Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron, also known as Akron Children’s Hospital, has decided to resolve its class action lawsuit associated with the use of Meta Pixel and third-party analytics and tracking codes on its website. The healthcare provider allegedly installed these tools on its website, which resulted in the disclosure of personally identifiable information (PII) of website visitors to Facebook and some third parties without the awareness or permission of web visitors.
On January 5, 2024, Akron Children’s Hospital received the Doe v. Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron lawsuit filed by plaintiff Ruben Doe individually, as well as as next friend of minors A.D., B.D., and C.D., plus other individuals in a similar situation, in the Court of Common Pleas, Summit County, Ohio. The plaintiff claimed that his own PII as well as the PII of his minor children and other persons was shared with third parties, including Google, Meta (Facebook), and others, without their awareness or permission, which results in a privacy violation.
Aside from intrusion upon seclusion and privacy violation, the lawsuit stated claims of negligence, breach of confidence, negligence per se, interception and disclosure of electronic communications, and unjust enrichment. Akron Children’s Hospital rejects all claims stated in the lawsuit and all accusations of wrongdoing and liability; nevertheless, it resorted to mediation to steer clear of additional lawsuit charges and the uncertainty of a jury trial. Although preliminary mediation efforts were unsuccessful, following a few months of negotiation, all parties agreed to a settlement. Judge Alison McCarty already gave the settlement agreement preliminary approval.
The settlement agreement takes care of the hurt brought about by the claimed data disclosure, the possibility of future harm, and economic losses sustained by the plaintiffs, as well as the 313,700 class members. All class members are eligible to claim a $19 cash payment and will get credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for two years, including lost wallet assistance, dark web monitoring, completely managed identity theft restoration and advisory services, and a $1 million identity theft insurance policy.
Akron Children’s Hospital will likewise pay attorneys’ costs, legal expenditures, settlement admin fees, and class members’ service awards. It also consented to injunctive relief, which consists of deleting pixels from its public-facing web pages, and a responsibility not to put pixels on its patient portal or any of its public-facing web page. Akron Children’s Hospital is allowed to use pixels that are necessary for web page functionality and may employ HIPAA-certified third-party providers later on for analytics options, as long as there is a signed business associate agreement.
The exemption from and objection to the settlement, and filing a claim must be done on or before September 29, 2025. The schedule of the final approval hearing is October 10, 2025.
