California Federal Court Denies Class Certification In Song-Beverly Credit Card Act Case

Class Action Song-Beverly Credit Card Act Privacy/Cyber Risk & Data Security

On October 4, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied certification of a putative class of consumers that had alleged a major retailer’s policy of requiring online customers to provide their telephone numbers or addresses in connection with credit card purchase transactions violated the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act. Leebove v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 13-1024, slip op. (C.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2013). The court held that the commonality requirement for class certification was not satisfied.  The court explained that the relevant provision of the Act prohibits collecting certain information from a “cardholder,” which includes only “natural persons,” and held that an individualized inquiry would need to be made regarding whether the card used by each class member was issued as a consumer or business card. The court further reasoned that individual inquiries would be required to determine whether each class member’s claim was barred under an exception that allows retailers to request certain otherwise prohibited personal information for use in shipping, delivering, servicing, or installing the purchased items.