Hon. Thomas W. Thrash, Jr., U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, granted final approval to a $43.5mm settlement to cover losses, attorneys’ fees and costs sustained by financial institutions as a result of Home Depot’s 2014 data breach. Twenty five class action suits were consolidated in Atlanta after Home Depot confirmed that hackers used malware to steal customer’s personal financial information, including credit card numbers and security codes. Financial institutions suffered losses in reissuing cancelled credit cards and paying fraud claims. The financial institutions alleged that Home Depot intentionally neglected its data security to maximize profits. Kim D. Stephens of Tousley Brain Stephens served on the executive committee to prosecute the litigation for the financial institutions against Home Depot.