Published
September 10, 2026
Current and former La Jolla Group employees whose personal information was compromised in the November 2023 cybersecurity incident may qualify to claim $45 in cash, or $95 as a member of the California Subclass, or instead up to $2,000 in documented out-of-pocket losses and lost time — plus two years of credit monitoring that can be claimed alongside any of them. Claims close November 23, 2026, and the Claim Number and PIN from the mailed postcard are required to file online.
Current Status
Claims are open. The deadline to file is November 23, 2026, and the deadlines to opt out and to object fall on that same date. The Court has scheduled a Final Approval Hearing for December 17, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time in Department CX102 in Santa Ana, California, and the settlement has not been approved yet. No payment date has been announced: the Notice says approved claims are paid after the Effective Date, and that no benefits are provided unless the Court approves the Settlement and it becomes final. If a postcard notice reached you, it carries the Claim Number and PIN you need to open the online claim form.
Status
Claims Open
final approval hearing December 17, 2026 in Santa Ana, California
Claim Deadline
November 23, 2026
online or postmarked · opting out and objecting close on the same date
Estimated Payout
$95 or $45, or up to $2,000
flat cash, or documented losses and lost time instead — one route or the other · two years of credit monitoring either way
Proof Required
Yes — ID to file online
no receipts for the flat cash or lost-time tiers, but the online portal opens on a Claim Number and PIN screen · a printed form mailed in is the only way around it
What Changed Recently?
The settlement is newly open to claims. La Jolla Group, Inc. has agreed to resolve Jaime Dempsey, et al. v. La Jolla Group, Inc., Case No. 30-2024-01416569-CU-MC-CXC, in the Superior Court of California for the County of Orange, and the Court has authorized notice to the class. Analytics Consulting LLC is administering it, and the claim portal, the long-form notice, the claim form and the case documents are live on the official settlement website.La Jolla Group expressly denies the allegations and says it has strong legal defenses. The Notice states that the Court has not determined whether the plaintiffs or La Jolla Group are correct, and that the parties settled after arm's-length negotiation to avoid the cost, risk and delay of continuing to litigate. No finding of liability has been made.
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What the Case Is About
According to the Notice, the plaintiffs allege that La Jolla Group failed to properly secure and safeguard the personal information of its current and former employees, and that the information was posted on the Dark Web as a result of a cybersecurity incident in or around November 2023.That last detail is what separates this case from the ordinary run of breach settlements. Most notices describe information that was accessed, or that may have been acquired — a possibility of exposure. The allegation here is that employee data actually surfaced on the Dark Web, which is the point at which exposure stops being theoretical and the file is presumed to be in circulation. It remains an allegation that the Court has not ruled on, and La Jolla Group denies it.
The Notice does not itemize which data fields were involved. What it does establish is whose data it was: employment records rather than customer records. An employer file is the most complete dossier most people have anywhere — the Social Security number, the date of birth, the home address and usually the bank details for direct deposit, all held together and all still accurate years after someone leaves the job. Card numbers get reissued after a retail breach; a personnel file does not expire. Our explainer on how data breach class actions work covers what these cases typically pay and what a release costs.
Who Qualifies?
The Settlement Class is defined as all current and former employees of La Jolla Group who reside in the United States and whose information was impacted by the Cybersecurity Incident.Class membership does not depend on where you live now, only on residing in the United States and on having been an employee whose information was impacted. Someone who left the company years before the November 2023 incident is still covered if their file was in the affected data, and the postcard notice is the practical signal: the administrator identified recipients from La Jolla Group's own records, so a notice arriving is the company saying its records place you in the class.
A separate California Subclass exists and is paid more in flat cash — $95 rather than $45. The Notice states the two figures without defining the subclass; that definition sits in the Settlement Agreement posted on the official settlement website.
Four groups are excluded: La Jolla Group along with its officers and directors; anyone who timely and validly opts out; the judges assigned to the case, along with their staff and family; and anyone a court has found criminally responsible for initiating, causing, aiding or abetting the incident, or who pleads no contest to such a charge.
How Much Can You Get?
There are four benefits, and the way they combine decides which route is worth taking:- Credit monitoring — two years. One-bureau credit monitoring with at least $1,000,000 in identity theft protection insurance. No documentation required, and the Notice says it may be elected in addition to any other Settlement benefit or taken entirely on its own.
- Cash Compensation — $95 or $45. $95 for members of the California Subclass and $45 for all other Settlement Class Members. No documentation required.
- Lost Time — up to $100. Up to four hours at $25 per hour for time actually spent monitoring accounts or otherwise dealing with issues related to the incident between November 2023 and the claims deadline, if at least one full hour was spent. No documentation required, but an attestation is.
- Documented Out-of-Pocket Losses — up to $2,000. Actual, unreimbursed losses incurred between November 2023 and the claims deadline as a result of the incident, supported by third-party documentation. The $2,000 ceiling is inclusive of any Lost Time payment, and an aggregate cap of $50,000 applies across all class members for this tier.
The monitoring stacks with anything. The cash does not: the Claim Form states that you are not entitled to Cash Compensation if you submit a claim for Lost Time or for Documented Out-of-Pocket Losses, so the choice is between the flat payment on one side and the lost-time-plus-documented route on the other.
Run the arithmetic before you tick a box, because the default answer is not the obvious one. Four hours of Lost Time pays $100, which is more than the $45 most class members would get in flat cash and more than the $95 a California Subclass member would get — and neither route asks for a receipt. What Lost Time asks for instead is an attestation, signed under penalty of perjury, that the hours claimed were in fact spent responding to this incident. It is not a larger flat payment wearing a different label. Anyone who genuinely spent an afternoon freezing credit and watching accounts after the November 2023 notice can claim it; anyone who did not should take the flat cash, and a claim for one or two hours pays $25 or $50, less than the flat payment on either side.
The documented tier is the one to reach for only if your unreimbursed losses since November 2023 exceeded what the flat routes pay and you can prove them with third-party paper. Note the shape of its cap: $2,000 is the ceiling per class member including anything paid for Lost Time, so the two do not simply add. The $50,000 aggregate cap sits above that, and neither the Notice nor the Claim Form describes what happens if valid documented claims exceed it — no reduction mechanism is published, which is unusual enough to be worth knowing. Our explainer on pro rata distribution covers how that reduction normally works when a settlement does describe one.
Expenses already reimbursed by a third party cannot be claimed.
What Proof Is Required?
Filing online requires the Claim Number and PIN printed on the postcard mailed to you. The claim portal says so on its login screen — enter your Claim Number and PIN to log in, and you find them in the postcard you received in the mail — which is why this page treats the settlement as Proof Required: Yes even though three of the four benefits ask for no documentation at all.The paper route is looser. The downloadable Claim Form can be completed and returned by mail, and its Section II asks for the Class Member ID and PIN from the Postcard Notice or the email you received. That is a real path for someone whose postcard went astray, but it is an envelope rather than an open online door, so it does not make this a no-proof settlement.
Past that credential, the documentation burden splits sharply by benefit:
- Credit Monitoring Services: nothing. Check the box.
- Cash Compensation, $95 or $45: nothing. No documentation is required to make the claim.
- Lost Time, up to $100: no supporting documentation, but you check the box, choose the number of hours, and sign the attestation that the hours were in fact spent responding to the incident.
- Out-of-Pocket Losses, up to $2,000: third-party documentation is required. Credit card statements, invoices, telephone records and receipts are the examples given, and the Claim Form asks you to itemize each loss with a description, a date, an amount and a description of the supporting documentation.
The documented tier carries a limit worth reading twice: personal certifications, declarations or affidavits standing alone do not count as reasonable documentation. They can clarify or give context to other paper you submit, but they cannot be the whole submission. The entire Claim Form is signed under penalty of perjury, and the Notice says claims are subject to verification and that the administrator may ask for supplemental information before treating a claim as complete and valid.
What Are the Deadlines?
Three deadlines, all falling on the same day, and then the hearing:- November 23, 2026 — submit a claim. Online through the settlement website, or the completed Claim Form with any supporting documentation postmarked by this date.
- November 23, 2026 — opt out. A written Request for Exclusion must be postmarked by this date or submitted online. It must carry the name of the proceeding, your full name, your personal and original signature, and the words "Request for Exclusion" or a comparable statement. Each class member must submit their own; no group opt-outs are permitted, and it cannot be done by phone or email.
- November 23, 2026 — object. A written objection must be received by this date, by mail or through the settlement website.
- December 17, 2026 — Final Approval Hearing. 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Department CX102, Santa Ana, California.
The single shared date is a mercy compared with most breach settlements, where opting out closes weeks before claims do and people who read the notice late find the choice already made for them. Here nothing expires early. Our glossary entry on opting out of a class action covers what that choice trades away.
An objection has to carry more than an opinion. Beyond the case name and number, the Notice requires your full name, current mailing address and telephone number; a statement of the grounds with specificity, plus any supporting documents; whether the objection applies only to you, to a subset of the class, or to the whole class; the identity of any attorney representing you; whether you or your attorney intend to appear at the hearing; a list of every other matter in which you or your attorney have objected to a class action settlement; and your personal and original signature.
Objecting does not cost you the money — the Notice confirms an objector remains a class member entitled to file a claim, and that you may appear at the hearing to object at your own expense without having filed a written objection first. Opting out does cost you: an opt-out cannot object, receives no cash and no monitoring, and keeps only the right to sue on their own.
How Do You File?
Claims go through the official settlement website, LJG Data Settlement.com, administered by Analytics Consulting LLC. Log in to the claim portal with the Claim Number and PIN from your postcard, then tick the benefits you want: credit monitoring on its own line, and then either the flat Cash Compensation box or the Lost Time and Out-of-Pocket sections — not both sides.How you file decides how you are paid, and this one is easy to get wrong. The Claim Form states plainly that mailing the form in means payment by physical check, and that electronic payment is available only to claimants who submit online. If an electronic payment matters to you, the paper route forecloses it, so use the portal.
If you prefer paper anyway, the same site hosts a downloadable Claim Form that can be printed, completed in blue or black ink, and returned by mail with any supporting documentation, postmarked by November 23, 2026. A paper Claim Form can also be requested through the settlement website. Keep a copy of whatever you submit. Filing is free, and class members are not charged for Class Counsel's services.
Who Pays the Fees
La Jolla Group does, separately from anything class members receive. Settlement Class Counsel will ask the Court to approve attorneys' fees, costs and expenses not to exceed $225,000, and service award payments not to exceed $3,000 per class representative, and the Notice states that both are paid by the Defendant. The Court appointed Joshua Swigart of Swigart Law Group APC, Ben Travis of Ben Travis Law APC, and Cassandra Miller of Strauss Borrelli PLLC as Settlement Class Counsel.That structure matters more than it sounds. On a common-fund settlement, fees and service awards come off the top of a fixed pot before any claimant is paid, which is why so many flat payments are published as estimates that shrink later. This Notice discloses no such pot and no total settlement fund figure at all — the benefits are described as per-class-member amounts, with the $50,000 aggregate cap applying to the documented tier alone. The Court will rule on both requests at the final approval hearing and may award less than what is asked.
What You Give Up
Staying in the class means you cannot sue La Jolla Group or the Released Parties over the claims this settlement resolves. The Notice defines the Released Claims as those that were or reasonably could have been asserted in the class action complaint, or a later operative complaint, based on the facts alleged there and arising from the Cybersecurity Incident — whether under federal, state or local law, statute, ordinance, regulation, common law or any other source.Doing nothing does not avoid that release. A class member who never files still gives up those claims, is still bound by every order the Court enters, and receives no cash and no credit monitoring. The only way to keep the right to sue La Jolla Group individually is to opt out by November 23, 2026. Given that the flat cash requires no receipts and the credit monitoring can be claimed alongside it, doing nothing is the one option with no upside at all.
What Happens Next?
At the December 17, 2026 hearing the Court will decide whether the settlement is fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests of the class, will rule on the request for attorneys' fees and costs and on the service awards, and will hear any objections. Nobody is required to attend — the Notice says Settlement Class Counsel will answer the Court's questions, and that a timely written objection meeting the stated requirements will be considered whether or not the objector appears.The Notice also warns that the date, time and format of the hearing may change by Court order, including a move from in person to remote, and that changes are posted on the settlement website or the Court's public docket. If approval is granted, approved claims are paid after the Effective Date. A hearing being held is not the same as approval being granted, and approval being granted is not the same as payments being released; no payment date has been announced.
Class Action Summary
| Case Title | Jaime Dempsey, et al. v. La Jolla Group, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Case Number | 30-2024-01416569-CU-MC-CXC |
| Court | Superior Court of California, County of Orange |
| Defendant | La Jolla Group, Inc. |
| Incident | Cybersecurity incident in or around November 2023; employee information allegedly posted on the Dark Web |
| Class Scope | Current and former La Jolla Group employees residing in the United States whose information was impacted, plus a California Subclass paid more in flat cash |
| Cash Benefit | $95 California Subclass · $45 all other class members — unavailable if you claim Lost Time or documented losses |
| Lost Time | Up to 4 hours at $25/hour, $100 maximum · attestation only, no documentation |
| Documented Losses | Up to $2,000 per class member, inclusive of Lost Time · $50,000 aggregate cap across the class · third-party documentation required |
| Monitoring | 2 years one-bureau credit monitoring · at least $1M identity theft insurance · claimable alongside any other benefit or alone |
| Fees | Up to $225,000 in fees and costs, plus up to $3,000 per class representative, paid by La Jolla Group |
| Claim Deadline | November 23, 2026 |
| Opt-Out / Object By | November 23, 2026 |
| Final Approval Hearing | December 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM Pacific (Dept. CX102, Santa Ana, CA) |
| Administrator | Analytics Consulting LLC |
| Official Website | LJG Data Settlement.com |
Sources and Verification
• Official settlement website — LJG Data Settlement.com• Notice of Class Action Settlement, Claim Form and Postcard Notice (PDF)
• Jaime Dempsey, et al. v. La Jolla Group, Inc., Case No. 30-2024-01416569-CU-MC-CXC (Super. Ct. Cal., Orange County) — Settlement Agreement posted on the official website
• Orange County Superior Court — civil case access (case number 2024-01416569)
• The settlement website's Important Dates, Counsel Information and claim portal login pages
• FTC — Data Breach Response: A Guide for Business
Questions
Can I take the cash payment and also claim lost time?
No. The Claim Form states that you are not entitled to the Cash Compensation payment if you submit a claim for Lost Time or for Documented Out-of-Pocket Losses, and the Notice describes Cash Compensation as available only to class members who do not submit an Out-of-Pocket Losses claim. The one benefit that stacks with everything is Credit Monitoring Services: the Notice says it may be elected in addition to any other Settlement benefit, or taken entirely on its own.
Is the $100 lost-time payment worth more than the flat cash?
Arithmetically, yes for both groups: four hours of Lost Time at $25 per hour comes to $100, against $45 for most class members and $95 for California Subclass members, and neither route asks for receipts. The catch is that the two are mutually exclusive and Lost Time is not a free upgrade. The Claim Form is signed under penalty of perjury and carries a separate attestation that the hours claimed were in fact spent responding to the incident, so the hours have to be real time actually spent between November 2023 and the claims deadline. Claiming fewer hours than four pays proportionally less, which is where the flat cash can come out ahead.
Could the $50,000 aggregate cap reduce my payment?
It applies only to the documented side. The Notice and Claim Form both state that Out-of-Pocket Loss claims are capped at $2,000 per class member and subject to an aggregate cap of $50,000 across all Settlement Class Members. Neither document describes what happens if valid claims exceed that aggregate figure, so no reduction mechanism is published. The flat Cash Compensation of $95 and $45 and the Credit Monitoring Services are stated without any aggregate cap of their own.
What if I never received a postcard with a Claim Number and PIN?
The online portal cannot be opened without them. Its login screen asks for a Claim Number and PIN and says both are printed in the postcard that was mailed. The paper route is the alternative: the downloadable Claim Form can be completed and returned by mail, and Section II asks for the Class Member ID and PIN from the Postcard Notice or the emailed notice. The official settlement website is where a class member who is missing those credentials should ask for a paper Claim Form or a replacement.
Does objecting to the settlement cost me my claim?
No. The Notice states that even if you object to the Settlement you remain a member of the Settlement Class and are entitled to file a claim for benefits. Opting out is the option that forfeits everything: an opt-out receives no cash and no credit monitoring, cannot object, and is not eligible to submit a Claim Form. You may also appear at the Final Approval Hearing to object at your own expense without having filed a written objection first.
Do I have to live in California to receive $95?
The higher figure goes to members of the California Subclass. The Notice sets Cash Compensation at $95 for California Subclass members and $45 for all other Settlement Class Members, and the definition of that subclass is in the Settlement Agreement posted on the official settlement website rather than in the Notice summary. The Settlement Class itself is broader: current and former La Jolla Group employees who reside in the United States and whose information was impacted, with no requirement to live in any particular state.
Official Settlement Notice
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Settlement Amount
No fund figure disclosed
benefits are stated per class member · a $50,000 aggregate cap applies to documented out-of-pocket claims only · fees up to $225,000 and the service awards are paid by La Jolla Group
Case Title
Jaime Dempsey, et al. v. La Jolla Group, Inc.
Case Number
30-2024-01416569-CU-MC-CXC
Court
Superior Court of California, County of Orange
Final Approval Hearing
December 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM Pacific
Department CX102, Santa Ana, California · the date, time and format may change by Court order
Administrator
Analytics Consulting LLC
Official Website
LJG Data Settlement
