Plaintiffs Seek Cert. in Body Shop FACTA Class Action Lawsuit

A Florida consumer is seeking certification for a Body Shop FACTA class action lawsuit that alleges the retailer violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and left customers vulnerable to identity theft.

Plaintiff Shane Flaum who brought the Body Shop FACTA class action lawsuit in December 2015 says that when he purchased items at The Body Shop in Sunrise, Florida, he was given a printed receipt displaying the first six and last four digits of his Visa credit card.

“This practice clearly violates FACTA’s unambiguous requirements,” Flaum said in the motion. “FACTA expressly bars any merchant from printing debit or credit card transaction receipts that reveal the card expiration date or more than the last five digits of the card number. Yet Body Shop engaged in this practice despite being aware of FACTA’s requirements.”

Body Shop FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Seeks Certification

Flaum asserts that his Body Shop FACTA class action lawsuit is a “textbook case for class treatment” due to the sheer number of consumers who may have been affected by The Body Shop’s alleged FACTA violations.  Additionally, Flaum says that the class period of two years is manageable and there should be no problem in identifying potential class members.

Earlier this year, a similar lawsuit was filed in New York federal court by plaintiff Henry Lee. Lee asked the court to permit Flaum to intervene in his lawsuit and consolidate the two claims.

“Because the two cases are materially identical, it would be wasteful for both to proceed in separate courts, and potentially counterproductive,” especially since Flaum has already invested substantial time and resources into litigating his claims, the intervention brief said.

Both complaints seek to represent a nationwide class and bring forth similar allegations of FACTA violations.

Consolidating the two cases would also thwart any attempt by The Body Shop to “[play] both cases against one another in a ‘reverse auction’ in settlement talks to the detriment of the class members,” Lee stated.

What is FACTA?

Credit card and identity theft are all too common. As a result, there are laws and acts in place to minimize the risk, and to keep the public as safe as possible.

One method in place to protect consumers from credit card or identity theft involves the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (or FACTA) which was put in place in 2003.

This act stipulates what a retailer can and can’t print on a receipt. Essentially, whatever information is printed on a receipt must not enable someone to piece together the credit card or debit card information of a particular customer.

As a result of FACTA, merchants cannot print card numbers outright on a receipt. Instead, a process of truncation is used. In line with this, card numbers are masked with symbols such as #’s or *’s to ensure that the card holders details are kept hidden. Failure to do so can result in that merchant being charged with an FACTA violation.

Violations of FACTA

FACTA states: “no person that accepts credit cards or debit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of the sale or transaction.”

If you have received a printed receipt from a retailer or other merchant, and you think that it had any of the above details printed on it, then your rights have been violated and as a consumer it is well within your rights to file a FACTA class action lawsuit to obtain a recovery.

If successful with the lawsuit, you could obtain compensation, even if no identity theft occurred as a result of the information on the receipt.

The Body Shop FACTA Class Action Lawsuit is Flaum v. Buth Na-Bodhaige Inc., d/b/a The Body Shop LLC, Case No. 0:15-cv-62695, 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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