Judge to decide if Hannaford data breach should go to trial | Portland Press Herald

The upcoming ruling will determine whether parts or all of the lawsuit against the company will go forward.
By TREVOR MAXWELL, Staff Writer April 2, 2009

PORTLAND — A federal judge said he will decide in the next few days whether supermarket giant Hannaford Bros. is potentially liable for damages because of a data breach that exposed more than 4 million credit and debit card numbers to computer hackers.

Judge D. Brock Hornby heard arguments on Wednesday at U.S. District Court. Attorneys for Hannaford asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed against the Scarborough-based company last year. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said Hornby should certify the case as a class-action suit and let it proceed toward trial.

The upcoming ruling will determine whether parts or all of the suit will go forward.

The case boils down to a couple of central questions: To what extent are merchants responsible for securing the electronic data that gets processed with every noncash purchase, and what should the consequences be when that data is stolen?

"These are fascinating and difficult issues," Hornby said after hearing the arguments Wednesday. "I'll get a written decision out to you as soon as I can."

Between Dec. 7, 2007, and March 10, 2008, hackers stole credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates and PIN numbers from people shopping at Hannaford supermarkets. The grocery chain operates more than 200 stores under various names in New England, New York and Florida.
More than 4 million card numbers were exposed, and by the time Hannaford publicly announced the breach, on March 17, 2008, about 1,800 fraudulent charges had been made.


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