LifeLabs says a settlement hearing has been scheduled for the 2019 cyberattack that affected millions of customers and it could result in the company paying anywhere between $4.9 million and $9.8 million, if approved.
A settlement approval hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25 through the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which certified the class-action lawsuit. The hearing will be held by video conference.
People in the lawsuit have three options: stay in the class action and participate in the settlement, stay in the class action and object to the settlement or opt out of the class action, but not receive any benefit from the settlement.
If people choose to reject the settlement, they have until Oct. 20 to email the claims administrator.
If the settlement is approved, LifeLabs has agreed to compensate class-action lawsuit members who submitted a valid claim form.
LifeLabs would pay a guaranteed minimum of $4.9 million and up to and addition $4.9 million, depending on how many claims are made. Lawsuit members could each receive between $50 and $150.
READ MORE: LifeLabs facing proposed class action over data breach affecting up to 15M clients
In December 2019, LifeLabs was the victim of a data hack, affecting up to 15 million customers in B.C. and Ontario. LifeLabs paid a ransom and the cyberattackers returned the data, adding that the data has not been identified as being sold on the dark web or otherwise misused by anyone.
After the cyberattack, a class-action lawsuit was brought forward alleging that that LifeLabs was negligent in its protection of that data. LifeLabs denied all such allegations.
The lawsuit includes about 8.6 million people whose personal information, including personal health numbers were stolen, and 131,957 people whose confidential test requisitions or test results were stolen by hackers.
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