LOS ANGELES – Emanate Health is facing a class action lawsuit that claims that the company's website secretly records users' sensitive medical information and sends it to Facebook without their consent.
Plaintiffs Rafael Valdez, Jr., Stefanie Diamond and Michael Belushi Lewis filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Emanate Health, citing violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, Violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Violations of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, violations of the Unfair Competition Law, invasion of privacy, breach of implied contract, and unjust enrichment.
According to the lawsuit, Emanate Health operates a website that allows patients to search for doctors, research their conditions and symptoms, and search the Emanate network for locations that provide specific health services. The lawsuit alleges that, as part of its healthcare activities, Emanate has promised patients that their sensitive information will never be released for marketing purposes. Despite this pledge, the Emanate website allegedly incorporates various trackers, including the Meta/Facebook Pixel tracker, to track user's activities, including searches for sensitive health-related topics, in order to build profiles of users for the purpose of providing more targeted marketing and advertising. The lawsuit states that these various tracking technologies allow for the widespread collection and transfer of patient information, including private and confidential medical information, without the patients' knowledge or consent.
The plaintiffs claim that they have used the Emanate website. They add that they had Facebook accounts and generally stayed logged into their Facebook accounts; thus, the Pixel tracker collected information regarding their activities on the website, their medical records, and their patient statuses and transferred the information, which is linked to their identity via Facebook, to Meta without their consent.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial to seek damages for themselves and their proposed class, plus court costs, interest, attorney fees, and any other relief the court deems proper. In addition, they are seeking an injunction to prohibit Emanate from engaging in further invasions of privacy as described in the lawsuit. They are represented by the attorneys Christopher Nagakawa, Ryan Ellersick, and Jason P. Johnson, of Zimmerman Reed LLP.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California case number 2:23-CV-07828