Penalty Amount
$200,000
Consumers Affected
1,654
ATA Consulting LLC, operating as Best Medical Transcription, settled for $200,000 over a 2016 server misconfiguration that publicly exposed health records of up to 1,654 patients. The settlement includes civil penalties and permanently bars the owner from operating a business in New Jersey. The breach violated HIPAA and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act due to inadequate security and failure to promptly notify affected individuals.
Defendants must pay $200,000 in civil penalties and costs, with $30,508 due within 30 days and the remainder suspended upon compliance. Owner Tushar Mathur is permanently enjoined from owning, managing, or holding a leadership position in any New Jersey business.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor and business associate agreements where the vendor handles protected health information (PHI), particularly medical transcription services. Focus on clauses mandating compliance with HIPAA security and privacy rules, specific technical security requirements (e.g., encryption, access controls), breach notification timelines (including 'without unreasonable delay' standards), and data retention/destruction provisions. Agreements may need amendments to require mandatory security audits, stronger password/authentication protocols for web portals, and explicit indemnification for HIPAA violations. Customer agreements with healthcare clients should also be checked for flow-down security obligations and liability caps related to data breaches.
Entity
ATA Consulting LLC
Also known as: Best Medical Transcription
Industry
HealthcareOfficial Press Release
https://www.njoag.gov/defunct-georgia-vendor-responsible-for-exposing-virtua-medical-group-patient-files-online-agrees-to-200000-settlement-owner-of-transcription-service-agrees-to-permanent-ban-on-owning-an-nj-busin/
New Jersey Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/division-of-consumer-affairs/
"ATA Consulting LLC, which did business as Best Medical Transcription"
"a $200,000 settlement"
"federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”)"
"New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”)"
"in connection with a server misconfiguration that publically exposed the private health information"
A multistate coalition co-led by New Jersey won a federal court order rejecting the Trump Administration’s decision not to request funding for the CFPB. The order struck down that decision and directed the Administration to follow the law and fund the agency; no monetary penalty or privacy violation is described.
New Jersey’s Attorney General and Division of Consumer Affairs alerted the public that three synthetic kratom-related compounds became illegal to possess or sell in the state under a temporary federal scheduling order. The release describes a controlled-substance alert, not a privacy enforcement action, and identifies no company, privacy violation, or monetary penalty.
$2.3M
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings agreed to pay $2,287,455 to participating states and strengthen its security and vendor-management practices following an investigation into the 2019 breach at its debt-collection vendor, AMCA. The breach potentially exposed information of more than 27.5 million people nationwide, including sensitive information belonging to approximately 10.2 million LabCorp patients.
$694.0M
New Jersey's Attorney General and Division of Consumer Affairs, along with 41 Attorneys General, reached a $694 million settlement with subprime auto lender Credit Acceptance Corporation over allegations it originated unaffordable loans its own systems predicted borrowers could not repay, employed aggressive debt-collection tactics, and failed to prevent deceptive vehicle-service contract and GAP product 'packing' by dealers. The multistate settlement stepped in after the CFPB permanently dropped its 2023 enforcement action against CAC in 2025. CAC will provide $60 million in cash restitution, $634 million in debt relief, an additional $15 million to the states, and implement injunctive lending reforms including loan off ramps, pre-loan disclosures, add-on packing safeguards, and a seven-year vehicle price cap. Note: this is a consumer-protection lending enforcement action, not a privacy matter; violation categories are best-fit mappings from the available taxonomy.
$650K
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$96.5M
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