Consumer Advocates Say Target Deal Excludes Millions

Law360 discusses the Target Corporation Customer Data Security Breach Litigation with Melissa Holyoak.

Consumer advocates on Tuesday urged the Eighth Circuit to reverse a $10 million class action settlement stemming from the 2013 Target Corp. data breach, arguing that it unfairly excludes millions and forces consumers who had their financial data stolen to extinguish their claims in exchange for nothing.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed an additional brief on behalf of an objector appealing the settlement who claims the single settlement class did not adequately represent the large number of consumers.

Not only did the district court twice err in approving the settlement, it misunderstood the structure of the settlement and Supreme Court precedent in class actions, CEI said. The group urged the court to reverse certification of just a single class and instead create a separate subclass for consumers who were harmed by the data breach after July 31, 2015.

“The Target class action settlement unfairly freezes out millions of people from getting any settlement relief,” CEI attorney Melissa Holyoak said in a post on the group’s website. “This is a matter of fundamental fairness under the law.”

Read the full article at Law360.