By JEFF ST. JOHN
THE FRESNO BEE

A Sacramento-based law firm has received class action status for a lawsuit accusing Save Mart Supermarkets of violating state law and potentially putting customers at risk of identity theft.

The lawsuit accuses Modesto-based Save Mart of providing customers with sales slips that they sign when making credit card transactions at the company's supermarkets — forms that included spaces for customers to fill in their phone numbers, according to the law firm Lindsay & Stonebarger.

But providing a space for customers to fill in personal information on credit card forms is illegal under California law, said attorney James Lindsay. He also claimed that the practice could expose customers to identity theft but said there's no evidence that happened.

"It is clear that Save Mart knew it was improper to collect this information but continued to do so anyway," Lindsay said. "The full extent of the damage to customers as a result of this practice is unclear."

But Save Mart attorney Steve Boutin said the lawsuit, filed on behalf of a handful of clients in July 2004, had failed to show that any customers had been harmed by the company's practices.

"Two and a half years later, we're still waiting for the first person to say they've suffered a dime's worth of damage," he said.

"Now we'll go ahead and dutifully defend the case. We're looking forward to getting all these things out on the table."

Lindsay & Stonebarger first filed suit against Save Mart on behalf of five clients, Lindsay said.

But last month, San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Lauren Thomasson ordered class action certification for the lawsuit, Lindsay said.

Based on his law firm's estimates, that class action certification could allow the lawsuit to include as many as 300,000 people who may have given their phone numbers on the credit card transaction forms, as well as up to 6 million customers who were illegally asked to fill out the forms but didn't, Lindsay said.

Boutin called those figures "a complete guess," and added that none of Lindsay's clients have claimed being harmed by writing their phone numbers.

"They're trying to use this to beat us over the head," he said. "We still say, we have not done anything intentionally wrong. We have not damaged anybody."

A 1990 state law makes it illegal for retailers that accept credit cards to ask for or provide forms with spaces designated for customers to fill in personal information, Lindsay said.

"We're seeking, initially, a change in that practice, so they would stop doing that," he said. "We're also seeking compensation for the individuals that were affected."

Boutin said Save Mart stores used to include such spaces for phone numbers but stopped after the practice was made illegal.

"At that time, they had different systems in different stores," he said. "If we continued to do it when it was no longer appropriate, we never intentionally violated any statute, including that statute."

Boutin added that Save Mart had never used phone numbers written by customers for any purposes that could hurt them.

"We were not formally requesting (telephone numbers), nor were we forming a database, nor were we using any of the information we got for marketing purposes, nor were we selling anyone's phone number to anyone."