$400K California Northstate Settlement Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over 2023 Data Breach

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California Northstate University will pay up to $400,000 to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged the school failed to protect current and former students’ and employees’ sensitive personal information from a December 2023 cyberattack.

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The California Northstate University class action settlement received preliminary approval from the court on December 9, 2025 and covers anyone in the United States whose private information was potentially compromised in the data breach, including those who were notified of the incident by California Northstate.

The court-approved website for the California Northstate University settlement can be found at CNUSettlement.com.

California Northstate settlement class members who submit a timely, valid claim form can receive one year of credit monitoring services and either up to $5,000 in reimbursement for out-of-pocket losses stemming from the incident, or a flat cash payment of approximately $100.

To receive reimbursement for out-of-pocket losses, class members must submit with their claim form reasonable supporting documentation of each loss, the settlement website says. Reimbursable losses must be related to the data breach and cannot have been reimbursed already by another source, including the credit monitoring and identity theft protection offered by CNU in its data breach notification letter. The $5,000 cap on loss reimbursements may be reduced on a pro rata, or equal share, basis, depending on the total number of valid claims filed, settlement documents state.

Alternatively, class members may submit a claim form for a flat cash payout of about $100. This payment may also be subject to pro rata adjustment and is mutually exclusive from out-of-pocket loss reimbursement, meaning class members may only claim one of the benefits.

However, class members may claim the available credit monitoring services alongside either other settlement benefit. The credit monitoring offered through the class action settlement includes one year of three-bureau credit monitoring, dark web monitoring, fully managed identity recovery services and identity theft insurance for up to $1,000,000, the settlement website says.

To submit a California Northstate claim form online, class members can visit this page of the settlement website and log in with the unique class member ID found in their copy of the settlement notice.

Alternatively, a PDF claim form is available to print, fill out and mail back to the address listed on the first page of the document.

All claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked by April 6, 2026.

The university has also agreed to implement changes to its data security systems and practices to better protect the sensitive personal information in its possession, per the settlement website.

A hearing is scheduled for April 20, 2026 to determine whether the California Northstate University settlement will receive final approval from the court. Settlement benefits will be distributed to class members only after final approval has been granted and any appeals have been resolved.

The California Northstate University class action lawsuit claimed that the school failed to protect the sensitive personal information—including full names and Social Security numbers—of current and former students and employees from a targeted cyberattack, and then waited 10 months after the incident to inform class members that their data may have been compromised.

Head to ClassAction.org’s settlements page for a complete list of data breach settlements.