Customers of eatery P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. lack standing to sue the company following the breach of some 7 million payment cards, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled Dec. 10.
Judge John W. Darrah said allegations of overpayment for the restaurant’s products and services, fraudulent charges, opportunity costs, future identity theft and mitigation expenses weren’t sufficient to establish an injury in fact.
Standing has proved to be an important threshold issue in data breach cases, with many federal district courts struggling over whether injuries like a future risk of identity theft are sufficient to support standing.
Here, the court dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Two days later, on Dec. 12, named plaintiffs John Lewert and Lucas Kosner appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
