Mount Sinai Health System Pays $5.3 Million to Settle Web Tracking Litigation
HIPAA-covered entity, Mount Sinai Health System, New York City’s largest hospital network, has decided to pay $5.3 million to settle a lawsuit over its alleged violation of government and state regulations by sharing the personal health data of patients and website users with Facebook without their knowledge or consent.
Allegedly, from October 2020 to October 2023, Mount Sinai Health installed Facebook Pixel and the Conversion Application Programming Interface (CAPI) on its website and on its MyChart patient portal. These tools can gather the data of website users and send that data to Facebook. Mount Sinai Health rejected allegations of any wrongdoing and particularly denies sharing any medical data from its website and patient site with Facebook.
Plaintiffs Ronda Cooper, David Gitlin, Coral Fraser, and Gilbert Manda filed the Cooper, et al., v. Mount Sinai Health System, Inc. lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit stated that Mount Sinai Health was collecting personally identifiable health data and sharing it with Facebook without the individual’s awareness or authorization as a result of using CAPI, hence violating the New York Deceptive Trade Practices and the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The lawsuit also alleged claims of negligence, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of confidence, breach of implied contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and constructive bailment.
The lawsuit made it through the motion to dismiss and moved to discovery. In discovery, the parties talked in mediation and agreed to a settlement to stop the litigation and avoid the expenses and risk of a trial and corresponding appeals, at the same time giving suitable class member benefits. The final terms of the settlement have been set, and the court has given it preliminary approval.
The settlement class is composed of 1,314,147 individuals. Individuals who signed into their MyChart account through the mountsinai.org website from October 27, 2020, to October 27, 20-23 can file claims. Based on the terms of the settlement, Mount Sinai Health will create a $5,256,588 settlement fund to pay the legal fees and expenses and class member claims. The plaintiffs’ lawyers will receive approximately 35% of the settlement fund and compensation for court-approved attorneys’ costs. Settlement management fees is up to $200,000, and plaintiff’s service awards is $2,500 each. The rest of the settlement fund will be divided among class members on a pro rata basis.
The last day to file an objection to the settlement, opt out, and file a benefits claim is October 14, 2025. The schedule of the final approval hearing is October 24, 2025.