Appeals court decision in Hannaford data breach case could signal new approach

Judy Greenwald reports that at least one lawsuit against Hannford Bros following their 2007 breach is still alive:

An appeals court’s decision to permit negligence and contract putative class action litigation to proceed in a grocery store chain data breach because of the alleged damages incurred could signal a change in courts’ approach to this issue, says an expert.

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Twenty-six separate suits were filed against Hannaford arising from the breach and were consolidated into one suit. Plaintiffs said they experienced more than 1,800 unauthorized charges to their accounts and suffered several categories of losses as a result of the breach.

“Plaintiffs’ claims for identify theft insurance and replacement card fees involve actual financial losses from credit and debit card misuse,” a three-judge appeals court panel said in its Oct. 20 ruling. “Under Maine contract law, these financial losses are recoverable as mitigation damages as long as they are reasonable,” the court ruled in partly affirming and partly reversing a lower court ruling.