Neiman Marcus Will Pay $1.6M To Settle Data Breach Class Action

Neiman Marcus will pay $1.6 million to end a data breach class action lawsuit that alleged the credit card data of 350,000 shoppers was compromised.

Plaintiffs Hilary Remijas, Melissa Frank, Debbie Farnoush, and Joanne Kao, collectively, and on behalf of all those similarly situated, say the defendant violated state unfair business practice statutes, invasion of privacy, state data breach acts, unjust enrichment, breach of implied contract, and negligence.

After a cybersecurity incident that occurred in January 2014, Neiman Marcus reported that some of its customers’ debit and credit card information may have been exposed.

Neiman Marcus first faced a lawsuit by Remijas on March 12, 2014. Several separate plaintiffs also brought their own complaints following the cybersecurity incident, but an agreement was made to combine their cases together.

Following the case brought forth by the plaintiffs, the former presiding judge over the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, dismissed the case. He argued that since customers had already been reimbursed for any losses that may have occurred with their stolen credit card information, there was no standing to sue.

A revival of the case occurred in the Seventh Circuit and a temporary proposal, however, establishing standing to sue had been brought forth as preventative measures were deemed sufficient. But, a second dismissal occurred again, from the now presiding judge, Judge Der-Yeghiayen, who noted that mediation had not occurred between both parties since March 2016.

A deal has, however, finally been reached and the plaintiffs have requested the case to be reopened so that a motion for preliminary approval can be filed.

The settlement is the result of long length negotiations between both parties and counsels. The proposed settlement covers all U.S. residents who between July 16, 2013 to Jan. 10, 2014 held credit or debit card accounts from The Neiman Marcus Group LLC. All physical locations are further covered and this includes the company’s namesake, Bergdorf Goodman, Last Call, or Cusp.

Once the motion for preliminary approval is filed, and once the settlement is approved, a settlement fund of $1.6 million will be established. Class Members who submit a claim will be eligible to receive up to $100 from the settlement fund. Class counsel will receive roughly $530,000 in attorneys’ fees and Class representatives will receive up to $2,500 for their services.

Neiman Marcus has since equipped all its stores with devices enabled to accept embedded computer chips and have taken more serious measures to ensure protection of their consumers’ data. The luxury retailer claims that 9,200 accounts were actually affected by the data breach.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The plaintiffs are represented by Tina Wolfson of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC, John Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group and Joseph J. Siprut of Siprut PC.

The Neiman Marcus Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Hilary Remijas, et al. v. The Neiman Marcus Group LLC, Case No. 1:14-cv-01735, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

UPDATE: On June 21, 2017, an Illinois federal judge preliminarily approved a $1.6 million class action settlement that will resolve allegations Neiman Marcus failed to safeguard customers’ credit card data, which was exposed in a 2013 data breach.

UPDATE 2: The Neiman Marcus Data Breach Class Action Settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

UPDATE 3: October 2019, a new, updated website has been established for a $1.6 million Neiman Marcus data breach class action settlement after the initial settlement terms were rejected.

UPDATE 4: On Nov. 15, 2019, a $1.6 million Neiman Marcus data breach class action settlement was initially approved after rejecting a previous version.

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