The law suits of financial institutions, at least five of them credit unions, seeking to recover losses incurred because of the Heartland Data Systems card security breach have been rolled into one suit.

Heartland suffered what has been estimated to be the largest card security data breach in U.S. History over the course of months in 2008. The company made news of the breach public in January 2009.

Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas will hear the case, which consolidates similar cases from around the country.

In their amended complaint, the plaintiff financial institutions alleged that Heartland misrepresented the degree of its card security.

"Leading up to the Data Breach, Heartland publicly touted its 'multiple layers of security to isolate our databases from unauthorized access,' represented that it placed 'significant emphasis on maintaining a high level of security in order to protect the information of our

merchants and their customers,'" the institutions alleged in their complaint. "[Heartland] touted its 'state-of-the-art' security measures and facilities, and claimed to 'limit sharing of non-public personal information to that necessary to complete the transactions on behalf of the consumer and the merchant and [to the extent permitted by law].'"

All the while, Heartland's systems were compromised and any merchants who signed on because of these assurances wound up handing their customers' card data to thieves, they argued.

The credit union plaintiffs in the consolidated suit are Matadors Community Credit Union, in Chatsworth, California; Elevations Credit Union, located in Boulder, Colorado; PBC Credit Union, located in West Palm Beach, Florida; O Bee Credit Union, located in Tumwater, Washington; Seabord Federal Credit Union, located in Bucksport, Maine and Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union, located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

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Heartland Financial Institutions Suits Rolled Into One

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