The Associated Press reports that a federal appeals court rejected two veterans’ claims for monetary damages in their lawsuit over a 2007 computer security breach at the Birmingham, Ala., VA hospital. As in other breach lawsuits reported in the past, the court held that Jim Henry Perkins and Jessie Frank Qualls had to prove actual damages due to the breach.
The number of people affected by the breach has been variously reported at different times as 48,000 or 535,000 plus over 1 million physicians and providers, or 198,000.
While affirming the lower court’s decision denying damages, the appeals court overturned the lower court’s denial of injunction against the Department of Veterans Affairs intended to prevent a recurrence and remanded the case back to the lower court to deal with that issue.
Update: The court’s opinion is available here (pdf).