US District Court Upholds Tower Health in ECPA Lawsuit over Alleged Health Information Sharing with Meta

On Wednesday, Judge John F. Murphy of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in favor of Pennsylvania-based Tower Health in a proposed class action lawsuit accusing it of sharing patients’ personal health information with Meta Platforms Inc. in violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and common law. The lawsuit was brought by plaintiffs Patrick Santoro and Jessica Landis, who claimed that their sensitive health information was disclosed to Meta by Tower Health.

However, Judge Murphy determined that Santoro and Landis failed to demonstrate that the information shared with Meta was actually sensitive health information. As a result, their claims of negligence, intrusion upon seclusion, and violations of the ECPA were dismissed without the opportunity to amend the lawsuit.

Despite their allegations, Santoro and Landis had alleged that Tower Health was responsible for sharing their personal health information with Meta Platforms Inc., leading to the lawsuit. However, the court determined that the information in question did not meet the criteria to be classified as sensitive health information, leading to the case being dismissed.

Tower Health successfully defended itself against the allegations and ultimately prevailed in the lawsuit.