Reversing the decision of the lower court, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals recently held in Anderson v. Hannaford Bros. Co. that under Maine law, claims for breach of contract and negligence can be premised on the cost of replacing credit/debit cards whose numbers had been breached and the cost of credit insurance where the card numbers had been intentionally stolen by sophisticated thieves who actually used that data for fraudulent purposes.  In reaching this conclusion, the court’s novel opinion differentiated numerous cases in which courts have held that similar claims of damages were insufficient to allow cases to move forward.  Although reaching a novel result, the First Circuit decision in Hannaford might have limited effect on future litigation because of the rather unique fact pattern on which the court of appeals’ opinion rests.Continue Reading First Circuit Holds That Mitigation Costs Are Sufficient To Support Claims in Card Breach Case