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The cardholder complaints against Heartland Payment Systems Inc. seeking class-action status are starting to proliferate. CardLine counts at least three such suits filed in federal courts: two in New Jersey, where the breached merchant processor is based, and one in Florida. In a case filed Friday in New Jersey, attorneys for lead plaintiffs Loretta Sansom and Jerome Engel, both residents of Florida, claim Heartland failed to protect valuable consumer credit card data and to notify affected cardholders of the breach in a timely manner. This, they allege, constitutes negligent and intentional violations of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and a variety of other state states' data-breach notification and consumer-protection laws, including Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. In a separate complaint filed Tuesday in New Jersey, lead plaintiff Alicia Cooper, of Woodbury, Minn., also claims Heartland failed to adequately protect sensitive consumer data and did not disclose the breach to affected parties quickly enough, violating Minnesota and New Jersey laws. The complaint alleges Heartland has withheld names of its merchant customers affected by the breach and "has not offered any kind of relief such as free credit monitoring or other services that might prevent affected consumers from experiencing fraud or identity theft." On Monday, attorneys on behalf of lead plaintiff Robert Read filed a similar complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, where Read resides. Heartland did not immediately provide comments on the suits when contacted by CardLine.
