In November the high-end children’s clothing retailer Hanna Andersson agreed to pay $400,000 and implement new security measures as part of a class action settlement arising from litigation brought in the wake of a widespread data breach.  The lawsuit stems from a security incident where hackers accessed Hanna Andersson’s (“Hanna”) third-party e-commerce platform and gained access to customers’ personal information (“PII”).  The breach affected the PII (including names, shipping and billing addresses, payment card numbers, CVV codes, and expiration dates) of over 200,000 customers who made online purchases using the Hanna website between September 16 and November 11, 2019.  The hackers then exfiltrated and used this information to make fraudulent purchases using Hanna’s customers’ credit cards.  Hanna notified its customers of the breach on January 15, 2020.

Well, yesterday a federal court in California granted preliminary approval of the settlement and certified a settlement class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a), consisting of “[a]ll individuals residing in the United States who made purchases on the Hanna Andersson website from September 16, 2019 to November 11, 2019.”  As part of this ruling the court found that “[t]he terms of the Settlement Agreement do not improperly grant preferential treatment to any individual or segment of the Settlement Class and fall within the range of possible approval as fair, reasonable, and adequate.”  Settlement Class Members who (1) wish to opt-out and exclude themselves from the Settlement Class or (2) object to the settlement must provide notice by April 28, 2021.  A final approval hearing was scheduled for June 17, 2021.

Assuming no objectors derail final approval next year, the Hanna Andersson case will be the first class action settlement under the CCPA.  Other CCPA litigants will be sure to look to the enhanced security requirements and monetary payout to the class as a starting point for CCPA settlements going forward.  CPW will be there to cover those developments as they occur.  Stay tuned.