Strip Club Sued over Credit Card Digits on Receipts

A customer has filed a FACTA lawsuit against the owners of a gentleman’s club claiming they printed too many credit card digits on receipts they gave to customers, thereby violating his privacy and exposing him to fraud and identity theft.

In Florida recently, plaintiff Yazan S. is asking a federal judge to keep a proposed class action lawsuit in play after RCI Hospitality Holdings Inc., operator of Tootsie’s Cabaret, has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed.

Yazan has claimed that RCI Hospitality Holdings exposed him to possibility of identity theft when Tootsie’s Cabaret, a Miami area strip club, printed too many of his credit card digits on receipts that he was given.

RCI Hospitality cited a previous ruling, Spokeo v. Robins, in its bid for dismissal. In Spokeo v. Robins, a lawsuit regarding the public publishing of sensitive information under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the importance of alleging a concrete injury was discussed in detail. RCI claims that Yazan did not suffer a concrete injury in that his identity was not actually stolen.

RCI claimed that because Yazan was not truly harmed, the case should be dismissed. Yazan believes otherwise. He says that the dismissal claim should be denied because RCI has interpreted the former ruling differently and that he, indeed, has suffered injury.

The plaintiff claims, “The inclusion of the first six digits of plaintiff’s card numbers on his receipts reduced the number of digits an identity thief would need to obtain thereby reducing the difficulty of guessing the card numbers in a way which can be calculated with mathematical precision. The fact that plaintiff did not lose his receipts to identity thieves does not defeat standing.”

Yazan asserts that after he visited Tootsie’s Cabaret, the establishment printed too many credit card digits on receipts that he was given as well as other sensitive information.

This violates the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, the plaintiff claims. Also known as FACTA, this law regulates what information may be included on a receipt for a transaction in which a credit or debit card has been used. The merchant can be in violation of FACTA even if the customer’s identity was not stolen.

After Yazan filed this lawsuit in January regarding credit card digits on receipts, he filed another motion in August to propose certifying a nationwide Class of customers who may have suffered the same FACTA violation across the country at other RCI Hospitality establishments. This proposed class would include those who within the last two years were given receipts on which more than last five digits of the credit or debit card number was printed.

Even though RCI has not only asked for dismissal, but has also requested a stay on the case, Yazan still believes that this case should go forward.

According to Law360, he said, “The very moment defendants printed a receipt bearing ten digits of [his] credit card account number, it exposed [him] to the risk identified by Congress and elevated to concrete harm through FACTA.”

Consumers who discover an excess of credit card digits on receipts they’ve been given may have a FACTA claim on their hands. Consulting a knowledgeable FACTA attorney can give them a good idea of all their rights and options.

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.

Get Started