Judge Approves $1.1M Wal-Mart ZIP Code Class Action Settlement

A federal judge on Friday approved a $1.1 million class action lawsuit settlement between Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and California customers who say they were asked to provide their ZIP codes during credit card transactions in violation of state law.

On May 24, 2013, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White granted final approval to the Wal-Mart ZIP code settlement, calling it “fair, reasonable and adequate.”

Class Members that submitted a valid Claim Form by the deadline of April 22, 2013 will receive a $25 Wal-Mart gift card. According to court documents, only 519 individuals submitted a valid claim. The remaining settlement money – almost $747,000 – will go to cy pres donations. Top Class Actions was not notified of the class action settlement until after the claim deadline had passed. If we had, our readers would have likely bumped up the number of valid claim submissions significantly.

The settlement resolves two class action lawsuits accusing Wal-Mart of illegally requested and recorded California customers’ ZIP codes during credit card transactions, in violation of the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. The law is intended to protect consumers’ privacy by prohibiting merchants from collecting their personal identification during credit card purchase transactions.

Class Members included all persons who, between February 14, 2010, and November 30, 2010, used a credit card to make a purchase in a Wal-Mart store located in California while the ZIP code survey was active in that store, and whose personal ZIP code was requested and recorded as a result of the ZIP code survey.

The Wal-Mart ZIP Code Class Action Lawsuit Settlement case is Kimberley Main et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Case No. 11-cv-01919, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Have you been asked to provide your ZIP code during a debit or credit card transaction at a California or Massachusetts store? You may be eligible to participate in a class action lawsuit and pursue compensation. See if you qualify for free at the Merchant ZIP Code Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.

All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions