Class Action Lawsuits Filed Against American Vision Partners Over Data Breach

Class action lawsuits are stacking up against Medical Management Resource Group LLC (MMRC), which does business as American Vision Partners, over a major data breach that was announced in early February. MMRC discovered a breach of its systems on November 14, 2023, and the investigation confirmed that the protected health information of 2,350,236 individuals was stored on the compromised parts of its network.  The individuals affected by the data breach had their names, contact information, dates of birth, medical information, clinical records, Social Security numbers, and health insurance information exposed.  Notification letters were sent to those individuals last month and they were offered complimentary credit monitoring services.

Between February 23 and February 28, three class action lawsuits were filed in the US District Court for the District of Arizona by patients whose protected health information was compromised in the breach. The lawsuits allege negligence and claim that MMRC/American Vision Partners failed to implement reasonable and appropriate cybersecurity measures to protect the sensitive data stored on their networks and failed to follow industry best practices for cybersecurity despite being aware of the high risk of cyberattacks on the healthcare sector.

The lawsuits, Yaeger v. Medical Management Resource Group LLC d/b/a American Vision Partners, Daley v. Medical Management Resource Group LLC d/b/a American Vision Partners, and Moudgal v. Medical Management Resource Group LLC d/b/a American Vision Partners, all make similar allegations and seek class certification, a jury trial, and damages. The plaintiffs claim that they have suffered injuries and have incurred out-of-pocket expenses as a result of the data breach and face an imminent and ongoing threat of identity theft and fraud as a direct result of the data breach.

David Yaeger and the class are represented by Cristina Perez Hesano of Perez Law Group PLLC and Kenneth J. Grunfeld of Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert; Steven Daley and the class are represented by Perez Hesano, Bryan L. Bleichner, and Philip J. Krzeski of Chestnut Cambronne; Pal and Lakshminarasimha Moudgal and the class are represented by Perez Hesano, Terence R. Coates and Jonathan T. Deters of Markovits, Stock and DeMarco LLC.

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