Fraser Child and Family Center decided to pay $750,000 to resolve class action litigation involving a 2024 data breach. Fraser Child and Family Center is an autism, behavioral health, mental health, and disability services provider in Minnesota. From May 30, 2024 to June 2, 2024, an unauthorized third party accessed parts of its IT system that stored the protected health information (PHI) of around 67,000 people. Data likely stolen during the incident consists of names, addresses, birth dates, medical data, and Social Security numbers. In September 2024, Fraser Child and Family Center, which is currently not HIPAA-certified, notified the impacted individuals about the breach.
In response to the data breach, four plaintiffs filed class action lawsuits individually and on behalf of their young children and similarly situated people. Because the lawsuits had similar claims and identical facts, the lawsuits were filed as one lawsuit (In re: Fraser Child and Family Center) in the District Court for Hennepin County, Minnesota.
The lawsuit stated a number of claims, such as negligence, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, violation of privacy – intrusion upon seclusion, and inability to offer enough breach notifications. Fraser Child and Family Center does not admit any wrongdoing or liability and submitted a motion to dismiss. Soon after that, all parties started to look into the chance of a quick settlement of the litigation, which was approved when all parties were satisfied with the terms. The court already gave preliminary approval of the finalized settlement agreement.
After the data breach, Fraser Child and Family Center enforced extra safety measures to safeguard the data kept on its system. On top of that, it will create a $750,000 settlement fund to pay for the attorneys’ fees and expenditures, settlement management costs, plaintiffs’ service awards, and class members’ benefits.
All class members are eligible to avail credit monitoring services for two years. The option for minors is the CyEx Minor Defense package and for adults is the CyEx Identity Defense Complete package. Claims may also be filed to reimburse documented, out-of-pocket costs associated with the data breach up to $2,500 per class member. Instead of claiming reimbursement of losses, a class member may opt to claim a cash payment. Cash payments are going to be paid after settling all the costs and expenses mentioned above, and the funds will be split evenly between class members who file a claim for a cash payment.
Class members wanting to disagree with the settlement or exempt themselves should do so by November 3, 2025. Class members must submit claims by December 1, 2025. The schedule of the final fairness hearing is November 20, 2025.
