A second federal judge has recommended the dismissal of a second proposed class action lawsuit against Catholic hospital chain CommonSpirit over a 2022 cyberattack and data breach that affected nearly 624,000 people. Both judges said the plaintiffs failed to show how they were harmed by the breach.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Prose’s recommendation on April 16 to dismiss the proposed class action lawsuit filed in April 2023 by plaintiff Bonnie Maser was based on the plaintiff’s lack of Article III standing, finding that Maser did not prove that recent bank fraud she suffered was tied to the CommonSpirit breach.
That decision is at least the second time a federal court has ruled to dismiss litigation filed against Chicago-based CommonSpirit related to the organization’s October 2022 ransomware attack due to lack of standing.
While dismissing a case for lack of Article III standing is nothing new in lawsuits stemming from ransomware attacks, McGee’s reporting makes clear that there are other recent class action lawsuits that have succeeded in defeating defendants’ “routine lack-of-standing challenges.”
