The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently granted preliminary approval of a Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) class action against Microsoft Corporation.

In Guarisma v. Microsoft Corp., the named plaintiff, Carlos Guarisma, filed a putative class action against Microsoft in November 2015, alleging that the software company’s retail stores printed transaction receipts that revealed more than the last five digits of purchasers debit and credit card numbers, in violation of FACTA.  Microsoft subsequently filed a motion to dismiss based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, arguing that Guarisma does not have standing because he cannot demonstrate a concrete injury.  In opposition, Guarisma argued that “Microsoft’s violation of the FACTA constitutes a concrete injury in and of itself because Congress created a substantive right for individuals to receive printed receipts that truncate their personal credit card information, in order to decrease the ever-present threat of identity theft.”  The Court agreed with Guarisma, stating that “[t]he Court is persuaded Congress intended to create a substantive right,” and thus held that Guarisma “personally suffered a concrete harm in receiving a receipt that violated this statute, [and] sufficiently alleged an injury-in-fact so as to confer standing.”

After the Court denied Microsoft’s motion, the parties engaged in discovery, participated in a private mediation, and ultimately reached a settlement.  Under the settlement agreement, Microsoft will pay almost $1.2 million to settlement class members, who consist of all persons who, when making a payment for a transaction at a Microsoft retail store, were provided with a point-of-sale receipt that displayed more than the last five digits of his or her credit or debit card number from November 20, 2013 to the present.  The settlement class consists of approximately 66,000 individuals. 

A final fairness hearing is scheduled for July 27.