Epiq Class Action Services Canada confirmed the additional errors after a third veteran appeared in The Canadian Press to report receiving an email containing the personal details of a different plaintiff earlier this month.
The veteran, who asked not to be named because he is still working for the federal government, said the information was contained in an attachment as he fought Epiq after the company sent its settlement check to the wrong address.
The Federal Court appointed Epiq to handle the settlement process after the government reached an agreement in November 2019 with plaintiffs in three overlapping class actions involving sexual harassment in the military.
“I feel betrayed and worried that my personal information has been sent to other members,” the veteran said.  “I have submitted more than 180 pages of documents and I am sick of worrying that someone has my information.  “It’s victimization everywhere.”
Epiq had previously stated that the information released unintentionally did not include testimonies and other such documents, but only plaintiffs’ names, contact details and claim numbers that were created by chance.
However, he has apologized for the mistakes since the first one was reported in March and has repeatedly promised to take appropriate disciplinary and procedural measures to ensure that no more plaintiffs are harmed.
The leaks also led a team of plaintiffs, lawyers and government officials in charge of overseeing the settlement to order an independent audit of Epiq’s claims process to avoid further problems.
Since then, the company has retained an external auditor to review and propose changes to its procedures, Epiq vice president Angela Hoidas said in an email, adding: “We sincerely regret these additional disclosures.
“While unintentional human error has affected a small part of the claims we have successfully handled in this category, we believe that any unintentional error is unacceptable and we have already taken substantial steps to improve our policies and procedures.”
Lawyer Jonathan Ptak, who represents some of the veterans and active members of the service involved in the three lawsuits settled by the government, said the investigation has begun.
However, neither Epiq’s promises to tackle the problem nor the decision to order an audit stopped the latest breach, which according to a statement on Epiq’s website brings the total number of plaintiffs whose personal information has been breached to 109.
While Epiq has not disclosed the total number of breaches, Ministry of Defense spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said the company has reported 20 individual breaches since February 8.
This includes 15 previously unreported incidents that were discovered by the company during an internal review in late February.
“National Defense takes the issue of privacy very seriously,” Lamirande said in an email.  “We have asked Epiq to investigate and take steps to ensure that this issue is reduced, resolved and does not happen again.”
Nearly 20,000 people have applied for compensation as part of the group action arrangement.
Retired Dean Amy Green and fellow veteran France Menard said they had heard nothing more from the company, government or law firms involved in the settlement since receiving private information about other Epiq plaintiffs earlier this year.
“It’s frustrating, that’s for sure,” Menard said.  “They try to put everything under the rug.”
The veteran who recently received information from another plaintiff said she and others already had problems with Epiq even before the breaches of confidentiality, including misinformation and settlement payments sent to the wrong addresses.
The information sent to Menard and Green consists of the names of the individual plaintiffs as well as their claim numbers, which can be used to submit documents via a secure link to the group action website.
Hoidas said such documents would be reviewed by Epiq later and that individual files could not be accessed, but Menard and Green said they were not satisfied with Epiq’s response, especially given the sensitive nature of the claims agreement and settlement.
While the commissioner’s office said in March that it was looking into the matter after receiving a report of a breach of privacy from Epiq, spokesman Vito Pilieci said there was no information about the guard’s investigation.