More than eight million Canadian users of LifeLabs services have until Saturday to submit a claim under a class-action settlement worth $9.8 million related to a massive cyberattack.
The April 6 deadline is for all eligible Canadian residents and LifeLabs customers whose personal information was compromised in the 2019 data breach.
Class-action members include any living Canadian residents who used LifeLabs services on or before December 17, 2019, were resided in Canada as of Oct. 25, 2023, and whose personal information is known to have been hacked as part of the 2019 cyberattack.
Officers, directors or executive-level employees of LifeLabs are not eligible for compensation under the class action.
People who submit a claim before the deadline will be paid between $50 and $150, LifeLabs estimated in a news release.
The class-action lawsuit was launched after LifeLabs, which provides medical testing services in Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, announced on Dec. 17, 2019, that its database had been hit by a criminal cyberattack.
The stolen information included health card numbers, names, email addresses, logins, passwords, dates of birth and medical lab results.
Approximately 8.6 million users had their personal information stolen and are part of the class action.
LifeLabs said it paid a ransom to the hackers, but did not disclose the amount. The company said the stolen data has not been identified on the dark web “or otherwise misused by anyone.”
The lawsuit alleged that LifeLabs was “negligent” in protecting customer data. LifeLabs denied the allegations.
In 2020, a joint provincial investigation by Ontario and B.C. privacy commissioners determined that LifeLabs failed to protect the personal health information of millions of Canadians. The company was ordered to improve specific practices on information technology security, cease collecting certain pieces of information, and securely dispose of the records of the information it collects.
The $9.8-million settlement is Canada-wide but was approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in October 2023.
How to submit a LifeLabs claim
If you are an eligible class action member, there are three ways to submit a claim for compensation.
A claim form can be completed and submitted on the official class-action website.
To submit a claim, customers have to provide their name, address, telephone number, email and valid provincial health card number. They will also be asked to choose a payment method — e-transfer or cheque.
LifeLabs says that Interac e-transfer payments will be expedited, while a $2 processing fee will be deducted in the case of cheque payment.
Completed claims forms can also be emailed to lifelabssettlement@kpmg.ca for consideration.
These two methods are preferred, LifeLabs said, as electronic submission can be processed more quickly.
Otherwise, those affected by the cyberattack can mail their completed claims form to the following address:
KPMG Inc., a subsidiary of KPMG LLP, c/o LifeLabs Claims Administrator, 600 Boul. de Maisonneuve West, Suite 1500, Montréal, Qué., H3A 0A3
— with files from Global News’ Sarah Do Couto and Richard Zussman