Megan K. Mechak
Thu, 08/17/2023
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Georgia agreed to pause (or “stay”) proceedings alleging that consulting firm Horizon Actuarial Services, LLC failed to protect retirement plan participants’ personal information from a data breach in November 2021, so that the parties could finalize a settlement of those claims. Although the terms of the settlement were not described in the parties’ filings, the filings indicated that the settlement would resolve all claims against Horizon. The court gave the parties until August 30 to finalize the settlement and seek court approval.
In April 2022, plaintiff Justin Sherwood filed a proposed class action against Horizon, alleging that the benefits consulting firm failed to safeguard customers’ personal information (including names, birth dates, social security numbers, and other sensitive information), which allowed hackers to steal it. The case was consolidated with four other lawsuits based on the November 2021 data breach. Before the settlement was reached, Horizon alleged that plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed because they sought to hold it responsible for others’ criminal acts. The plaintiffs responded that Horizon did not adequately protect the sensitive information and waited until June 2022 to notify some affected plan participants, compromising their ability to mitigate any harm caused by the data breach.
The case is Sherwood v. Horizon Actuarial Services LLC, Civil Action No. 1:22-cv-01495, and is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
For more information on your rights if your personal information has been compromised in a data breach, visit https://www.mselaborlaw.com/practice-areas/consumer-data-breach-events.