In this digital era we live in today, personal data has become something as valuables as money, and that’s why, when a company suffers from a data breach, it’s not only seen as technical problem anymore: it can directly affect the lives of thousands of people.
This is what happened in the U.S. with Octapharma Plasma, a plasma donation
center company that accepted paying and agreement for 2,55 millions of dollars affer being accused of not having protected users’ information in 2024.
The center is entering a trend that’s more and more seen those days: big businesses that face a class action lawsuit because of failures in protecting clients personal information. The affected join together to demand credit and compensation for the time lost, the stress, and in some cases the money they had to use to protect themselves after sensitive information is out. This type of collective lawsuits increases the possibility of winning because a good outcome for the plaintiff is easier when they combine resources. Also, it puts pressure on the company, almost immediately to start improving cibersecurity.
How does a Class Action works?
When a company is attacked or there’s some kind of error in the system, a data breach can happen, and clients’ sensitive information can be compromised as a result. It is quite normal that if this occurs, it will be followed by a class action lawsuit.
Instead of each affected suing by themselves, they regroup to present a joint case. Which allows them to share costs, get more visibility and push the company to give reponse. Even though the accused brands never admit fault or being guilty in a direct way, they usually accept an agreement and to pay compensions that are usually under the reason of expenses related to the data breach.
The amount of money they will be giving to the affected people is not always a sure thing, but often there’s a commitment from the defendant to change its policies to be sure another data brach won’t be happening again.
In this case, the Plasma donation center took, the necessary measures to protect their clients’ informationin front of a non-autohorized access in 2024. From that, those who received a notification in April 2024, informing them that their data could have been compromised, are now part of the groupe of people potentially elegible to claim credit and compensation.
What does the agreement with Octapharma Plasma offers?
There are a few compensation options for the participants of the class action suit:
- All members can receive up to $5.000 for loses related to the incident, as long as its documented (for example: bank statements, bills or receipts).
- Those who didn’t or haven’t had any direct economic loss can still get a fix $100.
- All members of the class action will benefit from 3 years of free credit monitoring services.
- People who live in California will receive and extra $50.
To get the benefits, the affected have to present a valid complaint before November 14, 2025. The final audience that approves the agreement is scheduled for December 4, 2025.
Not all class-action lawsuits related to data breaches end up in big payments to the members. In some cases, the compensation is oriented towards recognizing that the company violated protection to laws, for example, they used the client’s data in a different way they had told them: there, the focus is on responsibility and transparency more than in money.
A little relief after the scare
A leak of personal information is never something to be cheering about; bank statements, addresses, social security numbers, that’s something that put altogether in the wrong hands can cause real harm. And the case of Octapharma Plasma is yet another example of how cybersecurity should be a number one priority today.