Watson Clinic Agrees to $10 Million Data Breach Settlement
Florida’s Watson Clinic has agreed to pay $10,000,000 to settle class action litigation over a January 2024 data breach that affected 280,278 individuals. The hackers stole sensitive data, including digital images, and posted them on the dark web.
The Lakeland-based medical group serves approximately one million patients annually and employs around 1,600 team members and 350 physicians. Watson Clinic identified unauthorized access to its computer network on February 6, 2024, and the forensic investigation confirmed that hackers first gained access to its network on January 26.
The review of the exposed files confirmed that they contained the protected health information of current and former patients, including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, government identifiers, driver’s license numbers, financial account information, and medical information, including diagnoses, treatments, medical record numbers, and pre- and/or post-operative medically necessary images.
Watson Clinic received the results of the third-party file review in July 2024, announced the data breach in August 2024, and issued notifications to the affected individuals. Shortly thereafter, the first class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Charles Viviani in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. A second class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiff David Thorpe in the same court, and the two complaints were consolidated in a single action – Viviani v. Watson Clinic, LLP. Additional notifications were mailed in February 2025 following a further investigation into the extent of the data breach.
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The lawsuit asserted claims of negligence, breach of implied contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Watson Clinic denies all material claims and contentions in the lawsuit and charges of wrongdoing or liability. While Watson Clinic believes it has a solid defense against all claims, the litigation would likely be protracted and expensive, and any litigation has inherent risks. Therefore, the decision was made to settle the lawsuit. Class counsel believes the settlement is in the best interests of all class members.
Watson Clinic has agreed to establish a $10,000,000 settlement fund, from which attorneys’ fees and expenses, service awards for the named plaintiffs, and settlement administration and notification costs will be deducted. The benefits for class members are considerable compared to many class action settlements, including cash payments of up to $75,000 for certain class members, based on the types of digital images posted on the dark web.
Class members who had one or more digital images published on the dark web will be sent a check without having to submit a claim. The compensation amounts are detailed in the table below. Class members are only eligible to receive one of the payments below, whichever is greater.
| Type of Published Digital Image | Compensation Amount |
| Full face and exposed sensitive areas | $75,000 |
| Partial face and exposed sensitive areas | $40,000 |
| No face and exposed sensitive areas | $10,000 |
| Fall face and partial clothing of sensitive areas | $10,000 |
| Partial face and partial clothing of sensitive areas | $7,500 |
| No face and partial clothing of sensitive areas | $5,000 |
| Non sensitive | $100 |
In addition to the one-off cash payments, class members may also submit a claim for the following benefits:
| Additional benefits (Claim required) | Maximum Amount |
| Reimbursement of documented, unreimbursed ordinary losses | $500 |
| Reimbursement of documented, unreimbursed extraordinary losses and attested lost time | $6,500, including up to 5 hours of lost time at $25 per hour |
| Residual cash payment | $50* |
*The residual cash payments will be paid pro rata from the settlement fund once costs and expenses have been deducted, and digital image exposure cash payments and claims for reimbursement of losses have been paid. The funds will be divided equally between the class members electing to receive a residual cash payment. The cash payment will be a maximum of $50, but may be less, depending on the number of valid claims.
The deadline for objection to and exclusion from the settlement is January 6, 2025. The deadline for submitting a claim is February 5, 2025, and the final fairness hearing has been scheduled for March 9, 2025. Further information can be found on the settlement website: https://watsondatasettlement.com/
