The genetic testing company 23andMe and similar organizations have been providing customers with information about their genetic backgrounds for many years now. Clearly, it takes a good bit of trust to send your genetic material to a corporation.
Unforuntately, for some customers, that trust was broken. In 2023, the company 23andMe experienced a data security incident that exposed personal information for up to six million customers. This extremely sensitive personal information included health, genetic, and ethnic information.
Some of this information reportedly ended up on the dark web.
If you are one of the customers affected, you may be eligible to receive a rather sizable settlement.
23andMe Class Action Lawsuit Settlement
23andMe has agreed to a settlement of $30 million to end a class action lawsuit over the data breach.
Affected customers may be eligible for up to $10,000. (Additional benefits are added for residents of Alaska, California, Oregon, and Illinois.)
The settlement still needs to be fully approved before claims can be made – the plaintiffs are being represented by Gayle M. Blatt of Casey Gerry Shenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP, Cari Campen Laufenberg of Keller Rohrback LLP, and Norman E. Siegel of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP.
Please check back here for a link when it becomes available.
How Do Class Action Lawsuits Work?
Class action law has evolved over the last few decades. But there are specific rules binding class actions, known as Rule 23 in the federal rules for civil procedures. The Legal Information Institute lays out what the court must find in order to approve a class action:
- The number of class members renders it impracticable to join them in the action
- The class members’ claims share common questions of law or fact
- The claims or defenses of the proposed class representatives are typical of those for the rest of the class, and
- The proposed class representatives will adequately protect the interests of the entire class.
In short, multiple plaintiffs must all have sufficiently similar claims of damage, such that a ruling would largely have the same affect on all class members. The question is then before the court: have all these plaintiffs indeed suffered similar harm from the defendant?
How Long Do Class Action Lawsuits Take
Again, the answer is: it depends on the case.
In some cases, the answer is 10 minutes! Defendants can try to end the case before it even begins by settling with the plaintiffs – typically this means payments. According to Top Class Actions, settlements can typically take up to nine months or a year.
However, if class actions go to trial, the timeline becomes years long – typically two or three years, according to the Cochran Firm.