Judge Grants Plaintiffs Leave to File Motion io Consolidate 7 Data Breach Actions

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang for Maryland in Baltimore granted leave to the plaintiffs in seven class actions to move to consolidate those cases involving a data breach at the Retina Group of Washington (RGW) and to appoint interim co-lead class counsel, said his order Tuesday (docket 1:24-cv-00082). His order followed a case management conference Friday. The ophthalmology provider notified patients on its website from July 7 to Nov. 4 of a data breach it experienced March 26 but didn’t disclose that current and former patients’ personally identifiable or personal health information was compromised, Shalane Vance and Sharon Jenkins alleged in one of the class actions last month (see 2401100023). The other actions are brought by Mary Vandenbroucke (docket 1:24-cv-0004), Kwame Dapaah-Siakwan (1:24-cv-0016), Jennifer Boehles (1:24-cv-0020), Natalia Girard (1:24-cv-0082), David Puckett (1:24-cv-0137) and Desiree McCormick (1:24-cv-0166). Plaintiffs must file their motion by Friday, and if the motion is granted, they will be granted leave to file an amended complaint by March 18, the order said. RGW intends to file a motion to dismiss following submission of the amended complaint, due April 17, it said.