$385,000 Pierce County Library System data breach class action settlement

Pierce County Library System (PCLS) has agreed to pay $385,000 as part of a class action settlement resolving claims stemming from a data breach that may have compromised the personal information of current and former employees, contractors and their family members.

The Pierce County Library System settlement covers current and former employees and their family members as well as current and former contractors who received notice from PCLS that their personal information may have been affected by the data incident.

According to the class action lawsuit resolved by this settlement, PCLS failed to adequately safeguard personally identifiable information, resulting in a cyberattack that exposed class members’ sensitive data and left them vulnerable to identity theft and fraud.

PCLS is a public library system that provides library and community services to residents of Pierce County, Washington.

Pierce County Library System has not admitted any wrongdoing but agreed to the class action settlement to resolve the allegations.

Under the terms of the Pierce County Library System settlement, class members can receive up to $250 for ordinary out-of-pocket losses — such as bank fees, phone charges, data charges, postage, gas for local travel or fees for credit monitoring or identity theft protection products — incurred as a result of the data breach.

Class members may also seek up to $4,000 for extraordinary losses, which must be documented, unreimbursed losses tied to fraud or identity theft that occurred after the data breach and are not covered by another reimbursement category.

All class members are eligible to claim up to $20 per hour, capped at four hours ($80 maximum), for time spent addressing issues related to the data breach.

All class members can also claim three years of credit monitoring from one credit bureau and identity restoration services backed by $1 million in identity theft insurance with no deductible.