Target To Pay $10 Million In Proposed Settlement For 2013 Data Breach

itwbennett writes Target has agreed to pay $10 million in a proposed settlement to a class-action lawsuit stemming from its massive 2013 data breach, which affected as many as 110 million people. Individual victims could receive up to $10,000. The proposed settlement also includes measures to better protect the customer data that Target collects, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota.

Comments

Pocket change

[Guspaz]

They're simultaneously trying to scam Canadian suppliers out of $1.5 billion in unpaid bills. They declared bankruptcy, and now they're trying to claim that they are their own biggest creditor, so all the money from their liquidation should basically go to themselves. All the while, the parent company is making billions in profit.

Re:Pocket change

[Anonymous Coward]

They're simultaneously trying to scam Canadian suppliers out of $1.5 billion in unpaid bills. They declared bankruptcy, and now they're trying to claim that they are their own biggest creditor, so all the money from their liquidation should basically go to themselves. All the while, the parent company is making billions in profit.

Target does what it wants.

Re:Pocket change

[hooiberg]

Do you have any sources to motivate these rather firm accusations?

Re:Pocket change

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed, even I could afford to pay that personally.

Re: Pocket change

[Anonymous Coward]

It comes to ten cents per affected customer's data. Google pays me more than that for clicking one ad.

Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Anonymous Coward]

CNN Money goes to more detail on how the money will be distributed.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/19/technology/security/target-data-hack-settlement/
(tldr -- lawyers are the winners)

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Marginal Coward]

I think the lawyers are always the winners in these class action lawsuits. Years ago, I received a notice that I was the beneficiary of a class action lawsuit revolving around an airline ticket I had once purchased. It seemed like a gift to me because I didn't even know that I had been "damaged." So, the lawyers who brought the suit seemed to be doing me a favor.

As part of the settlement, I was to receive a coupon for a discount on a future ticket from the same airline. The coupon didn't have much face value, maybe $20. Even worse, there were a lot of restrictions on it. So, it was basically worthless.

The lawyers got paid in cash. I assume the lawyers and the defendant always structure these things to minimize the real cost to the defendant in return for maximizing the payout to the lawyers. And of course, compensating the "damaged" plaintiff doesn't really enter into it.

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, maybe you're right. We need more ethical lawyers. In the mean time, you can always file a lawsuit against them yourself, correct?

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[CaptainDork]

You're missing the point.

Class action suits are not designed to provide compensation to the current class. It's to discourage FUTURE screw-ups.

Target knows if they get hit again in the future, another class action suit for the same thing will be much, much harder on them.

Class action suits are just about the only way to affect change regarding big business.

For reference, see tobacco, asbestos, and silicosis.

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Marginal Coward]

Class action suits are not designed to provide compensation to the current class.

OK, IANAL, so help me out here. If that's the case, why do plaintiffs get anything at all? Why not just give all the compensation to the lawyers and let those naive plaintiffs go make themselves whole? Why in the heck should the legal system care about people who were damaged in the first place?

Actually, to me, it looks much more like a situation of the foxes being in charge of the hen house. That would neatly explain why the hens never always receive chicken feed as compensation. (My apologies if you happen to be a fox by trade.)

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[CaptainDork]

Again, class action suits are not designed to benefit the injured. It's a volume deal that has very little, to no, impact on the class and a much larger impact on the defendant.

If we take $10 million and spread it out among the population of the class, most members of the class will not bother filing a claim.

The litigation's intent is to hurt the defendant and make them stop bad practices -- not to make millionaires of the members of the class.

No need to apologize in case I'm a fox ... the truth doesn't depend upon that.

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[tlhIngan]

OK, IANAL, so help me out here. If that's the case, why do plaintiffs get anything at all? Why not just give all the compensation to the lawyers and let those naive plaintiffs go make themselves whole? Why in the heck should the legal system care about people who were damaged in the first place?

Well, it's because the purpose of the courts is to try to make yourself whole. Except in the case of a class action, where it's practically impossible.

You see, a class action lawsuit is designed for instances where the defendant causes damage as a whole, but individually, not so much. Let's say your cellphone carrier overbills you $1 a month. On contract. Over two years, that's an extra $24. Will you go take them to court over it? Even small claims will have a larger filing fee.

Now, let's say the same cell carrier has only 10M customers. Doing this "overbilling" nets them an extra $10M a month, or $120M a year. Really, a decent chunk of money.

Now, some customers will complain, but if you do it every month, you'll wear them down (you can put them on hold for 30 minutes and most people will forget about the $1).

individually, no customer is hurt big, but as a whole, damage was caused. And hell, because it's so profitable, others want in as well - imagine your insurance provider doing the same, your TV provider, your internet provider, etc. etc. etc. All skimming an extra few bucks a month.

And you can get away with a lot before people start to find it's worth it to file a lawsuit.

Now, what kind of compensation do you want? I mean everyone was hurt only a little bit, so the actual "make whole" part is pretty small.

And you're perfectly free to opt out of the class action and bring forth your own suit to be made whole again. Just it's likely to cost you more time and money than it's worth.

What you propose already happens today - you're free to opt out (and you have until they start distributing the awards to do so, so if you think what they give Is lame, you're free to pursue your own lawsuit).

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Marginal Coward]

In my story above, the fact that I received a worthless coupon as "compensation" seemed to indicate that I was never actually part of the equation. The legal notice I received indicated that I could file my own claim (which I knew anyway), but as you suggest, it wasn't economical to do so. Nor did I feel at all damaged when I originally bought the airline ticket - until I received the worthless coupon and found out that the lawyers were getting all the money.

In cases like this, I would much prefer that all the worthless "compensation" be pooled together and given to charity or whatever - which would actually do somebody some good - rather than the current sham system that continues to operate for the benefit of everyone except the plaintiffs.

I've always regarded these class action lawsuits as a bit like gold prospecting: whichever lawyer first discovers the hidden nugget of some damages ostensibly due to class of people gets to dig the nugget out of the legal landscape and run off with it. I guess the legal theory would be that the lawyers deserve the golden nugget in return for for all the good they're doing society with these lawsuits. Likewise, plaintiffs are no more important than any other tailings in a gold mine.

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Marginal Coward]

Well, it's because the purpose of the courts is to try to make yourself whole. Except in the case of a class action, where it's practically impossible.

FWIW, ever since I received that airline coupon, I have thought it would be nice if there was a law that stated that the lawyers and plaintiffs must receive compensation in the same form: if the lawyers get cash, the plaintiffs should get cash, and if the plaintiffs get coupons, the lawyers should get coupons.

If I had received just one dollar and the lawyers had received thousands of dollars, or, if I had received one coupon and the lawyers had received thousands of coupons, I wouldn't have felt cheated.

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the Republicans hate us and want us to die. That is why they steal from us to give to the lawyer cartel. They hate us.

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[Anonymous Coward]

You're missing the point.

Class action suits are not designed to provide compensation to the current class. It's to discourage FUTURE screw-ups.

Target knows if they get hit again in the future, another class action suit for the same thing will be much, much harder on them.

Class action suits are just about the only way to affect change regarding big business.

For reference, see tobacco, asbestos, and silicosis.

Are you fucking kidding me? $10 million is pocket change for a company like Target.

That's like saying we discouraged the banks from fucking over the economy again because we "fined" them in the past. They fucking laughed and pulled out their change purse, and it didn't change a goddamn thing with regulation.

This won't encourage jack-shit in the way of any actual security innovation around protecting customer data. They'll find a scapegoat to fire over this, pay this slap-on-the-wrist fine, and continue the status quo.

Re:Actual sums received by members of the suit

[FlyHelicopters]

Now, what kind of compensation do you want? I mean everyone was hurt only a little bit, so the actual "make whole" part is pretty small.

If I was harmed for $24, then I'd like triple that back to me... in cash...

$72 would be just fine...

Hello! Hooray!

[Anonymous Coward]

Let the lawyers win! They are needy!

There is this internet searching website and

[Anonymous Coward]

it called Google :

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/target-lands-16-billion-tax-break-as-creditors-fight-for-payback/article23528282/

They even have a button for when you feel lucky!

Everybody gets a dime.

[Anonymous Coward]

Article says 100,000,000 people are eligible to claim up to $10,000 each in the settlement. Hmm. $10,000,000 settlement / 100,000,000 plaintiffs = $0.10 per plaintiff. Thanks so much Judge.

This article has more details: http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/5516406-judge-oks-10-million-settlement-of-class-action-lawsuit-over-target-corp-data-breach/

Re:Everybody gets a dime.

[Time_Ngler]

$10,000,000 settlement / 100,000,000 plaintiffs = $0.10 per plaintiff.

What, you think the lawyers working on this class action don't deserve to get paid?!?!?!?

Re:Everybody gets a dime.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's what I thought. The hours I spent having to work with my credit card company over this BS, and apparently those hours and stress were worth $0.10.

I sort of wish when these sorts of things happened, the credit card companies themselves sued the offenders for the amount they had to pay employees directly to deal with the fallout. They can strictly quantify monetary damages in court. A few of those would hopefully send a message to other companies to deal with data secure or maybe even, gasp, not keep records they have no business keeping in the first place.

I've thought another way that might work is, if a company wants to keep financial information of their customers at any level more than receipts, then they should be required to be held to the same regulatory standards as banks are. Maybe that would discourage keeping of my full credit card information for eternity.

Re: Everybody gets a dime.

[bill_mcgonigle]

The irony there is that it's these same member banks that have been avoiding a crypto upgrade for over 20 years, forcing Target to manage valuable strings of numbers.

Let's play "who's more wildly negligent here?" It'll be a tough call.

Meanwhile Iceland had marketable torts 1000 years ago and Americans still allow themselves to be screwed over by the class action system.

Re:Everybody gets a dime.

[Anonymous Coward]

$10,000,000 settlement / 100,000,000 plaintiffs = $0.10 per plaintiff.

What, you think the lawyers working on this class action don't deserve to get paid?!?!?!?

Yup, the lawyers will take $7mil of that, so the plaintiffs only get $0.03 each.

Re:Everybody gets a dime.

[TheRaven64]

When a class action suit is settled, if you are a member of the class then you should receive a letter asking if you want to opt in to the class. If not, then you don't get the money and are free to take it to court yourself. Opting out then turning up in a small claims court with a class action result and evidence of the value of your losses should get you a few hundred dollars fairly easily. If enough people do this, then it will discourage companies from offering too low settlements for class action suits. The cost for them to send someone to defend is sufficiently high that it's probably not worth it and small claims courts have a habit of ruling against people who don't turn up...

Re: Everybody gets a dime.

[Anonymous Coward]

million dollar lawsuits for spilling hot coffee on yourself is warranted

Frying your vagina off because McD's didn't give a shit that they were serving undrinkably hot coffee to patrons is worth at least a million dollars.

Re: Everybody gets a dime.

[netsavior]

I hate how much the McDonalds lawsuit is used to debase the legal system as frivolous "jackpot justice"

Her jury award was 2.7 million. The judge reduced it to 640k, but the parties settled rather than appealing more, presumably for less than 640k. The coffee WAS way too hot. 40 degrees (f) above industry standard, so hot it could cause 3rd degree burns in 2 seconds.

This case is trotted out as an example of how the little guy keeps the poor multi-billion dollar corporations at bay using frivolous lawsuits, when really it should be an example of how even when everyone agrees on the facts, even when the law is on the little guy's side, the corporation will bend them over and at the very least get more positive publicity than their piddly settlement money could possibly buy.

This is the story of how McDonalds nearly killed a woman, she sued begrudgingly because she couldn't afford her medical bills, she won, and somehow McDonalds is the victim.

Re:Everybody gets a dime.

[DutchSter]

Does that actually work though? As part of the settlement the defendant almost never admits to anything. That means you can't just staple the settlement to the back of your prayer for relief and expect it to stand on its own.

Re: Everybody gets a dime.

[Aqualung812]

The coffee WAS way too hot. 40 degrees (f) above industry standard

The facts of the case state it was between 180-190F.

-This is the minimum temperature coffee is brewed at. Most consider the ideal to be at or just over 200F.
-Starbucks has served me coffee, this year, right as it was brewed at 200F, without me asking for it hot.
-The large print that almost every place now has declaring that COFFEE IS HOT is FUCKING STUPID, and can be traced directly to this stupid case.

This is the story of how McDonalds nearly killed a woman

SHE spilled the coffee, not McDonalds. Hot liquids can be dangerous. A 79 year old woman should know this. It isn't McDonald's job to educate her on this.

she sued begrudgingly because she couldn't afford her medical bills

Her estimate of past and future medical bills was $20,000 for her mistake. McDonald's offered $800, because it wasn't their fault.
Less that $640,000 for $20,000 in medical bills that were her fault is exactly the type of stuff that makes people upset.

To be clear: I hate McDonald's: They have unhealthy food, pay their employees slave wages, and from what I've witnessed when I was a customer years ago, they treat their employees like shit. There are a lot of reasons they should be penalized, but coffee served at coffee temperatures isn't one of them.

Re:Everybody gets a dime.

[TheRaven64]

They don't admit to anything, but the fact that they're willing to pay to make the lawsuit go away counts for something. Precedent doesn't usually apply in a small claims court anyway (and magistrates tend to get a bit cranky with anyone trying to be a lawyer in one).

Re:That's less than ten cents per victim!

[Anonymous Coward]

The math doesn't work out. I guess that judge is a Republican since their kind can't do math.

Lol 'since their' i think you mean 'sense there'. Whom is the stupid one?

You are.

Captcha: educates

Pennies on the dollar

[hilather]

40 million customer credit cards exposed, 70 million customer records containing PII exposed. 10 million dollar settlement over a year later? This is a joke, and a good reason to not bother with security.

Re:Pennies on the dollar

[FlyHelicopters]

40 million customer credit cards exposed, 70 million customer records containing PII exposed. 10 million dollar settlement over a year later? This is a joke, and a good reason to not bother with security.

Yes, what I took from it is that it is profitable to ignore security.

I would have been happier with an actual trial that ordered the entire year of profits to be divided up and paid out to the customer's who had data stolen.

It might only be $10 or $20 per person, but it hurts Target far more and it gives all companies the incentive to do whatever it takes to secure data.

$10,000,000 vs Q4 profit of $520,000,000

[DaveyJJ]

Chump change. Just the cost of doing (sloppy) business these days.

you heard it here first folks

[nimbius]

for those of you negatively impacted by the data breech, for those who had to reissue credit cards and dispute tax returns and refute car loans and social security applications, get ready for a $5 target giftcard to salve those wounds.

Re:you heard it here first folks

[Anonymous Coward]

$10,000,000 / 110,000,000 people = $0.09. The average person who is affected by this will get less than 10 cents. Your $5 gift card is 2 orders of magnitude too large.

Re:you heard it here first folks

[Anonymous Coward]

get ready for a $5 target giftcard to salve those wounds.

From the summary:

Target has agreed to pay $10 million ... which affected as many as 110 million people.

If every affected person received some kind of compensation for this, and the lawyers got $0, that leaves less than $0.10 per person.

Re:you heard it here first folks

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure how I might have been impacted by a data trouser.

Gift cards?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just don't tell me it is going to be in Target gift cards.

Can't wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't wait for the lawyers to send me my $5 coupon for Target! Great job guys!

Victims wont receive squat...

[Lumpy]

the lawyers will make out like bandits, but the victims will most likely get a 10% off coupon.

Re:Victims wont receive squat...

[Anonymous Coward]

actually this settlement is precisely not that. RTFA you moron. If you demonstrate damage, you will get money, up to 10k. Otherwise you get nothing. Everyone will get nothing, because people arent responsible for cc fraud. time for slashdot privacy nutters to freak out about irrelevant stolen data. Oh no! Visa had to issue me a new card this week. What a fucking bummer! To the internet where I complain loudly, before I retreat to my credit card funded consumer lifestyle!

Re:Victims wont receive squat...

[Anonymous Coward]

actually this settlement is precisely not that. RTFA you moron. If you demonstrate damage, you will get money, up to 10k. Otherwise you get nothing. Everyone will get nothing, because people arent responsible for cc fraud. time for slashdot privacy nutters to freak out about irrelevant stolen data. Oh no! Visa had to issue me a new card this week. What a fucking bummer! To the internet where I complain loudly, before I retreat to my credit card funded consumer lifestyle!

Careful, you might cut yourself with how edgy you are.

Re:Victims wont receive squat...

[Anonymous Coward]

You are the dumbest fucker on slashdot. Hands down, the absolute DUMBEST one here.

You have to PROVE with recipts... nobody will have that you fucking dip shit.

The levels of your flaming retardedness is so incredible you make APK sound like a genius.

Goodness Gracious!

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you suppose they're going to be able to come up with that kinda money?

Here comes the Target Bake Sale!

Do the math

[GinRummy33]

So, 110 million people affected, up to 10,000 payment per person, and a total fine of 10 million. So you run out of funds after 1 thousand people get their full amount, which leaves 109,999,000 people with nothing. As others have pointed out, splitting it evenly give everyone a dime, if there are no lawyer fees. No wonder big companies don't care about online security, it only costs them pennies per person affected, literally.

Unpaid bills, and a tax break

[phorm]

What gets me is that they're declaring bankruptcy in Canada as a separate entity (meaning the parent corp isn't liable) whilst the parent corp in the USA is simultaneously declaring a loss for tax purposes as losses from that same bankruptcy. So really, both Canadians *AND* Americans are getting f***'ed here.

What about Home Depot?

[oldmac31310]

Their compromised check outs ripped off a huge number of people.

Re:That's less than ten cents per victim!

[Anonymous Coward]

* you're