Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Tagged: Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”)

Lack of Plaintiff Article III Standing Proves Fatal to Eleventh Circuit in FACTA Class Action Settlement

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Posted in Class Action Defense

On January 25, 2021

In a 7-to-3 en banc decision, the Eleventh Circuit vacated a high-stakes $6.3 million class settlement on standing grounds. In James Price v. Godiva Chocolatier, Inc., et al, the court held that a named plaintiff lacked standing to bring a claim under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) on behalf of a proposed settlement class. The plaintiff, Dr. David Muransky, filed a class action complaint against Godiva claiming a violation of FACTA, which prohibits “merchants from printing more than the last five digits of the card number (or the card’s expiration date) on receipts offered to customers.” After visiting a Godiva retail store in Florida, the plaintiff was handed a receipt that contained the first six and the last four digits of his credit card number–a technical violation of FACTA. The plaintiff claimed that the violation was “statutory in nature” and did “not intend[] to request any recovery for personal injury.” The plaintiff further framed the class’s harm from violations as “irreparable harm as a result of the defendant’s unlawful and wrongful conduct,” and that “Plaintiff and members of the class continue to be exposed to an elevated risk of identity theft.” The putative class was so large that Godiva could have faced statutory damages, punitive damages, and costs of more than $342...

New Jersey Federal Court Relies on Spokeo to Dismiss FACTA Class Action For Failure to Allege Concrete Harm

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Posted in Class Action Defense

On November 22, 2016

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey recently relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Spokeo v. Robins to grant a Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss a statutory violation-based class action complaint for failure to allege a concrete injury. In Kamal v. J. Crew Group Inc., et al. the Court concluded that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”) because, as in Spokeo, the claims were based on a purely statutory injury, i.e., the plaintiff did not allege a “concrete and particularized” injury.

New Jersey District Court Enforces Comprehensive Arbitration Clause Between Car Dealer and Consumer

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Posted in Class Action Defense

On September 8, 2016

Notwithstanding a recent trend of seemingly anti-arbitration decisions in the state courts, a New Jersey District Court recently dismissed a consumer fraud complaint that it found to be duplicative of a prior arbitration award. In 2009, the plaintiff purchased a vehicle, and then leased an additional car from the same dealer in 2010. Despite signing agreements to arbitrate with the dealer, the plaintiff filed a complaint in state court against the dealer, Metro Honda, which was dismissed on the ground that the arbitration agreements were enforceable and required her to arbitrate her dispute. Plaintiff filed a demand for arbitration, citing a variety of consumer fraud statutes. An arbitration award was entered denying all of the plaintiff’s claims, and she neither appealed nor moved to vacate or modify the award.

Federal Law Preempts NJ Fair Credit Report Act and TCCWNA Claims, New Jersey Court Says

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Posted in Class Action Defense

On June 9, 2015

Claims based on a retailer’s improper inclusion of too many credit card digits or a credit card expiration date on a sales receipt may not be brought under either the New Jersey Fair Credit Report Act (“NJFCRA”) or New Jersey’s Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty, and Notice Act (“TCCWNA”), according to a recent ruling by the New Jersey Law Division.

Seventh Circuit Rejects Unbalanced “Division of Spoils” Between Class Counsel and Class Members in RadioShack Settlement

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Posted in Class Action Defense

On October 8, 2014

In Redman v. RadioShack Corp., the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Richard Posner, reversed and remanded the district court’s judgment approving the settlement terms for a class action filed against RadioShack Corp. alleging violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. The court expressed concern about “the division of spoils between class counsel and class members” and found it likely that “each class member has a valid claim to a good deal more than one $10 coupon, and it would seem therefore that the equities favor a reallocation of some of what we are calling the spoils from class counsel to class members who have submitted claims for the coupons.”

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