CVS faces records-disposal lawsuit in Texas

The State of Texas yesterday filed suit against CVS/Caremark Corp., alleging improper disposal of thousands of prescription records and credit-card receipts, according to Bloomberg News.
The receipts and prescription labels were found in a trash bin behind a CVS/pharmacy store in Liberty, Texas, the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement today. Radio Shack Corp. faces similar charges in a Texas suit filed earlier this month.
The company could face fines of up to $50,000 for each customer record that was improperly discarded, said Paco Felici, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office. CVS/Caremark said the records were discarded as the company prepared to close the store in Liberty, near Houston, and move it to a new site.
“The disposal of this information in the store Dumpster was a violation of our record-retention and privacy policies,” CVS/Caremark spokesman Mike DeAngelis told Bloomberg in an e-mail. “The store manager was separated from the company, and we have cooperated fully with the Attorney General’s investigation.”