IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

If your financial institution issued one or more payment cards that were identified as having been at risk as a result of the data breach that Wendy’s announced in 2016, it could get a payment from a class action settlement.

• A settlement has been proposed to resolve lawsuits against The Wendy’s Company, Wendy’s Restaurants, LLC, and Wendy’s International, LLC (“Wendy’s”) brought by financial institutions and associations as a result of third-party criminal cyberattacks of certain of Wendy’s independently owned and operated franchisee restaurants involving malware variants targeting customers’ payment card information that Wendy’s reported in 2016 (the “Data Breach”).

• The lawsuits, referred to collectively as First Choice Federal Credit Union v. The Wendy’s Company, Case No. 2:16-cv-00506-NBF-MPK (W.D. Pa.), allege that Wendy’s is legally responsible for the Data Breach and assert claims for negligence, negligence per se, violation of the Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act, as well as for declaratory and injunctive relief. Wendy’s denies these allegations and says it did not do anything wrong.

• Under the Settlement, Wendy’s will pay $50 million into a Settlement Fund to be distributed to Settlement Class Members who timely submit valid claims. All Settlement Class Members are eligible to receive a cash payment for each payment card that was identified as having been at risk as a result of the Data Breach in an alert or similar document by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, or JCB, without providing any documentation of their losses. The amount of the cash payment will depend on the total number of eligible payment cards submitted by Settlement Class Members, the Costs of Settlement Administration, taxes paid on the Settlement Fund, and the amount of attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses, and Service Awards approved by the Court. By way of example, if valid claims are submitted for all eligible cards, it is estimated that Settlement Class Members would receive approximately $2.00 per eligible payment card. If, for example, 40% of eligible payment cards are submitted, then Settlement Class Members would receive approximately $4.80 per eligible payment card. These are examples. The per-card amount actually paid may be higher or lower.

• In addition, Wendy’s has agreed to adopt and/or maintain certain practices related to its data security. If approved by the Court, reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses will be paid out of the Settlement Fund. In addition, if approved by the Court, service awards of $7,500 to each class representative that sat for a deposition and $2,500 to the remaining class representatives will be paid out of the Settlement Fund. Costs of Settlement Administration and any taxes on the Settlement Fund will also be paid out of the Settlement Fund.

Your financial institution’s legal rights are affected whether you act or don’t act.
Read this notice carefully.