PNI Media Reaches Data Breach Class Action Settlement

PNI Digital Media Inc. has reached a proposed settlement designed to help customers affected by the recent data breach.

Defendant PNI Digital Media provides photo processing services at CVS, Costco and Rite Aid stores nationwide. The company was subject to a data breach sometime between June 2014 and July 2015 that exposed its customers’ personally identifiable information, including contact information and credit card data.

This past February, and with the help of a mediator, parties to this PNI data breach class action lawsuit agreed to the basic outline of a settlement agreement. Last week, the plaintiff, now identified in court documents only as T.A.N., submitted an unopposed motion for preliminary court approval of the settlement.

Under terms of the PNI data breach settlement, customers affected by the breach may qualify for settlement payments up to $10,000 per Class Member to cover out-of-pocket losses that were caused by the data breach. Class Members can also be reimbursed up to $250 for time and out-of-pocket expenses spent dealing with the PNI data breach.

The settlement also requires PNI to cover Class Counsel’s attorney fees, and the costs of settlement administration. It further provides an incentive award to the named plaintiff in the amount of $3,750.

The plaintiff filed this data breach class action lawsuit in September 2015, shortly after she received PNI’s notification letter alerting her to the PNI data breach. She claims the breach resulted in the theft of her personally identifiable information from her CVSphoto.com account.

The exposed information allegedly contained the plaintiff’s credit card information as well as the username and password she used to log into her CVSphoto.com account. It also reportedly contained her name, address, phone number and email address.

The plaintiff claimed that PNI failed to exercise reasonable precautions to protect its customers’ sensitive data. She argued that PNI is under a duty to disclose to its customers that its data practices are inadequate to protect their personal financial information, and that PNI failed to satisfy that duty.

She also alleged that PNI failed to provide clear, conspicuous and timely notice of the data breach after it was discovered.

In December 2015, the plaintiff dismissed the action she had filed in Georgia so that she could consolidate her claims with another affected customer in Washington state – the home of Costco, one of PNI’s largest retail partners. After PNI won dismissal of that action in July 2016, the plaintiff rallied to re-file her claims in Georgia.

The proposed settlement Class includes all persons in the U.S. who from June 2014 through July 2015 paid one or more PNI retailers using a credit or debit card and whose payment card information was provided to PNI.

The plaintiff has asked the court to schedule a final fairness hearing for the PNI data breach settlement for the week of Nov. 13, 2017.

The plaintiff is represented by attorneys James B. Durham and William S. Mann of Hall Booth Smith PC and by E. Adam Webb of Webb Klase & Lemond LLC.

The PNI Photo Developer Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is T.A.N. v. PNI Digital Media Inc., Case No. 2:16-cv-00132, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

UPDATE: The PNI Digital Media photo processing data breach class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.