CHARLESTON – A class action lawsuit has been filed against Charleston Area Medical Center for a data breach that occurred nearly two years ago.
Tiffany Mallion and Nickole Pullen were patients of CAMC and agreed with the hospital that as part of the hospital's services, the defendant would protect the plaintiffs' sensitive information, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
The plaintiffs claim the defendants stored their sensitive information in an unprotected, unguarded, unsecured and/or otherwise unreasonably protected electronic and/or physical location and also failed to properly train and supervise employees in regard to accessing the sensitive information.
CAMC did not adequately protect the plaintiffs' sensitive information and their physician-patient confidential relationship has been breached, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs claim the defendant did not provide adequate security measures to protect the sensitive information.
Between August 2013 and February 2014, employees of the defendant viewed and/or accessed certain information in the plaintiffs' medical records and victims were not notified of the data breach until nearly two years after the incident actually occurred, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs claim they were notified in May of the data breach.
CAMC's failure to notify its patients of the data breach in a reasonable time caused the plaintiffs to remain ignorant of the breach and they were unable to take appropriate action to protect themselves from identity theft and other harm resulting from the data breach, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs claim by failing to fulfill their promise to protect their sensitive information.
The plaintiffs are seeking class certification and compensatory damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. They are being represented by Troy N. Giatras and Matthew Stonestreet of the Giatras Law Firm PLLC.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 15-C-1084
