NEW CASTLE, Pa.— First Choice FCU has filed a class action lawsuit against Target Corp. over costs associated with the giant retailer's holiday data breach, and more CUs are expected to join the suit.
The Pittsburg firms of Carlson Lynch and Del Sole Cavanaugh Stroyd, along with Philadelphia-based Berger & Montague, on Friday filed the class-action suit on behalf of First Choice. A spokesperson for Carlson Lynch told Credit Union Journal he expects a “substantial” number of CUs will join the case.
The $38 million-asset credit joins a growing list of companies suing Target for the data compromise that has impacted nearly one in four Americans.
First Choice said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh that it has had to cancel and reissue 75 cards for customers and is facing potential exposure for reimbursing fraudulent charges on customers' accounts, lost interest and transaction fees and other expenses for monitoring and preventing fraud.
The lawsuit claims that the Minneapolis-based retailer was negligent in protecting consumer data and violated Minnesota law by retaining magnetic strip information when customers used credit and debit cards to make purchases.
According to a statement from Carlson Lynch, the complaint alleges that “Target knew or should have known that its payment processes were vulnerable to this sort of attack, yet the company failed to take adequate measures to protect sensitive data and did not inform customers or financial institutions about the ongoing attack for several weeks after it was discovered.”
