Led by Healthcare Practice Group partners Mohamed H. Nabulsi, Steve I. Adler and Todd M. Nosher, Mandelbaum Barrett PC secured an early and significant win for a large multi-specialty practice in an attempted class action suit involving data privacy claims. The data privacy claims arise from an alleged HIPAA breach following a purported third-party malware attack.
Although the action was initially filed in New Jersey State Court, Mandelbaum Barrett PC’s healthcare litigation team successfully removed it to the District of New Jersey. Once in Federal Court, the team then moved quickly for dismissal of plaintiff’s causes of action, including claims for breach of contract based on implied contract theory. Agreeing with the Mandelbaum healthcare team, the Court ultimately held that plaintiff failed to sufficiently allege the existence of any contract on the issue of data privacy, thereby dismissing without prejudice plaintiff’s breach of contract claim.
Indeed, the Court made clear that, “[e]ven construing the Complaint in a light most favorable to Plaintiff, these allegations fail to support a claim for breach of an implied contract because they do not adequately plead that there was mutual assent…[a]nd as stated, in the context of data breaches, the fact that a defendant require[s] plaintiffs to provide personal information does not alone support the inference that the parties agreed for the defendant to secure this information.”
This marks a notable victory for Mandelbaum’s client—and its healthcare clients generally—as this decision can be cited by other healthcare practitioners facing data privacy claims. The proliferation of malware attacks on the healthcare industry has led to a new wave of class action litigation against healthcare providers. The sheer size of healthcare provider patient databases lends itself to demands of exorbitant damages on account of the number of affected patients. Given the high stakes involved, defeating or at least degrading these actions at the pleading stage is critical to enabling the healthcare provider to avoid costly and risky litigation or to leverage more favorable settlement terms.
Mandelbaum Barrett PC’s Healthcare Practice Group has significant experience in handling complex healthcare litigation, including niche litigation against healthcare practitioners facing allegations of data breach and privacy claims.
The Mandelbaum team on this case is composed of Mohamed H. Nabulsi, Steven I. Adler, Todd M. Nosher, Steven W. Teppler and Alexis Goldberger.
These stories are successful case results from our attorneys. Please note that results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.