Top Class Actions
A couple of potentially large potential class actions filed this week.
There for the Taking. The first—and this one’s rather worrying—lawsuit to make Week Adjourned this week is a class action filed against AvMed Health Plans for data breaches of personal information.
Apparently, laptops that contained millions of AVMed’s members’ confidential medical records were left unattended and—you guessed it—the laptops were subsequently stolen and AvMed’s members’ personal records were compromised.
And yes, this situation could be your worst nightmare. The records contained AvMed members’ names, home addresses, phone numbers, Social Security Numbers, as well as other highly sensitive medical history data such as diagnosis information, medical procedure and prescription information.
A lawyer representing the plaintiffs says this is easily one of the largest medical record breaches in history, and the disastrous consequences may plague those affected for their lifetimes. Further, they believe that AvMed did not follow government-mandated HIPAA protocols. Merely taking the time to encrypt their laptops, likely would have obviated any harm done by this theft. Terrific.
The second potentially large class action is by a group of farmers alleging price fixing of magnesium oxide—a compound widely used in farming and in animal feed—by Premier Chemicals LLC, Sumitomo Corporation of America, and YAS, Inc.
Farmers Fixin’ to Fight some Fixin’. The proposed class action seeks to represent all US purchasers, such as farmers and ranchers, of magnesium oxide or products containing Continue reading “Week Adjourned: 11.19.10”