A federal district court judge in Maine has dismissed almost all the legal complaints of consumers who had their credit and debit card data compromised in the data security breach at Hannaford supermarkets.
The Hannaford breach came to light in March of 2008 and wound up eventually compromising almost 5 million card accounts and has been estimated to have resulted in 1,800 cases of fraud, according to industry security experts.
In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby expressed sympathy for consumers who faced the card breach but maintained that there was not place in current law for their claims.
"I merely conclude that under current Maine law, consumers whose payment data are stolen can recover against the merchant only if the merchant's negligence caused a direct loss to the consumer's account," Hornby wrote.
Most notably, the decision is silent on any claims Hannaford might face from card issuers damaged by the breach. Currently, court record do not indicate any legal complaints have been filed by card issuers against the supermarket retailer over the breach.
