Between December 2014 and January 2015, Anthem Inc., suffered a massive cyberattack on its computer systems, allowing hackers to steal the health and personal information of nearly 80 million people. In re: Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litigation, --- F. Supp.3d ----, No. 16-MC-2210 APM, 2017 WL 680378, at *1 (D.D.C. Feb. 21, 2017). Federal employees (who received their health insurance from Anthem through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program) were among the victims of the hacking. Id.
On May 13, 2016, the Lead Plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation served a subpoena on the ...
Fast food restaurant chain Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. is known for its great hot roast beef sandwiches and catchy slogan: “We have the Meats!” Arby’s is now communicating a different message; it may be the latest victim of a significant cyber breach.
How are we to digest this? We have grown somewhat immune to the now frequent website notices or press releases that announce that although no one is known to have been harmed, yet another potential information security incident has taken place at yet another company that may have once again exposed customer information.
So what ...
It appears to be innocent and routine. The CFO of your company forwards to you an urgent-sounding, personally addressed email from the Securities Exchange Commission’s EDGAR public filing system announcing changes to the reporting system. Last week you signed the attestation of the accuracy of your Quarterly Report on SEC Form 10-Q. You hope you have not made a mistake or missed an important change. You look over the email again. At first glance it appears legit:
Or it might be your worst nightmare: an email from the SEC questioning your firm’s disclosures, revenue recognition ...
Does your company monitor its network or devices for network security or data confidentiality? Does your company have any policies or practices that seek access to any employees’ personal online accounts? If so, a recent amendment to Illinois’ Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act (“Act”) may require your company to adopt or revise its policies or practices to comply with the law.
Expands the scope of protected content. The amendment has shifted the focus from social networking accounts or profiles to personal online accounts (POAs). A POA is “an online account, that is ...
In insurance coverage litigation, does an insurance company have to identify and produce documents regarding the company’s handling of prior unrelated claims?
Insurance companies often object to such requests on the grounds that they are irrelevant, overly broad, unduly burdensome, and even protected by a privilege. In the Illinois Appellate Court Fifth District’s recent decision in Zagorski v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2016 IL App (5th) 140056, however, the appellate court rather emphatically held that the insured could seek such discovery, at least under the facts and ...
I remember in drivers’ education class being shown the obligatory scary movie on railroad crossing accidents. After the wreck, one salty old train engineer says to another, looking at the demolished car, “Why don’t they learn, Slim?” “I don’t know, Jim,” the other fellow says, scratching his furrowed brow.
In the information security world, we are past the need for scare tactics. Only an ostrich might be oblivious to the heightened cyber risks these days and their increasing frequency. Nevertheless, periodically you see cautionary reminders of mistakes that are ...
Crystalline silica (“silica”) is a mineral found in materials such as sand, concrete, stone and mortar that are used in industrial products and at construction sites. Silica is also used in the manufacture of glass, pottery, ceramics, bricks, concrete and artificial stone. Medical studies have concluded that inhalation of silica can cause silicosis (a lung disease marked by scarring of the lungs) and increases the risk of lung cancer, COPD, and kidney disease. Exposure to silica is widespread in the construction and maritime industries, as well as in numerous general industry ...
Annually, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is required to revise the basic thresholds used to determine reportability of transactions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (HSR Act), based on the change in our gross national product. Once again the thresholds have increased. The changes were effective February 27, 2017.
Most importantly, the minimum “size of transaction” threshold is increased to $80.8 million from $78.2 million last year. Accordingly, an acquisition, merger, or joint venture where at least $80.8 million of assets ...
A new Illinois law requires employers with at least 50 employees to provide FMLA-eligible employees up to 10 workdays of unpaid leave to attend a child’s funeral (or its alternative), to make necessary arrangements resulting from the death of a child, or to grieve a child’s death. The new law, aptly titled the Child Bereavement Leave Act, took effect on July 29, 2016
The Act defines “child” as “an employee’s son or daughter who is a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis.” There is no age limit in the ...
A Meaningful Class Action Defense Tool?
On May 16, 2016 the High Court finally spoke on Spokeo, the long anticipated case involving what injury is necessary to sustain Article III standing in federal court. Some predicted a blow to consumer protection and privacy related class actions in which neither the class representative nor the class as a whole suffered anything but a technical federal statutory violation without real harm.
In the underlying case, Thomas Robins claimed that Spokeo published false information about him on its search engine site, in violation of his rights under ...
