Almeida Law Group Defeats Motion to Dismiss in Wellstar Patient Privacy Litigation

Almeida Law Group is pleased to announce that the Honorable J.P. Boulee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has denied in part Wellstar Health System’s motion to dismiss in Doe v. Wellstar Health System, Inc., Case No. 1:24-cv-01748-JPB. 

The litigation involves allegations that Wellstar unlawfully intercepted and disclosed patients’ personally identifiable and protected health information to third parties, including Meta and Google, through tracking technologies embedded in its website and patient portal. Plaintiffs allege that Wellstar’s use of these tools violated its own privacy policies and federal law, including HIPAA and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). 

In a detailed ruling issued on August 21, 2025, Judge Boulee denied Wellstar’s motion to dismiss as to two key claims: unjust enrichment and violation of the ECPA. The Court found that Plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that Wellstar intercepted sensitive patient communications for a potentially tortious or criminal purpose, triggering the crime-tort exception to the ECPA’s one-party consent rule. The Court also held that Plaintiffs plausibly alleged that Wellstar was unjustly enriched by monetizing patient data. The Court dismissed Plaintiffs’ remaining claims and ordered the parties to proceed with discovery. 

Almeida Law Group is proud to lead this litigation and remains committed to protecting patient privacy and holding healthcare providers accountable for the misuse of sensitive health data.