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UnitedHealth faces lawsuit over massive data breach
The suit filed in U.S. District Court accuses UnitedHealth of negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment and seeks declaratory judgment in the case.
MINNEAPOLIS — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in February 2024.
Patients affected by a massive data breach at UnitedHealth Group (UHG) and its affiliated entities have filed a federal lawsuit seeking monetary damages for the exposure of personal, sensitive information.
According to the lawsuit filed against the health care conglomeration Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, UnitedHealth is accused of negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, with plaintiffs seeking a declaratory judgment in the case. Court documents name Sandra Groom as the primary plaintiff “on behalf of all others similarly situated.”
Those filings reveal Groom and the other defendants accuse UHG of neglecting to adhere to adequate measures meant to prevent such attacks, and that the company violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by not taking steps to ensure patients’ information remained confidential.
The lawsuit claims the cyberattack group Blackcat was behind the February incident, gaining access to millions of patient names, addresses, Social Security numbers, medical records and insurance information through UHG subsidiary Change Healthcare. Change, a healthcare technology company, was acquired by UHG in October 2022 to manage revenue and payment cycles between patients and providers.
According to the lawsuit, SEC filings from Feb. 21 indicated a “suspected nation-state associated cyber threat actor” had accessed information through Change. About a week after the SEC filing went public, the lawsuit said Blackcat admitted it was behind the attack, revealing the breach had affected millions of Change Healthcare clients.
While the lawsuit said UHG took proactive steps to “isolate the affected systems,” contact law enforcement and notify “customers, clients, and certain government agencies” about the breach, defendants said they’re seeking damages over concerns their personal information is at risk of being stolen, compromised or sold to bad actors, and/or makes them vulnerable to potential “misdiagnoses or erroneous treatment” and “delays in care.”
Further, court documents said the plaintiffs seek monetary relief to offset damages they’ve already endured, including “economic losses and other tangible harms.”
The suit also seeks injunctive relief aimed at preventing similar data breaches, like implementing heightened security measures, annual security system audits and free monitoring services for those affected.
Change Healthcare, according to the suit, manages the equivalent of approximately one in three patient records in the U.S.
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced it opened an investigation into the incident, penning a “Dear Colleague” letter calling the breach “unprecedented.”
“Given the unprecedented magnitude of this cyberattack, and in the best interest of patients and health care providers, OCR is initiating an investigation into this incident. OCR’s investigation of Change Healthcare and UHG will focus on whether a breach of protected health information occurred and Change Healthcare’s and UHG’s compliance with the HIPAA Rules.”
In response to the Minnesota lawsuit, a representative from UHG told KARE 11:
“We are focused on the investigation and recovery of Change Healthcare’s operations.”
In response to the federal suit, UHG said:
“We will cooperate with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigation. Our immediate focus is to restore our systems, protect data and support those whose data may have been impacted. We are working with law enforcement to investigate the extent of impacted data.”
While patients impacted by UHG’s breach could not have prevented or deterred this particular attack, there are ways to keep yourself safe from data breaches online.
The United States Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency offers proactive tips to prevent and detect future cyber and ransomware attacks on your accounts. They include:
- Applying the latest security updates to devices
- Performing regular audits
- Using multi-factor authentication
- Thinking before you click
For more information about keeping yourself safe from malicious cyber thefts, attacks and scams, visit CISA’s website.
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Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
John Sawchak faces four felony charges after officials said he shot his neighbor on Grand Avenue South while trimming a tree on their shared property line.
MINNEAPOLIS — A man is recovering in the hospital after being shot outside his home in a dispute with a neighbor on Grand Avenue South in Minneapolis on Oct. 23.
According to a criminal complaint, Minneapolis police responded to a hospital for a report of a gunshot victim on Wednesday night. The injured man had been transported from his home on Grand Avenue South for an unknown medical condition that caused him to collapse. The man was found in the fetal position by his wife when she got home from work that evening.
Officials later identified the victim as Davis Maturi.
At the hospital, providers found a small puncture wound in the back of Maturi’s neck that led to the discovery of a bullet lodged near his spine. When he arrived at the hospital, he couldn’t recall what led up to him being shot, according to the criminal complaint.
Maturi’s wife told officials that he had been outside earlier in the day pruning a tree near their property line with a chainsaw. She said their neighbor, John Herbert Sawchak, 54, had “almost certainly” shot her husband.
In the previous week, Maturi’s wife said Sawchak told her husband “Touch my tree again and I’ll kill you.”
The criminal complaint goes on to detail numerous complaints of harassment the Maturi’s experienced since purchasing their house in September 2023.
Oct. 11, 2023: Maturi approached Sawchak to discuss the tree on their property line. Sawchak became irate, according to the criminal complaint, yelling at Maturi and using “racially charged language.” Sawchak told Maturi if he “touched” the tree, Sawchak would “take care of” him.
March 1, 2024: Sawchak approached Maturi while he was working outside his house on a ladder. While verbally harassing him, officials said Sawchak told Maturi that he would put him in the hospital.
April 5, 2024: Sawchak threw household items at Maturi from his 2nd-floor window.
May 28, 2024: Sawchak verbally threatened Maturi, calling him “a Black bastard,” and telling him “I’m going to kill you if you call the police again. All you people do is lie and commit crimes.”
Aug. 7, 2024: Sawchak verbally threatened Maturi from his 2nd story window. Maturi saw Sawchak holding up a large knife in the window while threatening to kill Maturi and his wife.
Oct. 8, 2024: Sawchak verbally threatened and screamed racial slurs at Maturi from his 2nd-floor window. Sawchak also, once again, brandished a knife from his window while threatening to kill Maturi.
Oct. 14, 2024: Maturi saw Sawchak outside Maturi’s home with a firearm. Sawchak pointed the firearm at Maturi through the window.
On the evening of Oct. 23, Maturi’s wife went home to pack some things and leave for the night, officials said. Sawchak verbally harassed her and shone a stone light on her as she left her home, the criminal complaint read. The next day, Maturi and his wife were able to access home security footage from their home cameras. The video shows Maturi working outside near the tree at the property line with his back to Sawchak’s home. A faint “crack” or “pop” can be heard, then Maturi collapsed to the ground.
Maturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion. He talked to KARE 11 from his hospital bed and said he feels the police failed to protect his family by not arresting Sawchak during one of the various other incidents.
“If you’re saying you’re scared, what does that do to me?” Maturi said. “You have this body armor, you have professional training… when I call for assistance, when I called for having a knife pointed at me, I had to wait hours and hours and hours.”
As of Sunday morning, Sawchak is not in police custody. According to the criminal complaint, Sawchak has at least three active warrants associated with prior threats or acts of violence against Matsuri and other neighbors. Sawchak has “actively evaded” police during their prior attempts to contact or arrest him.
A letter from ranking members of the Minneapolis City Council to Mayor Jacob Frey showed anger and blame directed at the Minneapolis police department for allegedly failing to act on Maturi’s numerous complaints against Sawchak before the shooting, and failing to arrest him immediately after the shooting.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
Watch Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara’s response below:
