Data Breach Negligence Claims Not Recognized In Pennsylvania

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy

Action Item: The Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania has refused to recognize negligence claims in data breach lawsuits, making it more difficult for plaintiffs to pursue claims and damages in data breach cases. Although not binding state-wide, this decision adds to the growing body of case law that have held negligence claims for failure to provide reasonable data security protections that are not actionable.

In an important and well-reasoned 12-page decision, Judge Wettick of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County refused to create a common law duty to protect and secure confidential information. The decision was issued in the matter of Dittman v. UPMC, which was filed on behalf of over 62,000 plaintiffs. Although not binding state-wide, Judge Wettick's decision represents an important step in the development of privacy law in Pennsylvania.

The complaint was filed against the University of Pittsburg Medical Center ("UPMC") after names, birthdates, social security numbers, confidential tax information, addresses, salaries, and bank account information pertaining to current and former employees was stolen from UPMC's computer systems. The plaintiffs alleged that UPMC had a common law "duty to protect the private, highly sensitive, confidential and personal financial information, and the tax documents of plaintiffs and the members of the proposed class." The complaint claimed that UPMC violated this duty when it failed to "exercise reasonable care to protect and secure the information."

Advocating for more than simple recognition of a general duty, the Dittman plaintiffs sought court imposition of very specific and onerous duties on UMPC. Given the nature of the employee/employer relationship, the plaintiffs argued that UPMC's duties included the obligation to design, maintain, and test "its security systems to ensure that [] the members of the proposed Classes personal and financial information ... was adequately secured and protected." It was further argued that "UPMC [] had a duty to implement processes that would detect a breach of its security systems in a timely manner." Lastly, the plaintiffs argued that UPMC should be liable for its failure to meet industry standards in the face of a risk that was reasonably foreseeable.

Judge Wettick's decision is important not only for its ultimate holding, finding no common law cause of action for data breaches, but also for the three lines of thought relied...