The Pennsylvania Superior Court’s recent ruling that UPMC did not owe a legal duty to protect its employees’ electronically stored personal and financial information created a hurdle for data breach plaintiffs in state court that some cybersecurity lawyers said may prove insurmountable.
In an apparent case of first impression, a divided three-judge panel ruled Jan. 12 that UPMC could not be held liable in a suit brought by several employees who were victims of identity theft after their electronically stored employment information—including dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers—was stolen from the health care provider’s servers. The ruling in Dittman v. UPMC affirmed a decision from the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, which had tossed the proposed class action suit that had alleged negligence and breach of implied contract.
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