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A patient is suing Indianapolis-based Community Health Network in a lawsuit that seeks class-action status for all customers harmed by an alleged data breach in February.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in the Marion Commercial Court on behalf of plaintiff Kathy Sloan and claims the the health network failed to take necessary precautions to secure private patient information.
General counsel for Community Health did not immediately respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Community Health learned in May that private information was potentially accessed by an unauthorized third party after discovering that one of its employees’ email addresses was accessed without authorization.
An internal investigation was launched and found that the private information was potentially acquired between Feb. 25 and 26 of this year, according to the lawsuit.
The health network posted a notice on its website informing patients of the breach on July 7, the complaint says. The lawsuit does not provide an estimate of how many people may have been impacted by the alleged breach.
Sloan is now suing the Community Health for negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, and invasion of privacy, arguing the health network should have known its data security obligations given the “substantial increase in cyberattacks and/or data breaches in recent years,” including at high-profile companies such as Facebook and Microsoft.
She claims the data breach shows that the defendant’s cyber and data security systems are inadequate.
Sloan is seeking restitution and any other equitable monetary relief.
The lawsuit is Kathy Sloan v. Community Health Network, Inc., 49D01-2507-PL-034146. Sloan is represented by Lynn Toops and Amina Thomas of CohenMalad.
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