NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A federal district court judge has approved a $1.9 million settlement over claims about data security breaches at several Mapco Express convenience stores.
WinSouth Credit Union and First National Community Bank filed the class-action lawsuit in July 2014 against Brentwood, Tenn.-based c-store retailer Mapco Express Inc. and parent company Delek U.S. Holdings Inc. following a payment-card data breach that the retailer announced on May 6, 2013.
The incident involved transactions at Mapco locations between March 19-25, April 14-15 and April 20-21, the company said at the time.
Upon discovering the intrusion, Mapco took immediate steps to investigate the incident and further strengthened the security of its payment-card processing systems to block future information security attacks, it said. The company said it worked with the FBI, computer forensics investigation firms, payment-card associations and its customers to investigate and identify the source of the security breach by third-party hackers.
The financial institutions said Mapco failed “to adequately safeguard customer confidential information and related data,” according to the complaint, and failed “to maintain adequate encryption, intrusion detection and prevention procedures in their computer systems,” which caused the losses.
“Class-member financial institutions … incurred significant losses associated with credit- and debit-card reissuance, customer reimbursement for fraud losses, lost interest and transaction fees (including lost interchange fees), lost customers, administrative expenses” and more, they said.
“The court finds and concludes that the settlement is fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests of the class,” said Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, in the final judgment and order of dismissal.
Mapco has approximately 350 corporate-owned c-stores operating primarily in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, with and additional presence in Arkansas, Virginia, Kentucky and Mississippi. It operates company stores under the banners Mapco Express, Mapco Mart, East Coast, Fast Food and Fuel, Favorite Markets, Delta Express and Discount Food Mart.
In November 2016, Delek U.S. Holdings sold its retail-related assets to Santiago, Chile-based Compania de Petroleos de Chile COPEC SA (COPEC), including Mapco Express, for $535 million and Mapco’s estimated cash on hand and working capital adjustment, totaling approximately $16.3 million.
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