In December 2020, DataBreaches reported on a hacking incident involving Dental Care Alliance, a business associate to hundreds of dental practices. Commenting on the incident, DataBreaches wrote:
With all that sensitive information involved, you might think that the practice would offer remediation services to the 1,004,304 people affected but they do not seem to have made any such offer — at least not to residents of Maine.
Now they will be, it seems. Top Class Actions reports that Dental Care Alliance agreed to pay $3 million to settle litigation without admitting any wrongdoing. As described by Top Class Actions:
Under the terms of the settlement, class members can receive up to $2,000 for documented losses resulting from the data breach. This includes up to two hours of lost time at a rate of $20 per hour.
Class members are also eligible for another payment of $3,000 for additional losses if they are part of the settlement subclass. This added payment includes two additional hours of lost time at a rate of $20 per hour.
All class members can receive two free years of Identity Guard — an identity theft protection program that provides data breach notifications, dark web monitoring and $1 million in identity theft insurance. Class members may have received an activation code in their settlement notice, but may need to submit a claim to receive these benefits.
The final approval hearing for the settlement is scheduled for Sept. 1, 2022. The case is Paras v. Dental Care Alliance, LLC, Case No. 22-ev-000181, in the State Court of Fulton County, Georgia, and the deadline to file a claim is August 25, 2022.
Read more at Top Class Actions. The settlement website is http://www.dcasettlement.com/