Taconic Biosciences Data Breach

In the Lawsuit, Plaintiffs have brought claims against Taconic for:

1. Negligence;
2. Gross negligence;
3. Negligent hiring, retention, and supervision;
4. Breach of implied contract;
5. Breach of contract;
6. Breach of fiduciary duty; and
7. Negligence per se, all related to the Data Disclosure.

Taconic denies any wrongdoing and denies all claims asserted against it in the Lawsuit. Both sides have agreed to settle the Lawsuit to avoid the cost, delay, and uncertainty of litigation.

You can read Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint, the Settlement Agreement, other case documents, and download a claim form here.

In a class action, Class Representatives (in this case, Plaintiffs John Denier, Christopher Groark, Ronald Broast, Robert E. Disher, Jr. and Jessica Proper), sue on behalf of a group (or a "Class") of people ("Class Members"). Here, the Class Representatives sued on behalf of people who have similar claims regarding the Data Disclosure.

To avoid the cost, risk, and delay of litigation, the Parties reached a Settlement Agreement as to the claims of Plaintiffs and the Class.

For settlement purposes, the Court has certified a Class consisting of all people who meet the following definition:

All current and former employees of Taconic whose W-2 data was compromised as a result of the Data Disclosure which occurred on or about January 30, 2017.

To obtain a recovery, you must submit a Claim Form. This is the only way to get a payment. Class Members who submit a valid and timely Claim Form may be entitled to the benefits enumerated below. Class Members may choose all applicable Claim categories. However, Class Members may seek reimbursement for each hour of lost time only once, regardless whether the time was spent dealing with issues in multiple Claim categories simultaneously. The overall cap for any individual claimant is $3,000 for all amounts claimed in Categories A-E as described below. For purposes of any claim for reimbursement for lost time, the claimant must have spent at least one hour before being entitled to claim one or more hours of time.

1. Class Members may sign up for 24 months of Experian's IdentityWorks Credit Plus 3-Bureau service, which is a similar service initially offered by Taconic in response to the Data Disclosure. This benefit is in addition to the 24 months of ProtectMyID service that was made available to all members of the Settlement Class who previously enrolled. Any member of the Settlement Class who did not previously enroll in Experian's ProtectMyID service will be given the opportunity to enroll for a period of 24 months.
2. Class Members may receive monetary relief by filing a Claim Form and choosing all applicable categories as follows:
   • Claim A: Settlement Class Members who had a false/fraudulent tax return filed after January 30, 2017, will be eligible for a payment of $150 per affected tax return year. Claimants must provide proof of the false tax return being filed and attest that they have no knowledge of a false/fraudulent return being filed in their name in the 3 years prior to 2017.
   • Claim B: Settlement Class Members who experienced incidents of identity theft following the Data Disclosure, other than the filing of a false or fraudulent tax return, shall be entitled to a payment of $100 per documented incident, in addition to actual, out-of-pocket expenses available under Claim E. Examples of the type of financial fraud identity theft for which Claim B applies include: unauthorized request to the IRS for a tax transcript, attempts to open bank accounts, loan applications, new credit card applications, and governmental applications such as FEMA, FAFSA, SSA, and employment benefits.
   • Claim C: Settlement Class Members who qualify for payment under Claim A or Claim B and who spent more than one hour of time, other than paid time off previously given by Taconic, in resolving the tax fraud or other identity theft incident, may submit a self-verifying statement for time spent dealing with the effects of the W-2 Incident and be reimbursed for up to 10 hours of their time at $25 per hour. The maximum amount any one Settlement Class Member can recover under Claim C is not to exceed $250 in the aggregate.
   • Claim D: Settlement Class Members who do not qualify for payment under Claim A or Claim B and who spent more than one hour of time, other than paid time off previously given by Taconic, in dealing with the ramifications of the Data Disclosure, may submit a self-verifying statement for time spent dealing with the effects of the Data Disclosure and be reimbursed for up to 3 hours of their time at $25 per hour, not to exceed $75 in the aggregate.
   • Claim E: Class members who had documented, out-of-pocket financial losses that are connected to the W-2 incident may claim reimbursement for those losses, provided (a) that the total amount claimed under this category, when combined with amounts claimed for Claims A-D, above, does not exceed the aggregate amount of $3,000, (b) that claimants first attest to have exhausted any rights to claim those same amounts under the identity theft insurance coverage provided by Taconic to employees following the incident, and (c) that the claimed amounts were not previously reimbursed by Taconic or any other source.

     Before submitting a claim for reimbursement of expenses in Category E as described above, Settlement Class Members who previously enrolled in Experian’s ProtectMyID service offered by Taconic must attest to have first submitted their claim to Experian and have that claim denied or exhausted

Claim forms can be submitted online here or you can download the Claim Form here and mail it to the following address:

Taconic Claims Administrator
P.O. Box 3669
Portland, OR 97208-3669

By staying in the Class, all of the Court's orders will apply to you, and you give Taconic a "Release." A release means you cannot sue or be part of any other lawsuit against Taconic or its related persons about the claims or issues in this Lawsuit and you will be bound by the Settlement. For your convenience, the Release, which necessarily is drafted in legal-sounding language, can be found here.

The Class Representatives will receive their portion of the settlement as Class Members and a separate settlement payment of up to $4,000 each for having pursued this action. Any such award is subject to Court approval.

Yes. To represent the class, the Court has appointed April M. Dalbec, Jacob F. Lamme, Scott C. Paton of McNamee Lochner P.C. and Hadley Matarazzo, and Kathryn Lee Bruns of Faraci Lange, LLC as "Class Counsel."

For litigating the case and negotiating the Settlement, Class Counsel will request from the Court an award of attorneys' fees not to exceed $410,000 inclusive of costs, and expenses. None of the sums awarded for fees, costs and expenses will reduce the sums available to be paid to Class Members. Any awards of attorneys' fees, costs, or expenses are subject to Court approval. You may hire your own attorney, but only at your own expense.

If you don't want a payment from this Settlement, but you want to keep the right to individually sue Taconic about the issues in this case, then you must take steps to get out of the Settlement. This is called excluding yourself, or "opting out," of the Settlement Class. To exclude yourself, you must send a letter by mail that:

1. States the Class Member's full name, address, and telephone number;
2. Contains the Class Member's signature or the signature of the person authorized by law to sign on behalf of the Class Member; and
3. States unequivocally that the Class Member's intent is to be excluded from the Settlement Class, to be excluded from the Settlement, not to participate in the Settlement, and/or to waive all rights to the benefits of the Settlement.

You must mail your exclusion request postmarked no later than May 9, 2019 to the following address:

Taconic Claims Administrator
P.O. Box 3669
Portland, OR 97208-3669

Any Settlement Class Member who has not requested to be excluded from the Settlement Class may object to the Settlement. In order to exercise this right, you must submit your objection to the Court and to the Claims Administrator. Your objection must:

1. Set forth your full name, current address, telephone number, and email address (if any);
2. Contain your original signature;
3. Set forth information identifying you as a member of the Settlement Class, including proof that you are a member of the Settlement Class;
4. Set forth a statement of all grounds for your objection, including any legal support you believe applicable;
5. Identify all counsel representing you;
6. State whether you and/or your counsel will appear at the Final Approval Hearing;
7. Contain the signature of your duly authorized attorney or other duly authorized representative, along with documentation setting forth such representation;
8. Include a list, including case name, court, and docket number, of all other cases in which you and/or your counsel have filed an objection to any proposed class action settlement in the past three (3) years; and
9. Provide copies of any documents that you wish to submit in support of your position.

Objections must be filed with the Clerk of the Court and mailed or hand delivered concurrently to Class Counsel and Taconic Counsel so that it is received on or before June 10, 2019.

The Court will hold a Final Approval and Fairness Hearing on July 15, 2019 at 9:30 a.m., at New York State Supreme Court, Rensselaer County, 80 Second Street, Troy, NY 12180. The purpose of the hearing will be for the Court to determine whether the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and in the best interests of the Class and to rule on applications for compensation for Class Counsel and incentive awards for the Class Representatives. At that hearing, the Court will be available to hear any objections and arguments concerning the fairness of the proposed Settlement.

YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO ATTEND THIS HEARING TO BENEFIT FROM THIS SETTLEMENT. The Hearing may be postponed to a later date without notice. Please check this website for updates.

If you do nothing, you will get no benefits from this Settlement. Unless you act before the deadline of May 9, 2019, to exclude yourself, after the Settlement is granted final approval and the judgment becomes final, you will not be able to start a lawsuit, continue with a lawsuit, or be part of any other lawsuit against Taconic about the legal issues in this case, ever again.

This website summarizes the proposed Settlement. More details are in a Settlement Agreement. You can get a copy of the Settlement Agreement and other case documents here.

You may also contact Class Counsel with questions at:

April M. Dalbec, Esq. Jacob F. Lamme, Esq. Scott C. Paton, Esq. MCNAMEE LOCHNER P.C. 677 Broadway Suite 500 Albany, NY 12207  1-518-447-3200	Hadley L. Matarazzo Kathryn Lee Bruns FARACI LANGE LLP 28 East Main Street Suite 1100 Rochester, NY 14514  1-888-325-5150
Benjamin D. Pergament, Esq. David M. McMillan, Esq. Erica A. Barrow, Esq. BAKER & HOSTETLER, LLP 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111  1-212-589-4200	Paul G. Karlgodt, Esq. BAKER & HOSTETLER, LLP 1801 California Street Suite 4400 Denver, CO 80202  1-303-861-0600

Please Do Not Call The Court, The Judge, Or The Defendant With Questions About The Settlement Or Claims Process.