Clark County will pay for data breach

Clark County has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a class action lawsuit filed last year in Clark County Superior County over an October 2023 data breach. The suit claimed negligence, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment when the county failed to secure its network and allowed residents’ information to be compromised.

James Reese, Jessica Hardwick, Melissa Parker and Tanya Severson consolidated their individual lawsuits into a class action suit in September.

While the county denied any wrongdoing or liability for the data breach, the settlement agreement said it wanted to “put to rest all controversy and to avoid the uncertainty, risk, and/or expense of burdensome, protracted, and costly litigation.”

Mediation with retired Judge Ronald Leighton began in December. The settlement agreement was finalized March 17.

The county’s information technology department began investigating the data breach after suspicious activity was detected on its computer network.

Some parts of the county’s website — such as online maps, the property information center and the geographic information services department — were unavailable while the investigation continued.

“As with most organizations, Clark County monitors the security of its networks, which is how this issue was discovered,” county spokesperson Joni McAnally said soon after the discovery.

McAnally initially said there was no indication that residents’ data or any other data had been accessed or stolen. But in May 2025, the county began notifying residents impacted by the data breach.

“The investigation determined that an unknown actor gained access to Clark County systems between Oct. 16, 2023, and Oct. 21, 2023, and accessed and/or stole data stored on certain Clark County systems,” according to a news release at the time.

The class action lawsuit also asked the county to pay for 10 years of credit monitoring services for those affected by the breach. The settlement agreement allows up to $5,000 per class member for expenses directly related to the security incident, including credit monitoring.