Judicial Panel Grants Plaintiff Request for Pretrial Coordination of Class Action Lawsuits Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 and Transfers Actions to District of Maine
Seventeen (17) class actions were filed against Hannaford Bros. and others “aris[ing] from of an intrusion into defendant Hannaford Brothers Co.’s computer network” and “alleg[ing] that as a result of that intrusion, the credit or debit card numbers and related financial information of a large number of consumers were compromised.” In re Hannaford Bros. Co. Customer Data Security Breach Litig., ___ F.Supp.2d ___ (Jud.Pan.Mult.Lit. June 9, 2008) [Slip Opn., at 1]. Lawyers for plaintiffs in two of the class actions filed a motion with the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) requesting centralization of the class actions pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 in the District of Maine; all responding parties supported the motion, though some argued for transfer elsewhere. _Id._ The Judicial Panel granted the motion to centralize the class action lawsuits and agreed that the District of Maine was the appropriate transferee court, “because the large majority of the seventeen actions are already pending there.” _Id._ Accordingly, it transferred the class action lawsuits outside Maine to that district, _id._, at 1-2.
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