Christina Spicer  |  December 12, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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Home Depot class action lawsuitCases stemming from an alleged data breach at Home Depot Inc. that exposed approximately 56 million credit and debit accounts will be consolidated and sent to federal court in the Northern District of Georgia, according to an order issued on Thursday by the U.S. Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Separate Home Depot data breach class action lawsuits were filed in Florida, Illinois, Missouri and New York following a massive data breach in September of this year. According to the cases the alleged data breach resulted in the illegal disclosure of customers’ personally identifiable information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and credit and debit card information, to undisclosed third parties.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) pointed out that the parties involved in cases over the alleged data breach agreed that the cases should be centralized. However, the parties did not agree about where to centralize and transfer the cases. Several plaintiffs suggested consolidation in the Middle District of Florida, but a majority of the parties, including Home Depot and plaintiffs in 15 actions and potential tag-along actions supported centralization of the data breach class action lawsuits in Georgia.

The JPML pointed out that 19 of the 31 actions and potential tag-along actions are pending. Further, “Home Depot is headquartered in the Northern District of Georgia,” the panel wrote. “Thus, relevant documents and witnesses are likely located within the district. … Additionally, the district is easily accessible for the parties in this litigation, which is nationwide in scope.” U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. was appointed to oversee the Home Depot data breach multidistrict litigation (MDL).

The JPML did not separate claims from financial organizations from consumer claims when centralizing the cases in Georgia. According to the JPML’s order, claims brought by financial institutions and consumers both arise from the data breach, so both types of cases will share common discovery and pretrial practice and should be litigated together.

“As we have stated on numerous occasions, a complete identity of common factual issues is not a prerequisite to transfer under Section 1407, and the presence of additional facts or differing legal theories is not significant when the actions arise from a common factual core,” said the JPML in their order consolidating the Home Depot class action lawsuits. “Accordingly,” they continued, “we will not separately centralize the consumer and financial institution actions.”

According to documents filed with the court, Home Depot acknowledged a data security breach on September 8 of this year. Home Depot claims that it began working internally on the problem on September 2nd and included Secret Service in the matter after receiving reports saying that hackers had infiltrated the company’s security network.

According to Home Depot, customers who shopped at Home Depot locations in the United States or Canada could be affected by the alleged data breach, but Home Depots in Mexico and online shopping at HomeDepot.com were not affected. Home Depot offered to provide free credit monitoring and other identity protection services to those who used a payment card at Home Depot since April.

Regarding the influx of cases that have sprung up concerning the alleged breach, the company says the data breach class action lawsuits are based on a speculative risk of potential future harm and not actual injuries to consumers from the data breach.

The plaintiffs are represented by Harris Penn Lowry LLP, Federman & Sherwood and Abington Cole, among others.

The Home Depot Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In Re: The Home Depot Inc., Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 2583, before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

UPDATE: On Mar. 7, 2016, Home Depot has agreed to pay $13 million to settle the class action lawsuits that followed a massive data breach in 2014.

UPDATE 2: The Home Depot Data Breach Class Action Settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim or visit www.HomeDepotBreachSettlement.com for more details.

UPDATE 3: On April 3, 2017, Top Class Actions viewerswho filed valid claimsfor the Home Depot data breach class action settlement started receiving checks worth as much as $5,780!UPDATE 4: On Oct. 30, 2017, Top Class Actions viewers started receiving checks, some of which exceed $8,000, in a

 second distribution of payments from a Home Depot data breach class action settlement.

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11 thoughts onHome Depot Data Breach Class Action Lawsuits Grouped in MDL

  1. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE 3: On April 3, 2017, Top Class Actions viewers who filed valid claims for the Home Depot data breach class action settlement started receiving checks worth as much as $5,780!

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