Judge dismisses case against Singing River over massive data breach. Here’s why
A federal judge has dismissed lawsuits against Singing River Health System over a massive data breach in August 2023 that compromised the private records of close to 900,000 people.
Data exposed in the ransomware attack included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and medical information. Singing River notified a total of 895,204 individuals of the data breach, saying the health system “is unaware of any misuse of individual information” and is contacting patients “out of an abundance of caution.”
Lawsuits filed over the data breach were consolidated before Judge Sul Ozerden. In dismissing the case, Ozerden found none of the plaintiffs could show they had been directly harmed by the data breach.
While two plaintiffs said they found unauthorized charges on their checking accounts, neither of them could show the data breach was the cause. The lawsuits, which sought class-action status to represent those harmed, instead focused, in part, on credit monitoring prospective victims had to undertake and the distress the data breach caused them.
The “mere exposure of private information,” Ozerden wrote in an opinion dismissing the case, “does not constitute an injury-in-fact.”
