Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Agree $8 Million Settlement to Resolve Class Action Data Breach Lawsuit
The San Francisco, CA-based law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has agreed to a $8 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit filed in response to a 2023 cyberattack and data breach.
In March 2023, the law firm that specializes in helping companies that have experienced security breaches suffered one of its own. On March 13, 2023, hackers were discovered to have gained access to its network, with the forensic investigation revealing they had access for around two weeks between February 28 and March 13, 2023, before the intrusion was detected. The personal and protected health information of 637,620 individuals was compromised; however, it took months to determine how many individuals had been affected with the last batch of notification letters mailed to affected individuals in January 2024. The affected individuals were offered 2 years of complimentary credit monitoring services.
A lawsuit was filed against Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California shortly after the announcement about the breach. The lawsuit made several allegations, including the failure to secure its systems, the failure to prevent and stop the breach, the failure to detect the breach in a timely manner, and the failure to disclose material facts that adequate system security measures were not in place to prevent data breaches. The lawsuit also alleged Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe did not honor repeated promises and representations to protect the information of the breach victims and failed to provide timely notifications. Several other lawsuits were filed over the breach that made similar claims, and they were consolidated into a single action – In re Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Data Breach Litig.
The plaintiffs alleged they had been harmed by the data breach, including receiving a flood of spam emails and phone calls, actual and attempted identity theft, and other misuse of their personal information. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has denied liability and wrongdoing and said it regretted the inconvenience and distraction that the malicious incident caused. The proposed settlement was deemed to be reasonable and fair by class counsel and has received preliminary approval from the court. Under the terms of the settlement, class counsel may claim up to 25% of the settlement amount and after costs of up to $50,000 and $2,500 service awards for the lead plaintiffs have been deducted, the remainder of the settlement will cover claims from individuals affected by the data breach.
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The settlement includes up to 5 hours of compensation for lost time at $25 per hour, reimbursement of up to $2,500 for unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses, reimbursement of up to $7,500 for extraordinary losses such as identity theft and fraud, and three years of three-bureau credit monitoring services. California residents are entitled to a cash payment of $150. If class members choose not to submit a claim for lost time and reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses and extraordinary losses, a claim may instead be submitted for a cash payment of $75.
