ECL Privacy Breach Litigation

If you are a physician or eyecare clinic who relied on ECL Group, LLC, and affiliated entities for record-keeping and related practice management support services, OR if you were a patient of a physician or eyecare clinic associated with ECL, you could be entitled to a payment from a class action settlement.

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This website explains important legal rights you may have.
Your legal rights are affected whether you act or do not act.

Please read the Notice and this website carefully.

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A settlement has been reached resolving class action lawsuits claiming that ECL Group, LLC, and affiliated entities (collectively, “ECL”), a record-keeping vendor for top-rated eye care clinics across the country, lost control over millions of patients’ highly sensitive personal information for a period of months during a series of ransomware attacks (collectively, the “Data Breach”), and that ECL suffered service outages as a result of the ransomware attacks, which impacted eyecare physicians who relied on ECL for access to their patient data.

Patient Class Members – If you are a Patient Class Member, you will be able to file a claim for documented out-of-pocket expenses incurred because of the Data Breach, up to $5,000. Whether or not you have incurred out-of-pocket expenses, you can also file a Claim for a cash payment, with the amount of payment depending on the number of Valid Claims received. The claims will be paid from the “Patient Settlement Fund” of at least $2,616,783, to be funded by Defendants’ insurance policies.

Physician Class Members – Physician Class Members can file a Claim for a cash payment, with the amount of payment depending on the number of Valid Claims received. The claims will be paid from the “Physician Settlement Fund,” which shall consist of at least $1,460,449.50, to be funded by Defendants’ insurance policies. If any additional funds become available through insurance coverage, those funds will be added into the Physician Settlement Fund, up to $9,500,000, inclusive of the initial payments. If you are a Physician Class Member who was under contract with ECL as of April 2023, you can also file a claim for billing credits with a total potential value of $5,739,500.

Your Legal Rights and Options in This Settlement

	Summary of Legal Rights
Submit a Claim Form	You must have submitted a timely valid claim by March 14, 2024, in order to receive the payment.
Object	You could have objected to the Settlement by writing to the Court by the January 15, 2024.
Go to a Hearing	If you are a Settlement Class Member and you file an Objection, you have the right, but are not required, to attend the Final Approval Hearing. The date is yet to be determined. You must state your intention to appear with your Objection.
Do Nothing	Get no settlement benefit. Be bound by the Settlement.

Important Note: The dates and deadlines may be changed without further notice to the Settlement Class. The Court may also retroactively extend these deadlines and we will update this website if it does, so please monitor this settlement website or the Court’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) website at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov if you missed the deadline.

These rights and options—and the deadlines to exercise them—are explained further in the Notice and on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page of this website.

The Court in charge of this case must still decide whether to approve the Settlement and the requested attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses. No settlement benefits or payments will be provided unless the Court approves the Settlement, and it becomes final.