Who is a Class Member
You are a member of the Academy of Art University employee data breach settlement class if your personal information was disclosed as a result of the E-mail Security Incident revealed in April 2016. Class members were sent notices from AAU that their information was disclosed and received notice of the settlement via email or mail.
If you believe you should be included in the settlement but did not receive a notice, please contact the Settlement Administrator.
If you don’t qualify for this settlement, check out our database of other class action settlements you may be eligible for.
Settlement Amount
- $250,000.00
Estimated Award
- Up to $2,500
Settlement Class members who submit a valid claim will receive up to $2,500 cash reimbursement per individual for out-of-pocket losses as well as free credit monitoring and free identity restoration services. It is important to note that the maximum amount payable to reimburse class members with documented out-of-pocket losses is $250,000. If the number of claims exceeds that amount, payments will be reduced and distributed on a proportional basis. You can read more about what qualifies as an out-of-pocket loss in FAQ7.
Proof of Purchase
- You will need to provide supporting documentation regarding the costs and losses that you incurred with your claim form.
Claim Form
Academy of Art University Employee Data Breach Settlement Notes
- Matthew Pagoaga, et al. v. Stephens Institute d/b/a Academy of Art University
- Case No. CGC 16-551952
- Pending in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco
In January 2017, plaintiffs Matthew Pagoaga and Anthony Jones brought this class action lawsuit against Academy of Art University alleging their personal and tax information was compromised in an email data security breach. AAU is a private for-profit higher education institute located in San Francisco. It claims to be the largest private school of art and design in the United States.
According to court documents, in April 2016, AAU admitted a Human Resources employee sent the 2015 IRS W-2 forms of approximately 3,000 current and former AAU employees to an unauthorized third party who used the information to file false tax returns and commit identity theft and fraud. This information contained employees’ full names, addresses, zip codes, dates of birth, wages, and Social Security Numbers.
“The data breach occurred because AAU failed to implement reasonable security procedures and practices and failed to provide its employees with even the most basic of cyber-security training, including how to spot and detect ‘spoofing’ emails from unauthorized senders,” the Academy of Art University email security incident class action lawsuit states.
Complete details about the case and settlement are provided on the Academy of Art University Employee Data Breach settlement website.
Class members who wish to object to or exclude themselves from the Academy of Art University Email Security Incident settlement must do so by May 14, 2018. Class members who wish to participate in the settlement must submit a claim form on or before June 13, 2018.
Important Dates
- 6/13/18: Claim Form Deadline for Out of Pocket Losses & Credit Monitoring
- 5/14/18: Objection or Exclusion Deadline
- 7/16/18: Final Hearing at 9:00 am PT* (class members do not need to attend this hearing in order to receive a slice of the settlement pie).
*Settlement Class Members who wish to speak at the hearing should check aausettlement.worldsecuresystems.com to confirm that the date or time of the Hearing has not been changed.
Contact Information
- Mail: AAU E-mail Security Incident, Settlement Administrator, c/o Angeion Group, 1801 Market Street, Suite 660, Philadelphia PA 19103
- Phone: 1-877-346-5225
- Email: AAUSettlement@AdministratorClassAction.com
Class Counsel
- Norman E. Siegel and J. Austin Moore of Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP
- Daniel C. Girard and Simon Grille of Girard Gibbs LLP
Settlement Website