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Last week, a consolidated class action lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Ga., against Home Depot for its massive data breach that occurred between April 2014 and September 2014. Your League was one of 16 state leagues listed as part of the lawsuit, which also includes CUNA, 37 individual credit unions and 11 banks.
In early May, your League's Board voted unanimously to join the lawsuit. "This is about accountability and responsibility, and we believe that this lawsuit represents an opportunity to send a message to merchants that a data breach that occurs at a merchant should be the responsibility of the merchant. In Maine, the losses and costs incurred by credit unions as a result of data breaches in just the past 12-18 months alone is approaching $3 million," explained your League's President John Murphy.
According to verbiage filed in the lawsuit, “Industry sources estimate that community banks and credit unions – which together issued only a fraction of the compromised cards – incurred more than $150 million in reissuance costs alone. Industry sources further estimate that the total fraud losses for all financial institutions are in the billions of dollars.”
Your League, CUNA and the other state leagues that are part of the lawsuit are not seeking monetary damages in the lawsuit but the parties are asking for "equitable relief on behalf of members and consumers. That equitable relief may come in the form of a declaratory and injunctive relief order that would require Home Depot to fix its data security measures." Individual credit unions and the banks are seeking "unspecified monetary damages."
In addition to joining this lawsuit, your League is actively involved in gaining support and sponsors for the data security bills introduced recently in the U.S. House and Senate. To date, nearly 1,500 emails and other communications have been sent to Maine's Congressional Delegation in support of these bills.
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