Consumers can sue Target over breach

New York - A federal judge has ruled that customers suing Target for last year’s data breach may move forward with their claims.



U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in St. Paul, Minn., dismissed claims by plaintiffs in certain states but largely denied Target's request to toss out the proposed class action lawsuit.

Magnuson rejected Target's argument that the consumers lacked standing to sue because they could not establish any injury.



The customers’ “allegations plausibly allege that they suffered injuries that are 'fairly traceable' to Target's conduct," Magnuson wrote.



Target also reportedly faces lawsuits from banks affected by the data breach. Trials in the cases are not expected to start until at least 2016.



Target has said that at least 40 million credit cards were compromised in the breach, which may have resulted in the theft of as many as 110 million people's personal information, such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers.