04/12/2016
CASE ALERT: In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litigation, a multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) pending in the US District Court for the Northern District, Magistrate Judge Nathanael M. Cousins denied Anthem’s motion to access personal computers and devices of each named plaintiff-consumer in the MDL to discern whether their information was compromised before the 2015 cyberattack. In denying the motion, the Court found it unreasonably intrusive and unnecessary, noting that the discovery was disproportionate to the needs of the litigation and that more focused discovery designed to identify specific plaintiffs whose computers or other electronic devices might have been compromised by means unrelated to the Anthem breach, discovery relating thereto might be warranted at that time. The litigation stems from plaintiffs’ allegations that Anthem failed to properly secure and secure personal identifying information relating to 80 million of its customers and employees whose data was accessed due to a date breach (hacking) incident.
