Insurer sues Schnucks, seeking to avoid paying for credit-card breach
The company that insures Schnuck Markets Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit against the chain, saying it won’t pay the potential tab for eight lawsuits that accuse the St. Louis grocer of failing to safeguard the payment card data of customers whose cards were hacked earlier this year.
Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., which filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Aug. 14, seeks a judgment that frees it from any liability associated with the data breach, which affected an estimated 2.4 million cards used at Schnucks stores between December and late March of this year.
The insurance company claims it is only responsible for covering physical damage, not data, and only up to a certain amount. The amount is unclear because that information, considered proprietary, has been redacted from public copies of the lawsuit.
“The Liberty Mutual situation is disappointing, even surprising, as we never expected a lawsuit from our insurance company,” Schnucks said in a statement issued Tuesday. “We bought a policy and they are attempting to walk away from their obligations under that policy. We were proactive in obtaining that policy and we expect them to honor their commitment.”
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/737bc3b4-ed1c-5921-b17a-7ded880b9099.html