Jordan Budai et al. v. Country Fair, Inc.

Issue

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) prohibits businesses from printing more than five digits of any customer’s credit card number on any printed receipt with statutory damages of up to $1,000 per violation. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that an individual suing must also show some injury, like identity or credit card number theft, to sue under this FACTA provision. However, a group of individuals in Pennsylvania recently filed class action lawsuits in the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas under FACTA without alleging any injury. The judge in Lawrence County ruled that the lawsuit could proceed in state court.

August 4, 2022

The Restaurant Law Center together with the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association and others, filed a brief arguing that no-injury suits, such as these ones, should also be barred in state court. Here, uninjured plaintiffs who cannot sue in federal court would lack a cause of action in any court. In addition, courts presume that the enforceability of federal statutes does not vary from state to state. Thus, the only way to validate that presumption is to hold that no-injury FACTA suits are also unavailable in state court.