Case Name
WSU Data Breach
Defendant
Washington State University
Court
King County Superior Court
Case Number
17-2-23244-1 SEA
Date Filed
12/17/2017
Case Status
Closed
Case Type
Consumer Protection
WSU Data Breach
Washington State University (WSU) advised the public that on April 21, 2017, a safe was stolen from an off-site self-storage facility in Olympia, Washington. A backup hard drive belonging to WSU was in the safe. That hard drive contained personal data, including social security numbers, of over one million people, whose privacy is now potentially compromised. WSU obtained this information through inter-agency agreements with state and local agencies and school districts in order to conduct studies on behalf of those public agencies. In June 2017, WSU sent letters to individuals whose data was on the hard drive, offering them one year of free credit monitoring. Tousley Brain Stephens PLLC, led by attorneys Kim Stephens and James Bulthuis, is one of several law firms that represents the plaintiffs in the putative class action on behalf of the 1+ million people whose identity was put at risk.
On November 8, 2019, the King County Superior Court gave final approval to the settlement in the case. The university has set up a website with information for plaintiffs: WSUSettlement.com. Under the settlement, WSU has agreed to, among other things, (1) provide credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance; (2) provide cash payments to Settlement Class Members for reimbursement of certain documented Out-of-Pocket Costs incurred as a result of the breach; (3) provide cash payments of up to $15 per hour or up to three hours for time spent dealing with issues plausibly connected to the breach. In addition, WSU has taken or will take certain remedial measures and has enhacned security measures that it will continue to implement.
Case Documents
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Kevin is a great fit for the issue he helped with and continues to help with. We have followed him from another firm to TBS and have worked with him for 10 years now...I appreciate Kevin and what he continues to do to assist us....
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Chase - You have saved me tens of thousands of dollars over what I could have obtained had I tried to handle the matter myself. With hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake you were worth every penny of your most reasonable fee....
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Kim is by far one of the BEST litigators around! You can always expect big results from him and his law firm....
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