PORTLAND – The federal lawsuits filed around the country over the security breach of Hannaford Bros. Co’s computer network have been consolidated and assigned to the District of Maine and U.S District Judge D. Brock Hornby.

The decision, announced Monday, means that the more than 20 lawsuits that already have been filed in Maine, Florida, New Hampshire and New York will be consolidated under the federal court’s multi-district litigation program. All future lawsuits filed over the breach will be transferred to Maine and assigned to Hornby.

The breach that began on Dec. 7, 2007, and ended March 10 allowed hackers to obtain credit and debit card numbers of more than 4 million Hannaford customers.

Attorneys who have filed the lawsuits presented their arguments about where the litigation should be consolidated on May 29 in Asheville, N.C., before a seven-judge panel. Attorneys who have filed lawsuits in Maine argued the case should be moved here while those in Florida argued that the litigation should be heard in the Sunshine State.

The panel, according to its order, found that centralization in Maine would “serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of the litigation.” The panel also found that because Hannaford’s headquarters are in Maine, relevant documents and witnesses would be more readily available.

Hornby previously has handled complex multidistrict cases including one involving health care problems caused by asbestos and another about the price-fixing of cassette tapes. The judge is expected to choose a team of attorneys to act as lead counsel on all the cases by the end of the month.

Samuel W. Lanham Jr., a Bangor lawyer, filed the first lawsuit on March 18 in U.S. District Court in Bangor on behalf of Melinda J. Ryan of Bangor and Clifford L. O’Brien Jr. of Orrington. Although the lawsuit does not seek specific damages, the complaint states that “the matter in controversy exceeds $5 million.”

About 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers were exposed and at least 1,800 stolen during the seconds it takes for that information to travel to credit card companies for approval after customers swiped their cards in checkout-line machines, a spokeswoman for Hannaford has said.

That means there are 4.2 million potential class members or plaintiffs who could join Ryan and O’Brien in the lawsuit, according to Lanham.

As of June 1, 14 lawsuits had been filed in Maine, seven in Florida and one each in New Hampshire and New York.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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