TJX Lawsuit Transferred

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119743288731823035.html

By Joseph Pereira
The Wall Street Journal
December 12, 2007

BOSTON -- A lawsuit by a group of New England and Alabama banks against 
TJX Cos. over a data breach that resulted in the theft of millions of 
credit-card numbers was transferred to a Massachusetts state court by a 
federal judge.

In his order yesterday, U.S. District Judge William G. Young denied the 
plaintiffs' request to sue as a class and ruled that without 
class-action status the case would no longer fall under federal 
jurisdiction.

The decision underscores a problem litigants in electronic data-breach 
cases -- a relatively new phenomenon in the U.S. legal system -- will 
have to resolve to be granted financial relief for alleged damages.

"It is very difficult to prove whether any particular fraud loss is 
connected to the particular data breach as opposed to some other 
source," said Kevin McGinty, a class-action defense expert in Boston who 
isn't involved in the TJX case. How a specific loss occurred would have 
to be investigated on an individual basis, he said, and "that's why the 
judge decertified the case."

[...]


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