Karina Basso  |  December 19, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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Target class action lawsuit

UPDATE: A federal judge has preliminarily approved a $10 million class action settlement. Details on how to file a claim for the Target data breach settlement can be found here.

UPDATE 2: The Target data breach class action settlement received final approval on Nov. 17, 2015.

UPDATE 3: On Apr. 21, 2016, plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation against Target Corp. over the infamous 2013 data breach are asking the Eighth Circuit Court to ignore claims made by an objector in the settlement.

UPDATE 4: On Feb. 1, 2017, the Eighth Circuit Court of appeals reversed the class certification and directed the district court to make a new ruling and explain its findings. According to the settlement website, claims will not be paid until class certification is resolved. This could take several more months. Please keep checking Top Class Actions for updates. We are following the case and will let our viewers know as soon as the class certification decision is made!UPDATE 5: On Aug. 22, 2019, Top Class Actions viewers started getting checks from the Target data breach class action settlementworth as much as $1,201.88.Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!

On Dec. 18, the consolidated consumer data breach class action lawsuit filed against Target Corp. was left almost completely intact by the presiding Minnesota federal judge. The Target class action lawsuit was filed in the in the wake of the 2013 data breach, which allegedly compromised countless of consumers’ credit and debit card information and left consumers exposed to potential identity theft.

According to Thursday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Magnuson partially denied Target’s motion to dismiss the data breach class action lawsuit, stating that the consumer plaintiffs did have standing to sue Target, despite the company’s argument to the contrary.

In November, Target attempted to dismiss the data breach class action lawsuit, arguing that the consumer plaintiffs—whose credit and debit card information was allegedly compromised during the data breach—failed to prove that any fraudulent charges had occurred. Without proof of actual damages, Target argued the plaintiffs were not financially injured and could not pursue damages claims against the retailer.

However, Judge Magnuson disagreed, ruling that the plaintiffs did plead injury and demonstrated proof to that effect, as the majority of the Target data breach class action lawsuit lists specific injuries experienced by many of the named plaintiffs including, “unlawful charges, restricted or blocked access to bank accounts, inability to pay other bills, and late payment charges or new card fees.”

“Target ignores much of what is pled, instead contending that because some Plaintiffs do not allege that their expenses were unreimbursed or say whether they or their bank closed their accounts, Plaintiffs have insufficiently alleged injury … Plaintiffs’ allegations plausibly allege that they suffered injuries that are ‘fairly traceable’ to Target’s conduct,” Judge Magnuson wrote.

As for some specific state claims brought forth in the Target class action lawsuit, Judge Magnuson did not make a ruling regarding retailer’s arguments that claims filed under Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, Wyoming, and District of Columbia consumer laws should be dropped, as none of the plaintiffs named in the data breach class action lawsuit reside in these places. The judge stated that it was too early in the litigation process and that ruling on these specific state claims should wait until a Class was certified.

Judge Magnuson did throw out some consumer claims, including economic-loss claims under Alaska, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts rule, and a data breach notice statutory claims from plaintiffs in eight other states. The judge also dismissed the plaintiffs’ unjust enrichment claims, reasoning that the plaintiffs’ theory that Target charged consumers premiums for data security lacked merit because consumers were not asked to pay more for their Target products depending on their method of payment, whether cash, credit, or debit.

Finally, Judge Magnuson granted Target’s motion to dismiss bailment claims and breach of contract claims. On the topic of bailment, the judge ruled that the plaintiffs could not prove that the nation-wide retailer agreed to return personal financial information to any Target customers. As for the breach of contact claims, the judge dismissed this claim brought forth by Target REDcard holders, stating the plaintiffs failed to specify which federal laws Target allegedly broke by allowing the 2013 data breach in the first place.

The plaintiffs are represented by Heins Mills & Olson PLC, E. Nichols Kaster PLLP, Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group PA,  Milberg LLP, Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP and Girard Gibbs LLP.

The Target Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Target Corporation Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 0:14-md-02522, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

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3 thoughts onJudge Keeps Target Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Alive

  1. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE 4: On Feb. 1, 2017, the Eighth Circuit Court of appeals reversed the class certification and directed the district court to make a new ruling and explain its findings. According to the settlement website, claims will not be paid until class certification is resolved. This could take several more months. Please keep checking Top Class Actions for updates. We are following the case and will let our viewers know as soon as the class certification decision is made!

  2. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE: The Target data breach class action settlement received final approval on Nov. 17, 2015.

  3. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE: A federal judge has preliminarily approved a $10 million class action settlement. Details on how to file a claim for the Target data breach settlement can be found here.

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