Spirit Airlines Settles FACTA Class Action Lawsuit for $7.5M

The plaintiff in a FACTA class action lawsuit against Spirit Airlines has negotiated a $7.5 million settlement, based on allegations that the company exposed too much of its customer’s credit card information on their receipts.

Lead plaintiff Christopher L. brought this class action lawsuit under the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) on behalf of every Spirit customer since August 2012 who paid the company using either a debit or credit card and whose receipt shows more of the card number than the last five digits.

Christopher had alleged that Spirit Airlines had printed the first seven and last four digits of his credit card number on his receipt. He argued that receipt was in violation of FACTA, a federal law that forbids businesses from printing any more than the last five digits of a card number on an electronically printed receipt.

This settlement is reported to be the second largest settlement ever reached under FACTA. Christopher says each class member will receive an equal share of the settlement, about $265. Spirit also agreed to reprogram its receipt printing systems to bring them into FACTA compliance.

Despite having agreed to these terms, however, Spirit continues to deny Christopher’s allegations.

What is FACTA?

FACTA was passed in 2003 to shore up the consumer protections already enacted in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In cases like Christopher’s, FACTA provides for a minimum $100 in statutory damages for each violation of its credit card receipt printing rule.

This provision allows plaintiffs to bring a FACTA lawsuit without having to prove actual damages. Congress included these provisions in recognition of the difficulty involved in proving actual harm in cases of identity theft. However, plaintiffs who can prove actual harm may still have the option of doing so if that would be to their benefit.

The statutory damages increase to $1,000 for each violation deemed “willful.” In his own FACTA lawsuit, Christopher had argued that since Spirit had been accused of FACTA violations once before in 2010, the company was on notice as to the requirements of the law and its more recent FACTA violations were therefore willful.

FACTA also prohibits printing the card’s expiration date on the receipt. However, in 2008 Congress amended this provision to state that a receipt that shows the expiration date but is otherwise within FACTA compliance does not constitute a willful violation of the law.

The receipt-printing provisions of FACTA apply regardless of the size of the transaction or the size of the business. It’s easy to see how these statutory damages can quickly add up: one misprogrammed point-of-sale printer can generate hundreds or thousands of noncompliant receipts before being discovered.

And situations like that, where a single type of action affects a large number of persons in a similar way, are just what class action lawsuits are intended to address. Since the receipt-printing provisions of FACTA became fully effective in 2006, plaintiffs have filed FACTA class action lawsuits claiming damages even in the billions of dollars.

The FACTA Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 0:14-CV-61978, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

UPDATE: The Spirit Airlines class action settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim!

Free FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you made one or more purchases and the retailer provided you with a receipt that contained more than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number or the expiration date, you may be eligible for a free class action lawsuit investigation and to pursue compensation for these FACTA violations.

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