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December 19, 2019 – Class action launched against LifeLabs over privacy breach affecting 15 million Canadians —

TORONTO, Dec. 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Waddell Phillips PC and Klein & Schonblum Associates have launched a national privacy breach class action against LifeLabs and associated companies on behalf of the estimated 15 million Canadians whose personal information, including highly sensitive health information, was compromised in a cyber attack. The cyber criminals demanded, and LifeLabs subsequently paid, an undisclosed amount as a ransom in an attempt to secure the data. The compromised information includes, but is not limited to, medical lab test results, health card numbers, names, addresses, emails, login information, passwords, and dates of birth.

LifeLabs is one of the largest medical testing companies in the world, providing diagnostic medical testing services, including specimen collection, laboratory testing, and reporting of results to patients and health practitioners, across Canada. Each year, LifeLabs performs over 112 million laboratory tests on Canadians.

It was not until December 17, 2019, almost two months after the attack occurred, that LifeLabs first made a public announcement about the attack and the subsequent privacy breach.

“Health care records, and in particular lab test results, are some of the most private and sensitive personal information a company can hold. Unauthorized access and use can be devastating,” said David Fogel, a lawyer with Klein & Schonblum Associates. “It is extremely distressing that not only did LifeLabs fail to protect the personal health information of its clients, but that it took them almost two months to tell the public about it.”

“The scale of the LifeLabs privacy breach is truly massive – it affects over three quarters of all Ontarians and British Columbians,” said Cory Wanless, a lawyer with Waddell Phillips. “Basically anyone in Ontario or BC who has gone for any form of medical testing over the past several years is affected.”

The class action team is being led by Margaret Waddell. Ms. Waddell, founding partner of Waddell Phillips, is recognized by multiple lawyer ranking agencies as a leader in plaintiff-side class actions, and has acted as class counsel on a number of prominent cases.

Further information regarding the proposed class action will be posted as it becomes available at www.waddellphillips.ca/class-actions/

Contacts:
Cory Wanless
Waddell Phillips PC
(647) 874-2555
cory@waddellphillips.ca
David Fogel
Klein & Schonblum Associates
(416) 480-0221
dfogel@ksalaw.com
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