U.S. District Court Judge Brock Hornby has denied a plaintiff’s motion to certify a class action seeking damages stemming from a data breach at Hannaford Bros., National Law Review reports. The March 20 decision by Hornby noted that proving damages “required highly individualized determinations that could not be tried through proof common to the class as a whole,” and the article states that the “Hannaford case illustrates how damages issues, even in cases articulating a viable common damages theory, can still frustrate class certification.” Though Hornby denied an argument that a voluntary refund program offered by the company “provides a defense against class certification, such programs still provide a way to mitigate class damages, reduce potential overall exposure and retain customer goodwill.”
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