Amina A. Thomas

Meet Amina

Amina is a partner on the Class Action team. Amina focuses the majority of her practice on privacy actions involving data breaches and the unlawful collection or disclosure of personal information. As part of the Firm’s data breach litigation team, Amina has helped obtain recovery for thousands of individuals who have had their personal information leaked or unauthorizedly disclosed due to insufficient data security measures.

Prior to joining CohenMalad, LLP, Amina had the honor of serving as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Judge Melissa S. May at the Indiana Court of Appeals and to the Honorable Judge Heather A. Welch at the Indiana Commercial Court. Amina’s clerkship experience has given her command of courtroom procedure and commercial litigation.

In law school, Amina worked as a law clerk in the Consumer Protection Division of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office. Amina also completed an externship at IU Health Fairbanks Center for Medical Ethics at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Practice Areas

• Class Action & Mass Tort
• Appellate Law

Clerkships

• Heather A. Welch, Indiana Commercial Court, Marion Superior Court 1 (2017-2019)
• Melissa S. May, Indiana Court of Appeals (2016-2017)

Education

J.D., Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, 2016

B.A., International Studies, Ohio State University, 2011

• Pre-Law Program, St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, 2010

Presentations & Awards

“Up and Coming Lawyer,” Indiana Lawyer Leadership in Law, 2023

“Indiana Super Lawyers Rising Stars,” Thomson Reuters, 2021-2026

“Working with Victims of Abuse: Brain Injury & Trauma,” Presenter, National Crime Victim Bar Association, October 2021

“Effective Mentorship in 2021,” Panel Moderator, Indianapolis Bar Association Women and the Law Division Mentorship Kickoff Luncheon, February 2021

“Dystopian Dining: Update on COVID-19 Business Interruption Insurance Litigation,” ITLA 56^th Annual Institute, November 2020

“Standards of Review,” How Appealing! Sagamore Inn of Court Lincoln Group Presentation, March 2020

Professional Memberships

Sagamore American Inn of Court

• Associate, 2019 – 2022
• Barrister, 2023-Present

Indianapolis Bar Association

• Women and the Law Division, 2016-Present
  –  Board Member, Executive Committee 2018-2022
  –  Chair, Mentorship Committee 2018-2022
• Litigation Section

Indiana Trial Lawyers Association

• Member, Women’s Caucus
• Member, Young Lawyers Section

Friends of Riley

• Vice President of External Affairs, 2019-2021

Center for At-Risk Elders

• Volunteer Advocate, 2021

Representative Cases

‍Data Breach and Privacy Class Action Litigation
Amina has helped shape Indiana law on data breach standing. In June 2025, she served as counsel for the plaintiffs-appellants in two published Indiana Court of Appeals decisions issued weeks apart, both reversing trial court dismissals of putative data breach class actions for lack of standing.

• In Hensley v. Lewis Brothers Bakeries, Inc., 263N.E.3d 199 (Ind. Ct. App. 2025), the court held that a plaintiff whose Social Security number was stolen in a targeted attack need not allege actual misuse of his information to establish standing, and that the substantial risk of future identity theft together with time spent mitigating that risk constitutes a direct injury.
• In McLinden v. Tangoe U.S., Inc., 263 N.E.3d 767(Ind. Ct. App. 2025), the court held that monetary losses incurred to guard against identity theft are themselves a sufficient injury at the pleading stage. Together the decisions established that Indiana courts will not require data breach victims to wait for fraud to occur before they can sue.

In re: Eskenazi Health Data Incident Litigation
‍No. 49D01-2111-PL-038870 (Marion Cnty. Ind. Super. Ct.No. 1

• Amina worked on the team representing more than 160,000 patients and employees of Eskenazi Health, the public hospital division of Marion County's Health & Hospital Corporation, after cybercriminals infiltrated the health system's network in May 2021 and published stolen patient and employee data on the dark web. CohenMalad, LLP secured a $2,500,000 common-fund settlement providing reimbursement of out-of-pocket losses up to $5,000, compensation for lost time, a pro rata cash payment, and three years of credit monitoring backed by a $1 million identity theft insurance policy. 

Castaneda v. Ardagh Glass Inc.
‍No. 1:23-cv-2214 (S.D. Ind.)

• Amina worked on the team representing roughly 5,300 employees of glass container manufacturer Ardagh Glass, Inc., whose personal information — including Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, and financial account information — was exposed in an April 2021 ransomware attack. Plaintiffs alleged Ardagh failed to safeguard the data and waited roughly fourteen months to notify those affected. The $2,750,000 common-fund settlement provided three years of credit monitoring backed by $1 million in identity theft insurance, reimbursement of out-of-pocket losses, lost time compensation, and an automatic pro rata payment requiring no claim form. Ardagh also agreed to strengthen its data security practices.

Smith v. Apria Healthcare LLC
No. 1:23-cv-01003-JPH-KMB (S.D. Ind.)

• Amina worked on a team representing approximately 1.8 million patients of Apria Healthcare LLC, a national provider of home medical equipment and services, whose personal, financial, and medical information was exposed in two separate network intrusions in 2019 and 2021. Plaintiffs alleged Apria failed to safeguard the data and delayed notifying those affected. The consolidated action settled for $6,375,000, providing reimbursement of out-of-pocket losses up to $2,000 per person and a pro rata cash payment. Apria denied any wrongdoing but agreed to enhance its data security protocols.

Jurisdictions Admitted To Practice

• Indiana, 2017
• Northern District of Indiana, 2019
• Southern District of Indiana, 2019