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Scenario: A customer comes in, and desires to make a down payment on a vehicle. Instead of a check, he wants to use his credit card, which is acceptable. You process the payment and provide him with an electronic receipt that shows the amount paid, the customer's name, last four digits of the card, and the card's expiration date. The next day he completes the purchase the vehicle, and thanks you for your help. Three months later, you receive a demand letter from the customer's attorney, stating that you violated Ohio's consumer identity laws, as well as the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act. The demand includes $200 in statutory violations, and attorney fees in the amount of $1,000 dollars. Is there any basis for this demand?
Face it---you just can't win. Ohio Revised Code §1349.18 states as follows:
(A) No person or limited liability company that accepts credit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last five digits of the credit card account number, or print the expiration date of a credit card, on any receipt provided to the cardholder. (Emphasis added.)
(B) This section applies only to receipts that are electronically printed and does not apply to any transaction in which the sole means of recording the cardholder's credit card account number is by handwriting or by an imprint or copy of the credit card.
The receipt for the customer was electronically printed. By the terms of the statute you, have just violated Ohio law. But what does that entitle the customer to? The final section of Ohio Revised Code §1349.18 holds the answer:
(C) A violation of this section is deemed an unfair or deceptive act or practice in violation of §1345.02 of the Revised Code. A person injured by a violation of this section has a cause of action and is entitled to the same relief available to a consumer under §1345.09 of the Revised Code, and all powers and remedies available to the attorney general to enforce §§1345.01 to 1345.13 of the Revised Code are available to the attorney general to enforce this section.
The consumer's remedy is to seek damages under the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act. In fact, in 2005, Kimmel v. Ulrey's Foods, Inc. dba Flyer's Pizza, PIF 2342, 2005-CVH-006795, the court held that the business' electronic printing of a customer's credit card expiration date on the customer's receipt was an unfair or deceptive trade practice, and violated both §1349.18 and §1345, et. seq. The Plaintiff was awarded an undisclosed amount of money.
The moral of the story? Make sure that your equipment is in regulatory compliance, and upgrade it if it is not. Train, train, train, your employees to beware of what actions, no matter how innocuous, actually violate the letter of the law. Remember, the ideas for these updates are, more often than not, from actual cases. There are attorneys that have represented the same Plaintiff, on the same issue, in the same court, against numerous Defendants in separate lawsuits----and won.
As always, these are highlights of the law and are not to be construed as containing the entire law. This is not to be construed or relied upon as a legal opinion. If you are presented with this problem, contact your legal counsel for advice.
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