Class Action: J. Crew Knew Law About Credit Card Numbers On Receipts

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The New York man who filed a class action lawsuit against J. Crew Group, Inc. over credit card numbers printed on receipts told a New Jersey federal judge that he wants the lawsuit to remain because the retailer knew about the federal law prohibiting business from putting more than five credit card numbers on store receipts.

J. Crew argued in its motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit submitted in April that plaintiff Ahmed Kamal had not sufficiently shown willful noncompliance of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) on the part of the retailer.

But Kamal contends in his objections to that dismissal that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has established “that a defendant’s violation of FACTA is reckless — and thus willful — where such actionable conduct reflects an ‘objectively unreasonable’ interpretation of the law.”

As for the allegations in this FACTA class action lawsuit, “J. Crew’s decision to run the risk of exposing plaintiff and other credit card customers alike to the dangers of credit card fraud and identity theft — for at least 12 years — can only be explained by an interpretation of FACTA so objectively unreasonable that its admitted noncompliance with FACTA was reckless.”

The New York man argues that there is no way to read or interpret FACTA in a way “to justify J. Crew’s conduct or provide any extenuation circumstances to mitigate its liability.”

In the J. Crew class action lawsuit filed by Kamal in January, he alleged that the retailer had put hundreds of thousands of customers at risk for credit card fraud or identity theft by putting more than five digits of their credit card numbers on their receipts.

Kamal said that he shopped at J. Crew stores in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey and that the last four digits from his Discover Card were printed on his receipt, but so were the first six digits. This, he claims, is a violation of an amendment to FACTA passed in 2003, which says that merchants are not supposed to include “more than the last 5 digits of the card number” or the expiration date on retail receipts. Failing to comply with this law includes “harsh penalties.”

He says that J. Crew does not disagree that it prints 10 digits on credit card receipts, but only that Kamal has not demonstrated “willful noncompliance” with the federal law.

“At the end of the day, this is not a case about a defendant having carelessly interpreted FACTA: Nor can any rational argument be made to overcome the ‘inference of willfulness’ that shrouds J. Crew,” Kamal says in his objections to dismissing the J. Crew FACTA class action lawsuit.

“This case is about J. Crew’s recklessness and willful noncompliance with the simplest instructions not to display ‘more than the last 5 digits of the card number’ and imprudent decision to expose plaintiff and many others to credit card fraud and identify theft in violation of federal law,” he adds.

Kamal said that J. Crew was notified through information sent out by the Federal Trade Commission in May 2007 and information sent out by the PCI Security Standards Council, a group that includes VISA, MasterCard, American Express and other credit card companies, about complying with FACTA.

The class is represented by Robert A. Solomon PC, Frank & Bianco LLP and Nabli & Associates PC.

J. Crew is represented by Andrew Bunn of DLA Piper LLP.

The J. Crew FACTA Class Action Lawsuit is Kamal v. J. Crew Group Inc. et al, Case No. 2:15-cv-00190, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.