Omni Family Health Settles Class Action Over 2024 Data Breach

Omni Family Health, a prominent healthcare provider based in Bakersfield, California, has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit related to a 2024 data breach that exposed the personal information of over nearly 470,000 people.

In August last year, Omni Family Health became aware of claims that confidential information was taken from its internal network and posted on the dark web. The healthcare provider launched an investigation to assess the impact of the claimed cyber attack.

Omni’s investigation revealed the data posted on the dark web included personal information of its patients and employees. A filing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights revealed that at least 468,344 individuals were impacted by the data security incident.

A class action lawsuit was filed against the healthcare provider, alleging that Omni Family Health was responsible for a data security incident. Omni, however, denied all allegations and affirmed its commitment to safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of personal information.

Omni Family Health chose to settle the litigation to avoid the time, cost, risk, and uncertainty of a trial and potential appeals. As part of the settlement, Omni Family Health has agreed to create a $6,500,000 fund. From this amount, approximately $2.2 million will cover attorneys’ fees and expenses, $30,000 will be allocated for class representative awards ($1,500 each for 20 named plaintiffs), and the remaining funds will go toward settlement notification and administration costs. 

The balance will be distributed as benefits to the class members.

Omni Family Health also committed to updating its business practices and implementing a number of security improvements to help prevent similar incidents in the future. These security enhancements will be funded separately and will not be paid from the settlement fund.