Forever 21 Sued For Collecting Email Addresses From Credit Card Shoppers

Forever 21, which has been sued over 50 times in its 30 years of existence, now faces a point of sale credit card data collection class action lawsuit.

According to the legal journal, Legal Newsline, Forever 21 faces a punitive class action lawsuit, which claims that the retailer violated California law by requesting and recording shoppers’ credit card numbers and personal identification information at the point-of-sale.

The action suit is being brought by Tamar Estanboulian, who claims that after shopping at the store, she has been receiving unsolicited email marketing information from the company which collected her email address at the cash register, a pre-requisite for completing credit card purchases at Forever 21.

According to a report in The National Law Review, Estanboulian purchased merchandise with a credit card at a Forever 21 store in Los Angeles. The cashier asked for her email address without informing her of the consequences of providing the information. Estanboulian alleges that she provided her email address because she believed that it was required to complete the transaction and receive a receipt. She also claims that she witnessed cashiers asking other shoppers for their email addresses. Shortly after completing her purchase and leaving the store, she received a promotional email from Forever 21.

The report indicated that Estanboulian is seeking statutory damages of $1,000 to her and all class members pursuant to the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act.

The credit card act, which was amended earlier this year by the California Senate, prohibits the collection of personal information as a requirement for completing credit card transactions. The act is clear in its language and intent in this regard.

“[N]o person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation that accepts credit cards for the transaction of business shall request, or require as a condition to accepting the credit card as payment in full or in part for goods or services, the cardholder to provide personal identification information, which the person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation accepting the credit card writes, causes to be written, or otherwise records upon the credit card transaction form or otherwise.”

Forever 21 is all too familiar with lawsuits such as these. According to The Huffington Post, the company has faced several copyright infringement suits from other fashion brands, and has also been sued by its employees for failure to pay overtime. The Inquisitr reported that the company threatened its own lawsuit against a blogger back in 2011.

The credit card data collection suit against Forever 21 will be heard by District Judge Percy Anderson.

[Image via SMRT]