No Showing Thief Ever Read Private Medical Information.

The chief security officer at UCLA’s school of medicine advised certain patients that an encrypted external hard drive containing some of their personally identifiable medical information, as well as the computer password, had been stolen in a home invasion robbery. A class action seeking damages pursuant to the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act [Civil Code section 56; CMIA] was filed. The Regents demurred, and the trial court overruled it, ruling a damage claim based on a health care provider’s negligent maintenance or storage of an individual’s medical information may be stated. The Regents sought extraordinary relief, and the appellate court granted the petition, concluding: “Because [plaintiff] cannot allege her information was improperly viewed or otherwise accessed, we grant the Regent’s petition and issue a writ of mandate to the superior court directing it to vacate its order overruling the Regents’ demurrer and to enter a new order sustaining the demurrer without leave to amend and dismissing the action.” (The Regents of the University of California v. Sup. Ct. (Melinda Platter)  (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 7; October 15, 2013) (As mod. November 11, 2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 549, [163 Cal.Rptr.3d 205].