VA to Pay $20M to Settle Case Over Stolen—and Recovered—Laptop
Seemingly taken in a routine burglary at an employee’s home, a laptop computer stolen from a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs analyst in 2006—and recovered later that year, apparently without any of its data being misused—is costing taxpayers a $20 million settlement.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., approved the VA’s eight-figure settlement agreement in the federal class action today. In addition to damages for veterans and active members of the military whose birth dates and social security numbers were contained in the computer, the settlement provides for as much as $5.5 million in attorney fees and costs and about $1.4 million to notify all the plaintiffs of the result, reports the Associated Press.
“Payments will range from $75 to $1,500 for up to 26.5 million veterans who incurred out of pocket expenses for credit monitoring or physical symptoms of emotional distress. In exchange, lawyers for the veterans agreed to drop their class-action lawsuit alleging invasion of privacy in a case involving the government’s largest data security breach,” the news agency writes.
Because many of those whose data was contained in the computer may have suffered no monetary loss, however, it is likely that a significant amount of the damages portion of the settlement will be paid to two charities. They are: Fisher House Foundation Inc., which offers temporary housing to family members of veterans receiving medical care, and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which focuses on traumatic brain injury treatment and research.
Additional coverage:
CNN: “VA will pay $20 million to settle lawsuit over stolen laptop’s data”
