Godiva FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Seeks $6.3M Settlement Approval

The consumers in a proposed Godiva FACTA class action lawsuit has asked a Florida federal judge to approve their $6.3 million settlement to resolve allegations that the Chocolatier printed more than the last five digits of their credit card numbers on electronic receipts.

If approved, the settlement would mark the third-largest in the history of lawsuits over FACTA violations.

FACTA stands for the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act and it was enacted to protect consumers from identity theft by regulating credit card transactions and allowing consumers to receive free annual credit reports.

As part of the $6.3 million Godiva FACTA class action settlement, the proposed class counsel is seeking more than $2.1 million to cover fees and expenses, representing about one-third of the settlement.

The legal teams for the proposed class say that they participated in an extensive work when they provided notice to 318,000 class members by using only transaction information, and that their work merits such a fee.

In its support of the settlement, Godiva also asked for approval, saying that the deal is in the best interest of the class.

However, Godiva stood by its claims that the proposed class of consumers failed to state a valid claim under FACTA..

The proposed Godiva FACTA class action lawsuit only stated that the chocolate company negligently violated the law, and did not allege willful violations of FACTA, and as such, the proposed class of consumers would not be able to collect any damages as a result of the lawsuit, Godiva said.

The company also claimed that a third-party vendor was responsible for the software mishap leading to the alleged violations.

“Those facts may have supported, at best a claim for negligent violation. They did not support a claim for willful violation,” Godiva stated. “Consequently, Godiva went into the mediation in November with the view that [the lead plaintiff] was not entitled to any damages whatsoever in this action.”

The Godiva FACTA class action lawsuit was brought against the chocolate company in April 2015 by consumer David Muransky.

Muransky alleged that the printed receipt included the last four digits of his credit card number along with the first six digits of his account number.

Under the rules of FACTA, businesses may not print more than the last five digits of the credit card or debit card account number on an electronically printed receipt.

Additionally, no information regarding the expiration date of the credit card may appear on the receipt.

Godiva continues to deny willful violations of FACTA and said that its third-party vendor altered the code in its software, without the permission of Godiva, causing the receipts to print without the required truncation of credit card information.

This affected more than 300,000 consumers over a span of 12 weeks in 2015, Godiva stated.

The Godiva FACTA Class Action Lawsuit is Muransky v. Godiva Chocolatier Inc., Case No. 0:15-cv-60716, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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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