Lawsuits Filed In Wake Of Target Credit Card Breach
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Lawsuits are now being filed in the wake of the Target security breach. Three class-action lawsuits have now been filed following the theft of data on about 40 million credit and debit card accounts of shoppers at Target from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15.
The lawsuits against the Minnesota-based company were filed in U.S District Court on Friday from three Target customers. More than $5 million in damages is being sought in the cases, two of which were filed in California and one in Oregon
According to reports, these shoppers are suing for all other people who might be affected and accused Target of negligence. They also claim that the retail giant did not notify customers as soon as it learned of the credit card theft.
One of the lawsuits was filed on behalf of a customer named Sarah Horton. A second petition was filed on behalf of two customers: Theresa Burkstrand and Bryan Barth. Their lawsuit takes issue with data security at Target claiming the company's lax security exposed customers to fraudulent charges, identity theft and damage to their credit scores.
Target has said that thieves got away with customer names, card numbers, expiration dates and security codes, but, so far, there's no sign that they were able to access shoppers' personal identification numbers.
Lawsuits have also been filed in other states, including California and Oregon. The basis for those claims centers around when Target knew about the breach and how long the company waited.
If granted class action lawsuit status, the damages could be in the multi-million dollar range.
Meanwhile, millions of the card accounts stolen have begun showing up for sale on the black market according to Brian Krebs, the security reporter who initially broke the news about the breach.
Over the weekend, Target offered customers a 10% discount in its stores.
