Blog Topic
Consumer Class Actions
Lenscrafters Settles with Class of Roughly 1.5 Million Plaintiffs
Posted by: Emily C. Wecht
April 16, 2008
The Recorder reported yesterday, April 15, 2008 on Walkup partner Matt Davis' landmark settlement in the medical privacy class action of Snow v. Lenscrafters. You can read the story here (subscription required).
The case, filed six years ago in the San Francisco Superior Court, is based on Lenscrafters' practice of disclosing its customers' confidential medical information -- a systematic violation of California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act.
Lenscrafters denied the allegations and has vigorously defended the case for the last six yars, even appealing one of the superior court's interim rulings to the California Supreme Court and challenging the law on which the suit is based in federal court. The Supreme Court sided with the consumers.
Under the settlement, approximately 250,000 class members who patronized LensCrafters from March 1998 through December 1999 can claim an unrestricted $40 voucher redeemable for goods and services at LensCrafters. Another 1.3 million class members, who made purchases between January 2000 and February 2008, will be offered either $30 cash or a $70 voucher. (If less than half of this latter group makes a claim, then those who do shall receive an additional $25 voucher.) The vouchers are good on any product or service available at LensCrafters and may be used in conjunction with any other valid coupon or group discount. The settlement documents and other details can be found here: http://snowsettlement.com/documents.html
Upwards of $20 million in cash and benefits is expected to be paid out, making this the largest medical privacy settlement in California history.
You can read more about the settlement and the action here or on the Snow v. Lenscrafters settlement pages:
http://snowsettlement.com/faq.html
