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Target data breach lawsuits to go forward

12/3/2014

A federal judge says several banks suing Target Corp. over its 2013 data breach have a plausible case for negligence and can proceed with the lawsuit.


U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson dismissed one of four claims argued in the lawsuit, which claimed “negligent misrepresentation by omission” related to Target’s security system. But Magnuson, in his court order released Tuesday, wrote that the plaintiffs presented a plausible case for the first three counts against Target: negligence, failure in providing sufficient security against data hackers and violation of Minnesota’s Plastic Security Card Act.


Tuesday’s memo is not a final ruling, but allows the lenders’ lawsuit to move forward. The Minneapolis-based company faced a myriad of lawsuits following the 2013 data breach in which hackers stole millions of customers' credit- and debit-card records.


The courts have consolidated all the federal cases into two lawsuits, one involving financial institutions and the other including consumers.


Target’s lawyer argued that the company had no obligation to the banks because a third-party firm handles all credit and debit card payments. The company declined to comment on Tuesday’s court order saying it does not typically comment on pending litigation.


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