[Dataloss] follow-up: TJX Lawsuit Transferred

[security curmudgeon]

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From: InfoSec News <alerts at 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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