The EMS LINQ school-software data breach settlement offered a $50 cash payment or up to $3,000 for documented losses — but the June 29, 2026 claim deadline has passed and the settlement is now closed.
What Is This Settlement About?
EMS LINQ, LLC — a company that provides administrative software to K-12 school districts — agreed to a class action settlement to resolve claims that it failed to protect personal information from a data breach. According to the litigation, an unauthorized party had access to LINQ's computing environment between September 12, 2023 and May 13, 2024 and may have obtained files containing personal information. Because school districts store student, family, and employee data in LINQ's systems, the people who received breach notices include parents, students, and school staff — many of whom had never heard of the company before the notice arrived.The lawsuit alleged EMS LINQ was negligent in safeguarding the data. The case is captioned Connor Law v. EMS LINQ, LLC, Case No. 1:24-cv-01533, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. EMS LINQ denied the allegations and denied any wrongdoing; the court did not decide which side was right. Instead, both sides agreed to settle to avoid the cost and risk of continued litigation while giving affected people a way to recover compensation and protect their identities. Important: the June 29, 2026 claim deadline has passed, so this settlement is now closed and no new claims can be filed.
Who Qualified?
The settlement class was made up of all individuals who were sent written notice that their personal information was potentially accessed, viewed, and/or obtained as a result of the LINQ data security incident that occurred between September 12, 2023 and May 13, 2024. In practice, if you received a notice about this settlement — by mail or email — the company's records indicated your information was involved and you were a class member.Because EMS LINQ's software is used by K-12 school districts, the affected group included students and their parents or guardians as well as current and former school employees whose information was stored in the affected systems. According to the notice, the files involved contained information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, bank account information, and Social Security numbers.
How Much Could You Get?
The settlement offered three types of benefits. The two documented-loss options and the flat cash payment were alternatives to one another:- Ordinary losses — up to $500. Reimbursement for documented out-of-pocket expenses and lost time fairly traceable to the breach, such as bank fees, the cost of credit reports or credit freezes, postage, and time spent dealing with the incident.
- Extraordinary losses — up to $2,500. Reimbursement for documented, unreimbursed monetary losses from actual identity theft or fraud that was more likely than not caused by the breach. This option required stronger supporting documentation than the ordinary-loss tier.
- Alternative cash payment — $50. A flat cash payment for class members who did not want to gather loss documentation. No proof of loss was required beyond logging in with notice credentials.
Class Counsel (Leigh S. Montgomery and Jarrett L. Ellzey of EKSM, LLP) asked the court for attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses of up to $200,000, and the class representative could request a service award of up to $2,500 — both subject to court approval. Important: the June 29, 2026 claim deadline has passed, so these benefits are no longer available to anyone who did not already file a claim. Filing required a unique ID and PIN from the mailed or emailed notice, which is now moot since the online claim form and mail-in option have both closed.
Deadlines and Key Dates
- Breach window: September 12, 2023 – May 13, 2024.
- Opt-out / objection deadline: May 29, 2026 (passed).
- Final approval hearing: held June 23, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time via Zoom.
- Claim deadline: June 29, 2026 (passed) — no new claims can be filed.
Watch Out for Scams
Legitimate settlement administrators do not ask you to pay a fee to receive a class action payment, and they do not request your full Social Security number, banking passwords, or a "processing payment" by text or phone. Because the claim deadline has passed, be especially wary of any message claiming you can still "file late" or must pay money or hand over sensitive credentials to receive a check — that is not how this settlement works. If you want to compare this case with other cases, see our roundup of open data breach settlements, and our writeup of the Bell Ambulance data breach settlement, another 2025-era breach with a tiered cash-or-documented-losses structure.Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible for the EMS LINQ data breach settlement?
The settlement covered all individuals who were sent written notice that their personal information was potentially accessed, viewed, or obtained as a result of the LINQ data security incident that occurred between September 12, 2023 and May 13, 2024. EMS LINQ provides software to K-12 school districts, so the class included students, parents, and school staff whose information was stored in affected systems. The June 29, 2026 claim deadline has passed, so the settlement is now closed and no new claims can be filed.
How much can I get from the EMS LINQ settlement?
Class members could choose one of three benefits: up to $500 for documented ordinary losses (such as the cost of credit reports, credit freezes, and time spent dealing with the breach), up to $2,500 for documented extraordinary losses (such as actual, unreimbursed identity theft or fraud), or a $50 alternative cash payment that required no loss documentation. Separately, all class members could enroll in one year of three-bureau credit monitoring at no cost. The claim deadline has passed, so these benefits are no longer available to anyone who did not already file.
Is proof required to file an EMS LINQ settlement claim?
Filing required the unique ID and PIN printed on the settlement notice that was mailed or emailed to you, so the notice itself functioned as proof of class membership. The $50 alternative cash payment required no loss documentation beyond that login, but the up to $500 ordinary-loss and up to $2,500 extraordinary-loss options additionally required supporting records such as receipts, statements, or other documentation. This is now moot, since the claim deadline has passed and the online claim form no longer accepts new submissions.
What is the deadline to file an EMS LINQ claim?
Claim forms had to be submitted online or postmarked by June 29, 2026. That deadline has passed, and the settlement is now closed — no new claims can be filed. The deadline to exclude yourself from or object to the settlement was May 29, 2026, and the court held a final approval hearing on June 23, 2026.
What is EMS LINQ?
EMS LINQ, LLC (often referred to simply as LINQ) is a company that provides administrative software to K-12 school districts, including tools for school nutrition, finance, forms, and student information. Because school districts store student, family, and employee data in these systems, a breach of LINQ's environment can expose the personal information of people who never directly signed up with the company. EMS LINQ denies the allegations and any wrongdoing.
Sources
- Notice of Class Action and Proposed Settlement — Connor Law v. EMS LINQ, LLC, Case No. 1:24-cv-01533 (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division)
- Official settlement website — LINQ Data Incident.com
