amicus Carefirst EPIC Amicus Filing Carefirst

EPIC Amicus - DC Circuit Upholds Right of Data Breach Victims to Seek Legal Relief

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that consumers may sue companies that fail to safeguard their personal data. Consumers sued health insurer Carefirst after faulty security practices allowed hackers to obtain 1.1 million customer records. EPIC filed an amicus brief in the case, in support of the consumers, arguing that if "companies fail to invest in reasonable security measures, then consumers will continue to face harm from data breaches." The appeals court agreed with EPIC that the lower court was wrong to dismiss the case. "No long sequence of uncertain contingencies involving multiple independent actors has to occur before the plaintiffs in this case will suffer any harm," the Court wrote. EPIC regularly files amicus briefs defending consumer privacy and addressing emerging privacy challenges.

August 1, 2017| Share: