examine the overall Covid Law related issues in business litigation, contract force majeure, trusts and estates litigation and insurance coverage issues that will naturally follow the economic disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some posts herein are from the HH-Law resources of PSMN® and PSMNLaw®. Business Litigation. Pittsburgh Strong® and DTSALaw®, PSMN® and PSMNLaw® are federally registered trademarks of HH-Law. See Firm Website at: https://www.hh-law.com/Professionals/Henry-Sneath.shtml
A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Judge has ruled at the trial court level that there is no private cause of action for the alleged failure of a major hospital network to secure and protect PII and PHI. Denying Class claims, Judge Wettick has ruled that because the legislature has not created such a right, that only the Pennsylvania Attorney General has the right to bring a claim in this circumstance. See the Legal Intelligencer article here: http://tinyurl.com/nphostc We will get more details on this case and pass them along with our analysis.
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