$436,670 South Western Communications Settlement Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over 2024 Data Breach

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South Western Communications has agreed to a $436,670 class action settlement to wrap up a lawsuit over a December 2024 data breach.

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The South Western Communications class action settlement received preliminary court approval on August 26, 2025 and covers anyone who received written notification from South Western Communications that their personally identifiable information may have been compromised in the data breach, which occurred on or around December 31, 2023.

The court-approved website for the South Western Communications settlement can be found at SouthWesternDataBreach.com.

South Western Communications settlement class members who submit a timely, valid claim form will be able to receive credit monitoring services, as well as reimbursement for certain out-of-pocket losses and for up to five hours spent dealing with the effects or potential effects of the data breach, at a rate of $25 per hour, the settlement website states.

The credit monitoring services offered through the settlement include three years of credit monitoring and identity theft protection, including $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance, the website says.

Per the South Western Communications settlement website, the deal offers reimbursement for two categories of out-of-pocket losses: ordinary losses and extraordinary losses.

Class members may submit a claim to receive up to $500 in reimbursement for ordinary losses, which may include:

• Professional fees, including attorneys’, accountants’ and credit repair fees;
• Costs associated with freezing or unfreezing credit with any credit reporting agency;
• Credit monitoring costs incurred between December 21, 2023 and October 2, 2025; and
• Miscellaneous expenses such as fax, postage, notary, mileage, copying and long-distance telephone charges incurred between December 21, 2023 and October 2, 2025.

Extraordinary expense reimbursement is available for up to $5,000 per claimant and covers documented, unreimbursed monetary losses caused by the unauthorized use of a class member’s personal information. These data breach-related losses include fraud or identity theft that occurred between December 21, 2023 and October 2, 2025, and are not already covered by the ordinary loss reimbursement or lost time reimbursement, and were more likely than not caused by the South Western Communications data breach.

The settlement website notes that each class member may receive a maximum of $6,000 in reimbursement from the time-spent benefit and both kinds of out-of-pocket loss benefits.

To submit a claim form online, class members can visit this page of the settlement website and log in with the unique notice ID and PIN 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 form.

All claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked by December 24, 2025.

Additionally, after the payment of legal and administrative fees, lead plaintiff awards, credit monitoring costs and all reimbursements, South Western Communications will distribute pro rata, or equal share, cash payments of the rest of the $436,670 settlement fund to all class members, who do not need to submit a claim to receive this benefit.

South Western has also agreed, per the settlement agreement, to enhance its data security measures and policies to better prevent future attempted data breaches.

A hearing is scheduled for December 9, 2025 to determine whether the South Western Communications settlement will receive final approval from the court. Settlement benefits will begin to be distributed to class members only after final approval has been granted and any appeals have been resolved.

The South Western Communications class action lawsuit claimed that the company was negligent in its data security measures, allowing an unauthorized third party to access the sensitive personal information of at least 1,115 people between December 21 and 22, 2023.

Did you know that some class action settlements require no proof to submit a claim? Check out the latest class action settlements.