City settles data breach case for $392K; combined settlements surpass $1M

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/176986441.html

By Eric Roper
StarTribune.com
November 2, 2012

A former cop who sued a number of Minnesota cities for breaches of her 
drivers license data has now garnered more than $1 million in 
settlements, following Minneapolis' approval of a $392,500 payout 
Friday.

The City Council approved the settlement related to Anne Rasmusson's 
lawsuit following their meeting Friday morning. It comes on the heels of 
similar settlements from St. Paul and local cities, leaving only the 
state's public safety commissioners (current and former) as major 
defendants in the suit.

City attorney Susan Segal said they weighed the potential costs of 
moving forward with the suit, which would have included staff time, 
police time and the risk of paying attorney's fees. Federal statutes 
also outline minimum damages of about $2,500 per unauthorized lookup.

"We knew that there was quite a range of potential risk in this case," 
Segal said. "So we decided that the settlement was well within that 
range and was the wisest course to follow."

[...]


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