This email was part of a genuine settlement and not a scam. It notified Scripps Health members who had filed claims before March 23, 2023, that they would soon be able to receive payment.
In early June 2023, some readers may have received an email about a purported legal settlement with the subject line, "Scripps Health Data Incident Litigation - Notice of Upcoming Settlement Payment." These sorts of emails often result in Google searches that ask, "Scam or legit?"
We can confirm that a message from noreply@epiqpay.com that directed recipients to the URL scrippssettlement.com was a legitimate notification about a class-action settlement. The email simply notified Scripps members who previously filed claims that they would soon be able to receive payment.
Scripps Health is a network of hospitals, clinics, and doctors that's based in San Diego, California.
As for EpiqPay, it's one of several different products that are available from the legal and business services company Epiq. According to epiqglobal.com, EpiqPay is "an easy, convenient, fast, and secure payment distribution method [for] claimants." (We previously mentioned EpiqPay in our story about another settlement involving the Zoom video conferencing company.)
What's the Lawsuit About?
This class-action lawsuit stemmed from a data breach and ransomware attack involving Scripps members' personal and medical information.
According to the settlement website, on April 29, 2021, "an unauthorized person gained access to Scripps' network, deployed malware, and acquired copies of some of the documents stored on Scripps' network."
Those documents may have included "medical information, including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and/or driver license numbers, health insurance information, medical record numbers, patient account numbers, and/or clinical information, such as physician name, date(s) of service, and/or treatment information."
In December 2022, San Diego's CBS News 8 reported that Scripps Health had agreed to pay more than $3.5 million dollars to victims of the data breach. The story said that the incident "compromised the personal information of more than one million patients."
Who Won the Lawsuit?
According to the settlement website, a judge did not decide in favor of either side in the case. Instead, the two sides settled.
How Much Money Will Users Who Filed Claims Receive?
For users who submitted claims before the March 23, 2023, deadline, here's what the settlement website says they can expect:
By submitting a Valid Claim using the Claim Form, you are eligible to receive a cash payment of at least $100. [...] This cash benefit does not require documentation.
All claims for a Cash Payment Benefit are subject to a pro rata increase based on the number of claims received by the Settlement Administrator.
The website also provided information for members who may qualify for out-of-pocket losses reimbursements, as well as credit monitoring and automatic fraud resolution services.
How Will Users Get Paid?
In a copy of a Scripps settlement email message that we reviewed, it said that members could expect to receive a new payment notification email by June 9 that would contain a link to claim the owed payment electronically. It also said that members would have until Sept. 7 to perform this step.