The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society will pay $2.8 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by exhibitors of its canceled trade show. Exhibitors will also get credit toward fees to participate in future conferences.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois gave preliminary approval to the settlement on March 12. The court will hold a final approval hearing remotely on June 24.

Amid rising fears of a global pandemic, HIMSS canceled its 2020 Global Health Conference & Exhibition four days before it was scheduled to start on March 9 in Orlando, Fla. President Donald Trump had been scheduled to speak on the first day of the four-day conference. More than 1,300 exhibitors had been expected to attend.

HatchMed, a small company that sells medical devices, stretchers and beds, filed the lawsuit in June 2020, saying it had not received a refund for the $11,000 it had paid for floor space. Other companies had similarly lost exhibitor fees, the lawsuit alleged.

"Unlike other industry-wide tradeshows, HIMSS decided to utilize its cancellation as an unauthorized cash grab," HatchMed's lawsuit asserted.

HatchMed had signed a contract with HIMSS in November 2019, according to the lawsuit.

HIMSS' "policy of taking exhibitors' money, canceling the tradeshow they paid for, and refusing to return their funds was a global decision. As such, (HIMSS') actions constitute a breach of contract with all those exhibitors similarly situated to HatchMed," the lawsuit claimed.

Exhibitors may choose a credit only or credit plus cash option, according to the settlement. In the credit only option, exhibitors will receive a credit of 50% of their 2020 conference fees for HIMSS' 2021 conference, and another credit of 10% of their 2020 fees for HIMSS' 2022 conference. Alternatively, exhibitors may choose a cash payment equal to 20% of their 2020 conference fees plus a credit equal to 30% of their 2020 fees for the 2021 conference and another credit equal to 10% of their 2020 fees for the 2022 conference.

The organization has postponed HIMSS 2021 to Aug. 9-13 in Las Vegas, with both in-person and virtual programming.

HIMSS reported $112 million in revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019.

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