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Class members who received a notice from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing Inc. (ACEN) in or around July 2023 stating a data breach may have impacted their personal information may qualify to claim up to $5,000 from a class action settlement.
ACEN agreed to pay $820,000 to settle a class action lawsuit related to the cybersecurity incident, which occurred occurred Feb. 7-27, 2023.
Who is eligible to file a claim for a data breach payout?
- Consumers are class members if they received a written notice from ACEN in or around July 2023 saying the data breach affected their personally identifiable information. The class is estimated to include approximately 11,980 people.
How much is the ACEN data breach settlement payout?
Eligible class members can submit for one or more of the following:
- Ordinary Unreimbursed Losses: Claimants can submit for payments up to $1,500 per person for documented, unreimbursed expenses related to the data breach. These include bank fees, postage, gasoline for local travel and fees for credit reports, credit monitoring or identity theft insurance purchased between Feb. 6, 2023, and Aug. 7, 2025.
- Time Spent: Class members can claim up to $100 per person at a rate of $25 per hour for up to four hours of time spent rectifying data breach issues.
- Extraordinary Unreimbursed Losses: Claimants can submit for up to $5,000 per person for documented, unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses related to identity theft, including professional fees, unreimbursed bank fees, card re-issuance fees, overdraft fees, charges related to unavailability of funds, late fees, over-limit fees or interest on payday loans due to the breach.
- Credit Monitoring: Class members can claim two years of credit monitoring and identity protection services, including up to $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance.
How to claim a data breach class action rebate
To receive a settlement payment, class members must submit a valid claim form by Aug. 7, 2025. Claimants can file online or complete and mail the claim form included with the settlement notice to the settlement administrator.
Settlement Administrator's mailing address: ACEN Data Breach Settlement; c/o Atticus Administration, PO Box 64053, Saint Paul, MN 55164
Required proof and information
- Settlement Claimant ID number and password as shown on the postcard notice
- Out-of-pocket loss claims require documentation such as receipts, statements or other records showing how the losses are related to the data breach.
- Extraordinary loss claims require documentation that the loss is related to identity theft or fraud and the claimant attempted to recover the loss through insurance or other means.
Payout options
Claimants will receive payment by paper check mailed to their provided address.
$820,000 data breach settlement fund breakdown
The settlement fund of $820,000 includes:
- Settlement administration costs: To be determined
- Attorneys' fees: Up to $295,000
- Attorneys' expenses: Up to $10,000
- Service awards to class representatives: Up to $10,000
- Credit monitoring and identify theft protection: To be determined
- Payments to class members: The remainder of the fund
Important dates
- Exclusion deadline: July 8, 2025
- Claim deadline: Aug. 7, 2025
- Final Fairness Hearing: Aug. 13, 2025
When is the ACEN data breach settlement payout date?
Payments will be issued within 51 days of the final hearing date or within 30 days after the last claim is approved, whichever is later.
Why is there a class action settlement?
The class action lawsuit was filed after unauthorized parties accessed Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing Inc. files containing personal information. The plaintiffs alleged ACEN failed to adequately protect this information, resulting in potential identity theft and financial harm.
ACEN denies any wrongdoing or liability but agreed to settle the case to avoid the expense, delay, and uncertainty of further litigation.
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