Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Litigation

This class action relates to a data breach of Anthem’s computer system containing personal information of 78.8 million people, with a claims-made settlement that proposes to pay $40.95 million to class counsel, $23 million to settlement administrators, and $52 million to the class in the form of credit monitoring and cash.

On behalf of class member Adam Schulman, CEI is challenging the excessiveness of the attorneys’ fee request. In particular, CEI is arguing that because this is a megafund case, any fee award should be significantly less than the 25% benchmark; the unusually sizable settlement-administration costs require reduction in the valuation of the settlement; and plaintiffs’ counsel drastically overstated their lodestar with millions of dollars of work by contract attorneys billed at excessive rates and with duplication of effort.

CEI asked the court to investigate overbilling that was not disclosed to the court or the class. Judge Koh agreed and appointed a special master to investigate overbilling in the Anthem case on February 8, 2018.

On April 24, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California released retired Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg’s special master report and recommendations based on his review of the time and expenses spent litigating the Anthem case.