Skagit County Public Hospital District No. 1, also called Skagit Regional Health, operates Skagit Regional Hospital, located in Mount Vernon, Washington, agreed to settle class action litigation prompted by its installation of Meta Pixel and other tracking tools on its site, which may have leaked patient information to third parties.
Skagit Regional Health put tracking codes like Meta Pixel on its webpage. These tools keep track of user activity on websites, like the pages visited and time consumed on each page; nevertheless, they can gather a variety of data that could be linked to individuals via different identifiers, including IP addresses. The data compiled by these tools is usually sent to the developers of these tools, and regarding Meta Pixel, the data may be used to offer targeted adverts.
On November 8, 2024, Dave Suther filed a lawsuit in Skagit County Superior Court located in Washington. The lawsuit, Dave Suther v. Skagit County Public Hospital District No. 1, d/b/a Skagit Regional Hospital, alleges the defendant had employed tracking solutions on the hospital site which gathered and transmitted protected health information (PHI) to Meta and other third parties without the website users’ knowledge or authorization, which is a HIPAA violation. The legal action stated claims of breach of implied contract, negligence, negligence per se, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy-exposure of private facts, invasion of privacy-intrusion upon seclusion, breach of fiduciary duty, and violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Privacy Act.
The defendant does not admit any wrongdoing or liability and is convinced it would be the victor at summary judgment; nonetheless, after considering the expenses, time, and interruption of continuing with the lawsuit and the uncertainty and dangers related to any litigation, it made the decision to have settlement discussions. The parties have decided on a settlement, which has received the court’s preliminary approval. Based on the terms of the settlement, Skagit Regional Health has agreed to pay for the cost of attorneys’ fees and expenditures, settlement administration expenses, class representative awards, and a $20 cash payment for every class member.
The class consists of patients at Skagit Regional Hospital who visited, enrolled for, logged in, or used its patient website from May 1, 2021 to September 5, 2025. People wishing to exempt themselves from or object to the settlement must do so until November 3, 2025. Claims for cash payments should be submitted on or before November 3, 2025. The schedule of the final fairness hearing is November 21, 2025. Further information about the settlement is available on https://www.sutherpixelsettlement.com/
Image credit: rogerphoto, ADobeStock / logo©SkagitRegionalHealth
