Target Stores May Write You A Check

African-American target customers could have some money coming as a result of last years data breach. Target has reached a $10 million settlement with a federal judge on Thursday. The judge gave preliminary approval to the settlement of a lawsuit brought by customers of Target affected by 2013 hack of the stores customer data system.

Documents filed with the United States District Court in Minnesota could award shoppers affected by the breach up to $10,000 each in damages. The settlement includes a draft of the form victims must complete to make claims, processed through a dedicated website. The website is www.targetbreachsettlement.com.

The 2013 holiday season hack saw the loss of 40 million customer credit and debit card records. Target also acknowledged early last year the theft of 70 to 11o million more records that included additional personal information, like email and mailing addresses.  This information may overlap with payment information already stolen.

In order to claim damages, victims must prove that fraudulent charges were made to their credit cards. In addition they must also show that they spent time addressing the fraudulent charges and suffered related costs. The costs include time spent to correct credit reports, higher interest rates or fees, replacing driver’s licenses or other forms of identification, or costs to hire identity protection companies or lawyers.

Eligible customers include those customers who either shopped at a Target store and used their credit or debit card from Nov. 27-Dec. 18, 2013, or provided Target with their contact information before Dec. 18, 2013, or were issued a new credit or debit card by their bank after the Target breach was disclosed in late December 2013 due to concern their account may have been compromised.

According to Target there has been “low levels of fraud” linked to the breach.

According to Matthew A. S. Esworthy, litigation partner at Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler, many customers would have trouble proving that they had lost money because of the breach.

“It’s difficult to figure out how your card was compromised and if it was directly tied to a particular data breach,” he said. “People are buying more online and using their cards so frequently, making fraudulent charges so commonplace.”

Esworthy went on to say that as such attacks have mounted, courts have become more willing to entertain cases brought by breach victims. Home supply retailer Home Depot admitted in September that hackers breached the company’s cash register systems and compromised the account information of 56 million cardholders.

As part of the settlement, Target promised to improve protection of customer data. The promise included setting up a protocol for responding to online security threats and providing data security training to employees. Target also named Mike McNamara, a former executive at the British retailer Tesco to its chief information officer position, and named its first chief information security officer.