A federal judge has approved a $2.4 million class action settlement for a data breach by a Harrison medical management company whose patients’ personal records were compromised.
Patients of Somnia Inc., a privately held company that manages anesthesia services at more than a hundred surgery centers and medical offices across the country, claimed in 2022 that more than 400,000 people were affected by the security breach, including 707 patients served by a Somnia affiliate at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow.
The $2,425,000 settlement fund “provides for payments to claimants who can demonstrate that they suffered an out-of-pocket loss that is plausibly traceable to the security incident,” U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern stated in an April 28 order.
Nine patients of various Somnia affiliates filed several class action lawsuits that were consolidated in White Plains federal court. The complaints were filed within months of the company discovering the data breach in summer 2022.
Cybersecurity experts hired by the company found that some patient information “may have been compromised,” according to the lawsuits, including names, Social Security numbers, health insurance accounts, diagnoses, and treatments.
Somnia offered patients free credit monitoring services.
But Somnia waited too long to notify government authorities about the breach, according to the lawsuits, and failed to disclose exactly what information was stolen, how many patients were compromised, how long the incursion lasted and how quickly the company responded.
After 18 months of litigation and after reaching a detailed understanding of Somnia’s finances, judge Halpern found, attorneys for both sides negotiated a fair and reasonable settlement of $2,425,000.
He awarded $1 million to the lawyers who represented the patients, plus $50,295 in litigation expenses. The attorneys and their staff expended 1,132 hours on the case, thus making about $883 an hour for their work.
Halpern found that the lawyers were skilled at handling the factually and legally complex case and that the award was squarely in line with legal fees awarded in similar cases.
Todd S. Garber and Andrew C. White of Finkelstein, Blankenship, Frei-Pearson & Garber, White Plains, were part of the class action team. Firms from Manhattan, Chicago, Tampa, and San Francisco also participated.
Judge Halpern approved $1,000 service awards to the nine individuals who sued Somnia.
Somnia was represented by William P. Harrington, Susan E. Galvão, and Adam Rodriguez of Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, White Plains, and by a Cleveland, Ohio firm.
