012814 Medicentres Canada Class Action Lawsuit

Statement of Claim by Charmaine L'Hirondelle:
An $11-million class action lawsuit has been filed over a missing laptop containing personal and health information of 620,000 Albertans.
---- Charmaine L’Hirondelle is the representative plaintiff of the statement of claim, filed on Jan. 28, which alleges a breach of information could result in identity theft, land titles and mortgage fraud, and break and entry.
---- None of the allegations have been proven in court.
---- In late September, an unencrypted laptop of an IT consultant for Medicentres Canada went missing. The laptop held a database of personal information — names, dates of birth, health card numbers, diagnostic and billing codes — for 620,000 patients who visited Medicentre clinics in Edmonton and Calgary between May 2011 and Sept. 2013.
---- The lawsuit alleges Medicentres failed to protect private information and was negligent in taking more than four months to inform the public about the privacy breach.
---- Medicentres has not filed a statement of defence.