Capital
One Exposed 140000 Social
Security Numbers While Abusing
Consumers Regulators Defanged
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 30 –
Three years after Capital One
Bank was sued for its
overdraft fees on debit card
transactions for which there
were sufficient funds
available in the customers'
accounts, on June 25 the
bank's motion for summary
judgment was denied by U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Lorna G.
Schofield.
Now on
July 29 Capital One belatedly
disclosed that it was
"compromised," including
140,000 social security
numbers, 80,000 linked bank
account numbers, and “personal
information” from credit card
applications from 2005 through
early 2019. And where were and
are the regulators, who
approved Capital One's mergers
rebuffing detailed Press
comments? We'll have more on
this.
Back
on June 25, Judge Schofield
after her ruling joked that it
felt like the case began in
last century. She gave the
lawyers for named plaintiff
Tawanna M. Roberts two weeks
to file a letter presaging
their motion for class
certification.
The
case has already seen one
appeal to the Second Circuit
Court of Appeals, which
partially reversed
Judge Schofield's granting
of Capital One's motion to
dismiss Roberts' causes of
action for breach of contract
and violation of New York
General Business Law §
349.
The
case has attracted interest as
an example, consumer advocates
say, of predatory practice,
citing a Capital One account
agreement which states that an
overdraft occurs when it
“elects to pay” a transaction
that exceeds a customer’s
available balance.
The
advocates say that by charging
overdraft fees on transactions
that the bank elected to pay
when the available balance was
sufficient, but that later
settled against negative
funds, Capital One led
consumers to believe it would
do one thing while doing the
opposite, inflicting
significant financial hardship
- that is, overdraft fees - on
affected customers in the
process.
In the
run-up to the June 25 oral
arguments, Judge Schofield
informed the parties that she
would only grant argument to
lawyers graduating in 2014 or
more recently. Capital One's
law firm Morrison Foerster
proposed a 2013 graduate,
Tiffani B. Figueroa. Judge
Schofield approved it, and the
argument took place with
Sophia Goren Gold representing
Tawanna Roberts. Now she seeks
class certification. The case
is Roberts v. Capital One
Financial Corporation,
16-cv-4841 (Schofield).
After her June 25 ruling,
Judge Schofield said that
there might be material even
in the transcript of the oral
argument, which took place in
open court, which should be
redacted. This follows an
entirely sealed criminal
sentencing Judge Schofield
held on June 17, without
disclosing even the name of
the case or defendant, much
less the reason(s) for
sealing.
In this case, both sides
quickly said no, there was
nothing to redact. Like the
sentencing, it is a matter of
public interest. Inner City
Press, which has not been told
what sentencing was moved out
of its view on June 17 (and
which was the only media in
Judge Schofield's courtroom
for the Capital One oral
arguments on June 25) will
stay on these cases. More on
Patreon, here.
***
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