Millions Of Canadians Could Get Money From A LifeLabs Class Action & Here's Who Is Eligible

There is a LifeLabs class action happening in Canada right now and millions of Canadians could receive money from the settlement.

This lawsuit is in relation to a data breach that happened a few years back which compromised personal health information.

KPMG Canada shared that if you were a LifeLabs customer on or before December 17, 2019, you belong to a class of people who could get cash benefits from a class action settlement with LifeLabs if it is approved by the court.

The security breach was announced in 2019 after a cyberattack on a database of customer personal health information and then a proposed class action was started against LifeLabs Inc. and related LifeLabs companies.

It's alleged that LifeLabs was negligent in the protection of customers' and patients' data. LifeLabs has denied all of the allegations.

This class action includes about 8.6 million people whose personal information — like provincial health card numbers — was stolen.

Also, just over 130,000 class members had their confidential test requisitions or test results taken by hackers in the data breach.

A settlement has been negotiated, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has certified the action but a hearing to consider approving the proposed settlement still needs to happen.

The settlement approval hearing is scheduled to take place on October 25, 2023, so you won't receive money if the settlement is given the green light until after that date.

KPMG Canada said you have the right to stay in the class action and participate in the settlement, stay in the class action but object to the settlement, or opt out of the class action and not receive any money from the settlement if approved.

With this class action lawsuit against LifeLabs, all Canadian residents who were customers or patients and had their personal Information stored on computer systems in the control of LifeLabs that were compromised or accessed in the security breach are eligible to receive payment.

That includes the subclass of all customers or patients of LifeLabs whose test requisitions or test results were accessed as a result of a security breach announced by LifeLabs on December 17, 2019.

If the settlement is approved by the court, LifeLabs has agreed to pay compensation to class members who submit a valid claim form within the timeframe set out by the court.

LifeLabs will pay a guaranteed amount of $4.9 million and up to an additional $4.9 million depending on the number of claims made if the settlement is approved.

As part of this class action lawsuit in Canada, each class member who completes a valid claim form during the claim period will be eligible to receive $50.

But it's possible to get up to a maximum of $150 from the settlement if it's approved.

Class members could receive more or less than $50 depending on the number of claims filed, the legal fees and the disbursements approved by the court.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.