Dieffenbach v. Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing plaintiffs’ class action alleging that they incurred damages arising out of defendant-book store’s failure to detect third-parties who compromised defendant’s data base that contained plaintiffs’ personal information that caused plaintiffs to temporarily lose use of their funds while waiting for banks to reverse unauthorized charges, as well as force plaintiffs to spend their own time to re-establish accounts with merchants and to spend money on credit-monitoring services. While Dist. Ct. based dismissal on finding that complaint failed to adequately plead damages, plaintiffs’ allegations regarding loss of use of funds, lost time, inability to make purchases using compromised accounts and expenditure of funds to purchase credit-monitoring services were compensable damages under either California or Illinois law. Ct., though, questioned whether plaintiffs could obtain any remedy under either California or Illinois statutes, where neither statute expressly made merchants liable for failure to crime proof their point of sale systems.