Quantcast

FLORIDA RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

21st Century Oncology Holdings Inc. allegedly failed to safeguard patients' private information

Broadband

FORT MYERS — Two individuals have filed a class-action lawsuit against a medical facility for allegedly failing to protect personal information that resulted in hackers accessing private data.

Veneta Delucchi and Bradley Bernius filed a complaint individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated Sept. 9 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division, against 21st Century Oncology Holdings Inc., alleging that the cancer care services breached its duty to exercise reasonable care in safeguarding private information.

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that on Oct. 3, 2015, named plaintiffs Veneta Delucchi and Bradley Bernius, and other class members, were victims of a data breach after thieves hacked into the defendant's database. The defendant supposedly found out about the data breach when the FBI notified it of the breach more than a month later, which resulted in the purported disclosure of the plaintiffs' highly sensitive information including names, social security numbers, medical diagnoses and insurance information. The plaintiffs allegedly suffered injury from anxiety, stress, loss of privacy and loss of control over their private information. 

The plaintiffs hold 21st Century Oncology Holdings Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to maintain adequate security measures to protect themselves from a data breach, failed to protect the confidentiality of the plaintiffs and failed to implement auditing procedures to detect and halt the unauthorized extraction of data.

The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek judgment in their favor, to certify the case as a class action, damages, restitution, disgorgement, injunctive and declaratory relief, costs, experts' fees, attorneys' fees, interest and equitable relief that the court may find just. They are represented by Robert C. Gilbert of Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert in Coral Gables; Gretchen Freeman Cappio, Cari Campen Laufenberg and Amy N. L. Hanson of Keller Rohrback LLP in Seattle; and Daniel C. Girard, Jordan Elias, Esfand Y. Nafisi and Linh G. Vuong of Girard Gibbs LLP in San Francisco.

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division, case number 16-cv-00695

More News