Related Professionals

Practice Areas

Contact

Patricia O'Connell
Senior Communications Manager
202.719.4532
poconnell@wileyrein.com

Kirk Nahra Weighs In on Cancer Center Chain Breach Lawsuits

Kirk J. Nahra, chair of Wiley Rein’s Privacy Practice and co-chair of the Health Care Practice, was quoted in a HealthcareInfoSecurity.com article about several class action lawsuits filed against 21st Century Oncology after the company disclosed that a hacker attack had compromised the data of more than 2 million individuals.

Mr. Nahra pointed out that the litigation against the cancer center chain “is a perfect example of the kind of all-over-the-map class action complaints that we are seeing where there is some kind of security breach. These are creative, free-wheeling and highly imaginative claims designed to overcome two substantial hurdles in these cases—a relevant cause of action that is meaningful when applied to a class, coupled with actual damages.”

The 21st Century Oncology litigation includes an “unjust enrichment” argument that Mr. Nahra said is unlikely to succeed. “This allegation that ‘some unknown percentage of my payment to you was for data security and I deserve it back’ is creative, but has not been successful and is not actually a subject of any kind of negotiation in any meaningful commercial sense,” he said.

To read the complete article, please click here.