13-Dec-15 – If you went to a movie at Navy Pier’s IMAX theater between November 4, 2011, and November 7, 2013, and paid using a credit or debit card, you may be getting a small share of a $400,000 settlement in a class action lawsuit.

Chicago lawyer Scott Redman went to the movies on October 31, 2013, and bought his ticket using his MasterCard. He was given a paper receipt on which all 16 digits of his credit card number were printed and that has been unlawful since December 4, 2006.

Four days after seeing the movie, Redman sued IMAX Chicago Theatre LLC, and there were so many potential plaintiffs that the case was certified a class action.

Redman (left) says the theater violated an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act intended to combat identify theft by restricting information printed on sales receipts. No more than the last five digits of the card number are supposed to be printed.

“Despite the simple steps necessary to comply, and despite abundant notice,” reads the lawsuit, “Defendant simply chose to ignore compliance with the FCRA. As such, consumers who purchase goods and services from Defendant receive none of the benefits that [an amendment to the Act] was designed to confer, and are uniformly burdened with an elevated risk of identity theft.”

As of October 31, 2013, according to the lawsuit, the theater was aware of the law and before that, card issuers such as MasterCard and Visa were advising merchants of the need to truncate card numbers on electronically printed receipts.

Merchants were given until December 4, 2006, to comply with the law. The settlement, however, includes only transactions occurring no earlier than November 4, 2011, and no later than November 7, 2013.

On Thursday, some Chicago residents were notified by email of the settlement and invited to submit a claim, online, no later than February 8, 2016.

According to the email, IMAX Chicago Theatre denies the allegations, any liability or wrongdoing, but agreed to a settlement to avoid the cost of a trial.

“The court did not decide in favor of Plaintiff or Defendant,” reads the email. “Plaintiff thinks he would have prevailed at a trial. Defendant thinks it would have prevailed at trial. But there was no trial.”

Individual payouts likely to be modest

IMAX Chicago Theater will establish a settlement fund of at least $400,000 but “under certain circumstances,” the fund could increase to $455,000. At least $132,000 will go to Redman’s attorneys and $5,000 will go to Redman.

The amount leftover for each person submitting a valid claim depends on the number of claims but it is estimated that each claim will get at least $6.72.

A hearing is scheduled for March 1, at which the court could approve the settlement. Funds would be distributed over the next 21 days.

This is at least the second time Redman has settled a class action lawsuit over this particular violation of federal law.

On May 20, 2015, the Chicago City Council agreed to settle for $571,320 a class action lawsuit filed by Redman two years earlier. In that lawsuit, Redman claimed the City Clerk’s office violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by giving receipts for payment by credit or debit card that included more than the last five digits of the card number.