ATLANTA–A judge has told The Home Depot it must disclose any communications that were sent to issuers related to a deal with MasterCard to settle fraud losses and other expenses related to its 2014 data breach.
The order, from the U.S. District Court for Northern Virginia, gives attorneys until Jan. 31 to review any communications and to determine whether further relief may be merited.
At issue is whether any communications were sent with Home Depot’s knowledge that gave the impression that banks and credit unions that are plaintiffs in the lawsuit with MasterCard should settle the case without fully understanding or knowing all of the financial terms.
Counsel for the plaintiffs told the court that "Home Depot and MasterCard instead have sought to turn the card recovery process into a pseudo-class settlement that releases all the claims in this litigation. In the meantime, class members have received misleading and coercive messages about what is happening and are being told they must act immediately or lose their rights. In fact, the deadline for some absent class members to act already has passed."
Several companies, including FIS, Fiserv and Vantiv had earlier sent letters to issuers regarding MasterCard’s proposed settlement with The Home Depot.
It was stated in those letters that “any issuer that accepts the terms of the "alternative recovery offer," part of MasterCard's account data compromise program, forfeits its rights to pursue further compensation through a class-action suit.
The Home Depot, however, has said it was not involved with or aware of any communications that were sent to banks and credit unions.