TJX Cos. and MasterCard Inc. have agreed to settle a lawsuit over a massive data breach at the discount retailer. As you may know, TJX owns about 2,500 stores including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. The breach resulted in the theft of millions of credit-card numbers. Under the agreement, TJX will provide up to $24 million to settle loss claims made by MasterCard issuers in connection with the data theft. In December, TJX won support from Visa Inc. card-issuing banks to go ahead with plans to pay them as much as $40.9 million to help cover costs from the data breach. Consenting banks agreed not to sue TJX and Fifth Third Bancorp, which processed card payments for TJX.

Under the terms of the most recent agreement, MasterCard card issuers that filed claims for operational expenses or reimbursement of fraud losses on accounts used at TJX during a period to be determined by MasterCard will be eligible to receive restitution in the second quarter. Numbers and personal data stored in TJX’s computers on as many as 100 million cards were stolen by hackers, who remotely tapped into the computers beginning in July 2005. It should be noted that this theft was the largest of its kind to date.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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