Change Healthcare Data Breach Lawyers Meeting Today With MDL Judge For Initial Status Conference

The U.S. District Judge recently appointed to preside over all consolidated Change Healthcare data breach lawsuits is holding an initial status conference today, where lawyers involved in the cases will discuss the organizational structure for consolidated pretrial proceedings in the federal multidistict litigation (MDL).

Earlier this year in February, Change Healthcare announced that a ransomware attack had stolen the personal and medical information of approximately 100 million individuals, which included a wide range of sensitive data such as names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, medical records, insurance details and more.

Evidence released since the announcement of the data breach indicates that Change Healthcare attempted to buy back the stolen data from the hacker group known as ALPHV/BlackCat in early March, for approximately $22 million bitcoin. However, it appears that the stolen information has still been offered for sale on the dark web.

Since information about the data breach was disclosed, a steadily growing number of Change Healthcare class action lawsuits have been filed throughout the federal court system, each raising similar questions of fact and law, seeking damages for individuals who now may face a risk of credit and identity fraud for years to come.

Change Healthcare Lawsuits Consolidated into MDL

Since each of the complaints raise similar allegations, indicating that Change Healthcare failed to take adequate steps to prevent the release of personal and medical information, plaintiffs Melissa Merry, Robert Reese, Jennifer Stump and Jimmy Allen filed a motion to transfer (PDF) with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) on March 12, 2024, requesting that all claims filed in federal courts nationwide be transferred to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

On April 3, 2024, Change Healthcare submitted a response to the motion, agreeing that for the convenience of all parties the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) should transfer the actions to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where Change Healthcare’s headquarters are located.

The JPML held oral arguments with the involved parties on May 30, 2024, at the Orrin G. Hatch U.S. Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Utah. Subsequently, on June 7, the Panel issued an order transferring and consolidating the claims before U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank in the District of Minnesota, which was determined by the panel to be the most appropriate venue for the coordinated pretrial proceedings.

At the time of the transfer order, the JPML noted that 50 lawsuits against Change Healthcare had been filed. Of these, six were listed in Schedule A, with an additional 44 lawsuits having been filed since the motion in March.

Change Healthcare Multidistrict Litigation Proceedings

Following the JPML’s transfer order, Judge Frank issued the litigation’s first Change Healthcare pretrial order (PDF) on August 14, scheduling the parties to meet today at the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse to begin establishing preliminary procedures and appointing temporary interim counsel.

In the order, Judge Frank outlined the procedures for service, extensions, filings, docketing, appearances, and preservation of evidence, interim leadership structure, and communications.

The order further instructed Plaintiffs’ temporary lead counsel to submit a consensus recommendation for the organization of Plaintiffs’ counsel to lead the MDL litigation, which was due no later than ten days prior to today’s conference.

Counsel for the Plaintiffs were further instructed to meet and agree upon agenda items and to submit a joint list five days prior to today’s scheduled conference.

September 2024 Change Healthcare Data Breach Lawsuit Update

Following today’s initial conference, it is expected that Judge Frank will implement a schedule to prepare a series of representative cases for early bellwether trials, to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.

Over the coming weeks and months, the size and scope of the litigation is expected to continue to expand, as many individuals impacted are just now receiving notice about the Change Healthcare data breach, and contacting lawyers to sign up for the litigation.

In addition to class action lawsuits, it is also expected that a number of individual claims will be filed, but on the U.S. court system, as well as through an arbitration process.