New Litigation Update: Fair Credit Reporting Act Class Actions Seek Staggering Damages Awards

Since December 2006, a handful of plaintiffs’ class action firms in California have filed over 50 nationwide class actions in federal court against a broad spectrum of retailers alleging violations of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act ("FACTA"). FACTA added sections to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA," at 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.) as of December 4, 2003. The lawsuits specifically allege "willful noncompliance" (15 U.S.C. § 1681n) for claimed violations of 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g), the so-called "truncation" provision of FACTA. The timing of these suits coincides with the second and final phased-in effective date of FACTA’s truncation provision; i.e., a December 4, 2006 effective date for receipts electronically printed by cash registers and similar point-of-sale machines placed into service before January 1, 2005. Most of these suits have been filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles). Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw