BENTON – U. S. District Judge Staci Yandle rejected Madison County jurisdiction in a potential class action against Exchange stores on military bases and dismissed it on Jan. 19.
She found plaintiff Linda Thompson of Godfrey lacked standing to allege privacy invasion in a federal court because she suffered no concrete injury.
Thompson sued the Army and Air Force Exchanges in Madison County because Illinois allows claims without concrete injury.
Roy Dripps of Maryville filed the suit in October, identifying Thompson as a retired radio operator who purchased items with a credit card at the Exchange on Scott Air Force Base.
He claimed all Exchanges violated federal law requiring them to mask expiration dates of credit and debit cards on receipts.
He proposed to certify a class of individuals in the U. S. and its territories whose expiration dates appeared on receipts.
Taylor Pitz of the justice department in Washington removed the suit to district court in December on behalf of U. S. attorney Rachelle Crowe.
Dripps’s associate William Sweetnam of Chicago moved to remand, citing Seventh Circuit precedent that similar allegations didn’t satisfy requirements for standing in federal courts.
He stated the only reason Thompson chose a state court was because the Seventh Circuit forced her to do so.
Pitz moved to dismiss, claiming any risk to Thompson was speculative and hypothetical.
He claimed no one stole her identity and she didn’t demonstrate that any violation made her susceptible to harm.
He claimed Congress ensured that state courts lacked authority to hold federal officers criminally or civilly liable for acts they performed in execution of their duties.
Yandle dismissed the suit without prejudice.
She found Thompson cited cases where courts remanded claims under federal law but none of the cases involved federal agencies.
Exchanges provide merchandise at low prices to supplement appropriations for morale, welfare, and recreation programs.