On March 19, 2008, the law firm of Berger & Montague, PC  filed a class action suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine on behalf of all consumers in the United States whose credit card or debit card data was stolen from the computer network of Hannaford Brothers Co. (“Hannaford”) supermarkets.

The complaint alleges that Hannaford was negligent for failing to maintain adequate computer data security of customer credit and debit card data, which was accessed and stolen by a computer hacker. 

On March 17, 2008, Hannaford announced on its website that there was a “data intrusion into its computer network that resulted in the theft of consumer credit and debit card numbers.”  The stolen data included “credit and debit card numbers and expiration dates,” which were accessed from Hannaford’s computer system “during transmission of card authorization.”  The intrusion affected all Hannaford stores located throughout the North Eastern U.S., as well as Sweetbay stores in Florida.

Published news reports indicated that 4.2 million unique credit and debit card numbers have been exposed to potential fraud.  To date, there have been approximately 1,800 cases of reported credit and debit card fraud stemming from the breach.

Reportedly, the breach began on December 7, 2007 and wasn’t contained until March 10, 2008.  Hannaford stated that it became aware of the breach on February 27, 2008.  However, Hannaford did not publicly announce the breach until almost three weeks later, on March 17, 2008.

Because of Hannaford’s inadequate data security, its customers have had their personal financial information compromised, have been exposed to the risk of fraud, have incurred and will continue to incur time to monitor their accounts and dispute fraudulent charges, and have otherwise suffered damages.

The law firm of Berger & Montague, PC consists of over 60 attorneys, who primarily represent plaintiffs in complex litigation.  The firm has extensive experience in consumer, securities, and antitrust class action litigation, and has played lead roles in major cases over the past 30 years resulting in recoveries of several billion dollars for consumers and investors.  For example, we are Co-Lead Counsel in a class action against TJX Companies, Inc, owner of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, A.J. Wright, and HomeGoods, stemming from the largest reported theft of credit card information in history.  That case has been settled and the settlement is pending approval before the court.

If you have been affected by the data breach and have any questions regarding this matter, please contact:

Sherrie R. Savett, Esq.    
Michael T. Fantini, Esq.    
Jon J. Lambiras, Esq.  (215)-875-3036

Berger & Montague, PC