Contra Costa County Settlement Offers Cash, Credit Monitoring to Resolve Data Breach Class Action

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Contra Costa County, California, has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit over a September 2022 data breach that potentially compromised the personal information of thousands of people. 

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The Contra Costa class action settlement received preliminary approval from the court on September 22, 2025, and covers any individual with a California mailing address who received a data breach notice from Contra Costa County on or about May 10, 2023. Per the settlement documents, approximately 15,591 people were impacted by the Contra Costa County data breach.

The court-approved website for the Contra Costa settlement can be found at ContraCostaSettlement.com.

Class members who submit a timely, valid claim form are eligible to receive up to $500 in reimbursement for ordinary expenses incurred because of the data breach. Per the settlement website, settlement class members must provide proof for each expenditure for which they seek reimbursement. Expenses covered under this option include costs to obtain credit reports, credit freezing and unfreezing, card replacement fees, late fees, and any other costs associated with credit monitoring or identity theft protection, the settlement website says.

Furthermore, settlement class members who submit a timely, valid claim form can also receive reimbursement for up to four hours of lost time spent dealing with the data breach, at a rate of $25 per hour, for a total of $100.  This payment will count toward the $500 limit on out-of-pocket expenses, settlement documents state. Class members who submit a claim for reimbursement for their time must submit a short narrative explanation attesting that their activities during the claimed time were directly related to the data breach, the website relays.

Settlement class members can also receive up to $5,000 in reimbursement for documented unreimbursed extraordinary expenses stemming from the Contra Costa data breach. Extraordinary expenses include documented professional fees to address actual identity theft or fraud, and documented unreimbursed losses resulting from identity theft or fraud, as explained in the settlement documents.  

Additionally, the Contra Costa County settlement offers class members two years of three-bureau credit monitoring through Equifax.

To submit a Contra Costa County settlement claim form online, class members can visit this page of the settlement website and enter their unique settlement claim ID, which can be found in the settlement notice. Class members who prefer to submit a paper claim form can download the claim form here and mail it to the settlement administrator listed on the website. 

In addition, Contra Costa County, as part of the class action settlement, has agreed to implement stronger data security measures to prevent any future data breaches.

Contra Costa settlement claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked by January 20, 2026.

The court will decide whether to grant final approval to the class action settlement at a hearing on February 5, 2026. Compensation will begin to be distributed to class members only after final approval is granted and any appeals are resolved.

The Contra Costa County class action lawsuit alleged an unauthorized third party gained access to two employee email accounts between September 19 and 20, 2022. During the investigation, Contra Costa County discovered that approximately 15,591 individuals’ data was potentially compromised, according to court documents.

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