$600K Columbia University Health Care Settlement Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over 2023-2024 Data Breach

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A $600,000 class action settlement will end litigation against Columbia University Health Care over a data breach that may have exposed the personal information of nearly 30,000 patients.

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The Columbia University class action settlement received preliminary court approval on July 28, 2025 and covers all individuals in the United States who were notified by Columbia University Health Care that their information may have been involved in the data breach, which impacted approximately 29,629 people.

The court-approved website for the Columbia University Health Care settlement can be found at ColumbiaHealthCareDataBreach.com.

Columbia Health Care settlement class members who file a timely, valid claim form will be able to receive credit monitoring services, up to $10,000 in reimbursement for data breach-related losses and a pro rata (equal share) payment from the remainder of the $600,000 settlement fund, the website states.

The credit monitoring services include two years of CyEx Medical Shield Complete, which offers one-bureau credit monitoring, security freeze assist, victim assistance and health insurance plan ID, medical record number, health savings account, Medicare beneficiary, national provider identifier and dark web monitoring.

In order to receive reimbursement for data breach-related losses, class members must submit reasonable documentation of the losses and a description of how they are fairly traceable to the data breach, settlement documents state. According to the settlement website, reimbursable losses may include:

• Bank fees;
• Cell phone charges (only if charged by the minute);
• Data charges (only if charged based on the amount of data used);
• Long-distance phone charges;
• Fees for credit reports, credit monitoring or other identity theft insurance products purchased between December 21, 2023 and November 25, 2025;
• Postage; and
• Gasoline for local travel.

Per the court documents, the amount available for each settlement benefit may be reduced on a pro rata basis depending on the total number of valid claims filed.

To submit a claim form online, class members can visit this page of the Columbia University Health Care settlement website and log in with the unique ID and PIN found in their copy of the settlement notice.

Alternatively, a PDF of the claim form is also available to print, fill out and mail back to the address listed at the bottom of the form.

Spanish-language versions of both the claim form and the generic settlement notice are also available on the settlement website.

All claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked no later than November 25, 2025.

Columbia University Health Care has additionally agreed, as part of the class action settlement, to implement various changes and new protection measures into its information security.

A hearing is scheduled for December 5, 2025 to determine whether the class action settlement will receive final approval from the court. Benefits will begin to be distributed to class members only after final approval has been granted and any appeals have been resolved.

The Columbia University Health Care class action lawsuit claimed that the entity neglected to properly safeguard the personally identifiable information of over 29,629 current and former patients from a data breach that allegedly occurred between September 11, 2023 and March 7, 2024.

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