Judge Approves Healthcare Advisor’s $1.5M Data Breach Settlement

A federal judge in Connecticut has given final approval to a $1,525,000 class action settlement involving a data breach at Merritt Healthcare Advisors.

About 3,320 people whose personal information was accessed by an unauthorized party during a security breach and exposed in March 2023 have opted into the class and will receive payment. Attorneys will receive $508,000.

US District Judge Michael P. Shea had given preliminarily approval to the settlement in May.

Merritt Healthcare Advisors is a mergers and acquisitions consultant to owners of physician and surgical practices. It has offices in Connecticut and California. The firm has agreed to the settlement but insists it did nothing wrong.

The plaintiffs alleged that an unauthorized third-party was able to gain access to Merritt’s network, which Merritt first discovered on November 30, 2022, and remove files containing sensitive information The incident allegedly exposed the personally identifiable information, private health information, and financial information of 88,740 people. ¶