Ariz. Judge Orders Consolidation of 3 Privacy Actions vs. Banner Health
U.S. District Judge Steven Logan for Arizona in Phoenix granted the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion to consolidate three privacy class actions against Banner Health, said his Thursday signed order (docket 2:23-cv-00985), posted Monday. On Sept. 7, plaintiffs Cheryl McCulley et al.…
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filed an unopposed motion to consolidate with two other cases currently pending in the District of Arizona: Irazaba v. Banner Health (docket 2:23-cv-01054) and Williams, et al. v. Banner Health, et al. (docket 2:23-cv-01228). On Sept.19, defendant Meta was severed from the Williams case, leaving Banner Health as the sole remaining defendant in all three cases. Consolidation is appropriate because the three cases involve a common single defendant, Banner Health, which is accused of similar conduct, failure to safeguard the privacy of plaintiffs’ health care records, said the order. All three cases allege common law violations of invasion of privacy, the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Though each party has brought additional claims that the others did not, the claims are all factually related and are “essentially parallel mechanisms for addressing the same underlying conduct"; judicial economy will be served by consolidation, Logan said. McCulley v. Banner Health (docket 2:23-cv-00985) is the lead case.