Southwest Airlines FACTA Class Action Settlement Gets Final OK

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On Friday, a California federal judge granted final approval to a class action settlement between Southwest Airlines Co. and a class of more than 18,000 customers who allege the airline printed their credit card expiration dates on their receipts in violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). The Southwest Airlines FACTA settlement will provide $1.1 million to Class Members.

Plaintiffs Robert Miller initially filed the class action lawsuit against Southwest in November 2012, alleging the company violated FACTA by printing the expiration dates of credit and debit cards on receipts. FACTA is a federal law that prohibits companies from printing more than the last five digits of a credit or debit card number or the card’s expiration date on any electronically printed sales receipt. FACTA violations can result in penalties ranging from $100 to $1,000 per infraction.

On Oct. 18, 2013, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer preliminarily approved the class action settlement and certified a class of all individuals who used a debit or credit card to complete a purchase or transaction at a Southwest ticket counter or cargo counter that resulted in an electronically printed receipt between Oct. 17, 2007 and Jan. 25, 2013.

On Friday, Judge Breyer granted final approval to the Southwest FACTA class action settlement, finding that the settlement agreement “was the product of serious, informed, non-collusive negotiations conducted at arm’s length” in the presence of a retired magistrate judge. He found that the agreement had no “obvious deficiencies” and did not “improperly grant preferential treatment” to any individual Class Member. “The Court also finds that settlement at this time results in substantial benefits to the Settlement Class and will avoid substantial costs, as well as avoid the delay and risks that would be presented by further prosecution of this Action,” the judge wrote.

According to the motion approving the Southwest Airlines FACTA settlement, only three Class Members requested to be excluded, and no Class Member objected to the class action settlement.

The Southwest FACTA class action settlement website indicates that Class Members who submitted a valid Claim Form will be eligible to receive between $24 and $200 in benefits.

For more information about the Southwest Airlines FACTA settlement, click here or visit the settlement website. The deadline to submit a Claim Form for the class action settlement passed on Feb. 4, 2014.

Miller is represented by Alex Paul Katofsky, Kenneth Steven Gaines, Daniel Franklin Gaines and Sepideh Hirmand of Gaines and Gaines PLC, and Eric A. Grover of Keller Grover LLP.

The Southwest Airlines FACTA Class Action Lawsuit is Miller v. Southwest Airlines Co., Case No. 3:12-cv-05978, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: Class action settlement money was distributed to Class Members in mid-April 2014.