Frequently Asked Questions

A Court authorized the Long-Form Notice because you have the right to know about the proposed Settlement of a class action lawsuit and about your rights and options before the Court decides whether to grant final approval of the Settlement. The Long-Form Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, your legal rights, what benefits are available, who is eligible for the benefits, and how to get them.

Judge Keathan Frink of the Seventeenth Judicial District in and for Broward County, Florida is overseeing this class action lawsuit. The case is known as Kenneth Koskosky, Victoria Witherby, and Sandra v. DaVita, Inc., Case No. CACE24009252. The people who filed this lawsuit are called the “Plaintiffs” and the company sued is DaVita Inc.

The lawsuit arises out of DaVita’s alleged implementation and use of third-party web tracking and analytics tools on websites, patient portals, and mobile applications owned, operated, or managed directly or indirectly by DaVita or its subsidiaries or affiliates. Plaintiffs allege that DaVita’s use of these tools disclosed their web usage data, containing personally identifiable information and protected health information, to Facebook, Google, and other third-parties.  Plaintiffs’ Complaint can be viewed in the Documents section of this website.

Defendant denies all claims asserted against it in the lawsuit, denies all allegations of wrongdoing and liability, and denies all material allegations of the Complaint.

In a class action, the “Class Representatives” or “Plaintiffs” sue on behalf of all people who have similar legal claims. In the event of a settlement, such as here, all these people are called a Settlement Class or Settlement Class Members. One court resolves the issues for all Settlement Class Members, except for those Settlement Class Members who timely and validly exclude themselves from the Settlement Class.

The Class Representatives in this case are Kenneth Koskosky, Victoria Witherby, and Sandra Hoover.

Plaintiffs and Defendant do not agree regarding the legal claims made in this lawsuit. The lawsuit has not gone to trial, and the Court has not decided in favor of Plaintiffs or Defendant. Instead, Plaintiffs and Defendant have agreed to settle the lawsuit. Plaintiffs and the lawyers for the Settlement Class (“Class Counsel”) believe the Settlement is best for all Settlement Class Members due to the risks and uncertainty associated with continuing the lawsuit.

Under the Settlement, the Court decided that the Settlement Class includes all U.S. persons who are, or have been, patients of Defendant who were treated at Defendant’s U.S. clinics and who visited any websites, patient portals, and/or mobile applications owned, operated, or managed directly or indirectly by Defendant or its subsidiaries or affiliates at least once between November 20, 2017 and up to and including September 21, 2023.

Yes. Excluded from the Settlement Class are (i) DaVita, any entity in which DaVita has a controlling interest, and DaVita’s affiliates, parents, subsidiaries, officers, directors, legal representatives, successors, and assigns; (ii) any judge, justice, or judicial officer presiding over the lawsuit and the members of their immediate families and judicial staff; and (iii) any individual who timely and validly excludes themselves from the Settlement. 

“Website Usage Disclosure” means the alleged disclosure of personal information of Plaintiffs and Settlement Class Members to Facebook, Google, or other third-parties via web tracking or analytics tools allegedly used on websites, patient portals, and mobile applications owned, operated, or managed directly or indirectly by DaVita or its subsidiaries or affiliates from November 20, 2017 through September 21, 2023.

If you are still not sure whether you are a Settlement Class Member, you may review the Documents section of this website for additional information.

Under the Settlement, Defendant has agreed to create a $3,800,000 Settlement Fund. The Settlement Fund will be used to pay for: (i) reasonable Notice and Claims Administration Costs incurred pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, (ii) any taxes owed by the Settlement Fund, (iii) any Service Awards approved by the Court, (iv) any Attorneys’ Fees, Costs, and Expenses Award as approved by the Court, and (v) any benefits to Settlement Class Members, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Settlement Agreement. The money remaining for payment of benefits to Settlement Class Members is called the “Net Settlement Fund.” 

If you are a Settlement Class Member, and you file a valid and timely Claim Form by December 4, 2024, you may be eligible for the following Settlement benefits:

• Privacy Shield. Settlement Class Members may enroll in one year of Privacy Shield, a data protection and monitoring service, and
• Cash Compensation. Settlement Class Members may file a claim for a cash payment that will be calculated by first subtracting from the Net Settlement Fund the total cost of all valid Privacy Shield claims, and then dividing the remaining amount by the number of valid Cash Compensation claims (so that all Cash Compensation claim payments will be equal). 

Unless you exclude yourself, you are choosing to remain in the Settlement Class. If the Settlement is approved and becomes Final, the Court’s orders will apply to you and legally bind you. You will not be able to sue, continue to sue, or be part of any other lawsuit against the Defendant and the Released Parties about the legal issues in this lawsuit that are released by this Settlement. The specific rights you are giving up are called “Released Class Claims.”

The Settlement Agreement in Section XV describes the Release, Released Claims, and the Released Parties in necessary legal terminology, so please read this section carefully. The Settlement Agreement is available in the Documents section of this website or in the public court records on file in this lawsuit. For questions regarding the Release and what it means, you can also contact one of the lawyers listed in Question 15 for free, or you can talk to your own lawyer at your own expense.

To receive Settlement benefits, you must file a valid Claim Form. Your Claim Form must be complete and submitted to the Settlement Administrator, submitted online or mailed and postmarked on or before December 4, 2024. Claim Forms may be submitted online or printed from the Documents section of this website and mailed to the Settlement Administrator at the address on the form. The quickest way to submit a Claim Form is online. Claim Forms are also available by writing to: 

DaVita Pixel Settlement

c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC

PO Box 5324

New York, NY 10150-5324

If you change your mailing address or email address after you submit a Claim Form, it is your responsibility to inform the Settlement Administrator of your updated information. You may notify the Settlement Administrator of any changes by calling (833) 739-3319 or by writing to:

DaVita Pixel Settlement

c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC

PO Box 5324

New York, NY 10150-5324

If you file a valid Claim Form, you will receive information via email regarding how to activate your Privacy Shield benefits, and your payment will be provided by the Settlement Administrator, after the Settlement is approved by the Court and becomes Final.

It may take time for the Settlement to be approved and become Final. Please be patient and check this website for updates.

Yes, the Court has appointed the law firm Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman located at 201 Sevilla Avenue, Suite 200 Coral Gables, FL 33134 as Class Counsel to represent you and the Settlement Class for the purposes of this Settlement. You may hire your own lawyer at your own cost and expense if you want someone other than Class Counsel to represent you in this lawsuit.

Class Counsel will file a motion asking the Court for a reasonable Attorneys’ Fees, Costs, and Expenses Award not to exceed thirty-five percent (35%) of the amount of the Settlement Fund, which shall include the retail value of the Privacy Shield services, plus reasonable costs and expenses incurred in prosecuting the litigation.

Class Counsel will also ask the Court to approve a Service Award of $2,500 from the Settlement Fund to each Class Representative, for participating in this lawsuit and for their efforts in achieving the Settlement. The Court may award less than the amounts requested by Class Counsel.

Class Counsel’s application for a reasonable Attorneys’ Fees, Costs and Expenses Award and the Service Awards will be made available in the Documents section of this website before the deadline for you to comment or object to the Settlement.

You may request to be excluded from the Settlement Class in writing by sending a letter to the Settlement Administrator. Your request must be postmarked on or before November 4, 2024. Your request must include the following:

• The case name and number of the lawsuit [Kenneth Koskosky, Victoria Witherby, and Sandra Hoover v. DaVita, Inc., No. CACE24009252]
• Your full name, address, and telephone number; 
• A statement that you wish to be excluded from the Settlement Class; 
• A statement as to whether you visited a website, patient portal, or mobile application owned, operated, or managed directly or indirectly by DaVita or its subsidiaries or affiliates at least once between November 20, 2017 and up to and including September 21, 2023; and 
• Your personal and original signature. 

You may only request exclusion for yourself. “Mass Opt-Outs” requesting exclusion of more than one Settlement Class Member will be deemed invalid by the Settlement Administrator.

A written notice to be excluded that is sent to an address other than designated below, or that is not postmarked within the time specified, will be invalid and the person making the request will be considered a member of the Settlement Class and will be bound as a Settlement Class Member by the Settlement Agreement, if approved.

Your notice to be excluded must be postmarked and sent to the Settlement Administrator at the following address by November 4, 2024:

DaVita Pixel Settlement

c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC

PO Box 5324

New York, NY 10150-5324

No. If you exclude yourself, you are telling the Court you do not want to be part of the Settlement. You can get benefits from the Settlement only if you stay in the Settlement and submit a valid Claim Form.

No. Unless you exclude yourself, you give up any right to sue the Defendant and Released Parties for the claims resolved by this Settlement. You must exclude yourself from this lawsuit to start or continue your own lawsuit or to be part of any other lawsuit against the Defendant or any of the Released Parties. If you have a pending lawsuit, speak to your lawyer in that case immediately.

If you are a Settlement Class Member, you can tell the Court you do not agree with all or any part of the Settlement or the requested Attorneys’ Fees, Costs and Expenses Award or Service Awards. You can also give reasons why you think the Court should not approve the Settlement or the Attorneys’ Fees, Costs and Expenses Award or Service Awards. 

To object, you must file a timely written notice of your Objection, so it is filed by November 4, 2024. Such notice must: 

• Include the case name and number of the lawsuit [Kenneth Koskosky, Victoria Witherby, and Sandra Hoover v. DaVita Inc., No. CACE24009252]
• Included your full name, current address, telephone number, and email address;
• Include your personal and original signature; 
• Contain proof that you are a Settlement Class Member, including an attestation under the laws of the United States that you are, or have been, a patient of Defendant and visited any websites, patient portals, and/or mobile applications owned, operated, or managed directly or indirectly by Defendant or its subsidiaries or affiliates at least once between November 20, 2017 and September 21, 2023;
• State that you object to the Settlement, in whole or in part;
• Set forth a statement of the legal and factual basis for your Objection;
• Provide copies of any documents that you wish to submit in support of your position; 
• Identify any counsel representing you with respect to, or who provided assistance to you in drafting, your Objection (and include the signature, name, address, telephone number, and email address of your counsel); 
• Contain a list, including case name, court, and docket number, of all other cases in which you and/or your counsel has filed an objection to any proposed class action settlement in the past three (3) years;
• State whether the Objection applies only to you, to a specific subset of the Settlement Class, or to the entire Settlement Class; and
• State whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing, and if so, whether personally or through counsel.

 To be timely, written notice of an objection in the appropriate form must be filed with the Court by November 4,     2024, and copies may be sent to Class Counsel and Defendants. The addresses for each are as follows:

Objecting is simply telling the Court you do not like something about the Settlement or the requested Attorneys’ Fees, Costs, and Expenses Award or Service Awards. You can object only if you stay in the Settlement Class (i.e., if you do not exclude yourself). Requesting exclusion is telling the Court you do not want to be part of the Settlement Class or the Settlement. If you exclude yourself, you cannot object to the Settlement.

The Court will hold a Final Approval Hearing on December 16, 2024, at 8:45 a.m.before Judge Keathan Frink of the Seventeenth Judicial District in and for Broward County, Florida, 201 S.E. 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, via Zoom https://17thflcourts.zoom.us/j/64732402 Meeting ID: 674-324-402. 

At the Final Approval Hearing, the Court will consider whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and decide whether to approve: the Settlement, Class Counsel’s application for reasonable Attorneys’ Fees, Costs and Expenses Award and for Service Awards. If there are Objections, the Court will consider them. The Court will also listen to people who have asked to speak at the hearing. The Court can only approve or deny the Settlement Agreement. It cannot change the terms of the Settlement.

Note: The date and time of the Final Approval Hearing are subject to change. The Court may also decide to hold the hearing via videoconference or by phone. Any change will be posted to this website.

No. Class Counsel will answer any questions the Court may have. However, you are welcome to attend at your own expense. If you file an objection, you do not have to attend the hearing to speak about it. As long as you file your written objection on time, the Court will consider it.

Yes, as long as you do not exclude yourself, you can (but you do not have to) participate and speak for yourself at the Final Approval Hearing at your own expense. This is called making an appearance. You also can have your own lawyer speak for you, but you will have to hire and pay for your own lawyer. If you choose to make an appearance, you must follow all of the procedures for objecting to the Settlement listed in Question 20 above and specifically include a statement whether you and your counsel will appear at the Final Approval Hearing.

If you are a Settlement Class Member and you do nothing, you will not receive any Settlement benefits. You will give up rights explained in the “Excluding Yourself from the Settlement” section of the Long-Form Notice, including your right to start or continue a lawsuit, or be part of any other lawsuit against the Defendant or any of the Released Parties about the legal issues in this lawsuit that are released by the Settlement Agreement.

The Long-Form Notice summarizes the proposed Settlement. Complete details are provided in the Settlement Agreement. The Settlement Agreement and other related documents are available in the Documents section of this website, by calling (833) 739-3319, or by writing to:

DaVita Pixel Settlement

c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC

PO Box 5324

New York, NY 10150-5324

PLEASE DO NOT TELEPHONE THE COURT, THE COURT’S CLERK OFFICE, OR DAVITA OR ITS COUNSEL REGARDING THE NOTICE.