Florida’s Watson Clinic decided to settle its class action litigation involving a January 2024 data breach that affected 280,278 people for $10,000,000. The threat actors stole sensitive information, such as digital images, and listed them on the dark web.
The medical group located in Lakeland provides services to about one million individuals every year and has approximately 1,600 team members and 350 medical practitioners. On February 6, 2024, Watson Clinic discovered unauthorized access to its computer network. The forensic investigation verified that the attackers first obtained access to its system on January 26.
The assessment of the compromised data showed that they included the protected health information (PHI) of present and old patients, such as names, birth dates, addresses, government identifiers, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, financial account details, and medical details, such as medical record numbers, diagnoses, treatments, and pre- and/or post-surgical medically necessary pictures.
Watson Clinic acquired the data from third-party file analysis in July 2024, reported the data breach in August 2024, and mailed breach notifications to the impacted persons. After that, plaintiff Charles Viviani submitted the first class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Plaintiff David Thorpe filed another class action lawsuit in the same court. Both lawsuits were combined as the Viviani v. Watson Clinic, LLP lawsuit. Watson Clinic sent more breach notifications in February 2025 after further investigation into the scope of the incident.
The litigation mentioned claims of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, breach of implied contract, and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Watson Clinic rejects all material claims and arguments in the case and charges of liability or wrongdoing. Though Watson Clinic thinks it has a good defense against all allegations, the litigation would probably be prolonged and high-priced, and any lawsuit has built-in problems. As a result, the clinic opted to negotiate the lawsuit. The class lawyer thinks the settlement is ideal for all class members.
Watson Clinic decided to set up a $10,000,000 fund for payment of lawyers’ fees and expenses, settlement management and notification costs, and plaintiffs’ service awards. There are more class members’ benefits than other class action settlements, which include up to $75,000 cash payments for a number of class members, according to the types of digital photos uploaded to the dark web.
Class members whose digital photos were posted on the dark web will be given a check without needing to submit a claim. The payout amounts are stated in the table below. Class members can collect one of the payments below, whichever is higher.
Types of Published Digital Photos and Compensation Amounts
- Full face and open sensitive areas – $75,000
- Partial face and uncovered sensitive parts – $40,000
- No face and open sensitive areas – $10,000
- Whole face and sensitive parts with partial clothing – $10,000
- Part of the face and sensitive parts with partial clothing – $7,500
- No face and incomplete clothes of sensitive parts – $5,000
- Non-sensitive – $100
Besides the one-off cash payments, class members can also claim these benefits:
- Repayment of recorded, unreimbursed ordinary losses $500
- Refund of recorded, unreimbursed extraordinary losses and valid lost time $6,500, which includes about 5 hours of lost time worth $25 an hour
- Residual cash payment $50*
*The residual cash payments are going to be computed pro rata after subtracting the costs and expenditures from the settlement fund, and digital photo breach cash payments and claims for reimbursement of losses were settled. The funds will be split equally among the class members choosing to collect a residual cash payment. The maximum cash payment is $50, although it could be less, subject to the number of legitimate claims.
The last day for objection to and exemption from the settlement deal is January 6, 2025. The due date to file a claim is February 5, 2025, and the date of the final fairness hearing is March 9, 2025. Additional data is available on the settlement webpage: https://watsondatasettlement.com/
