Financial institutions faced another tough decision this week about whether to fight a settlement offer from a retailer hit by a data breach.

According to documents filed Nov. 30 in a Georgia District Court, MasterCard and Home Depot have apparently reached a proposed settlement regarding the retailer's September 2014 data breach. But attorneys for institutions suing Home Depot over the breach said the retailer won't share the settlement agreement and is involved in sending "highly misleading and coercive" communications to financial institutions.

"On the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Wednesday, November 25, 2015, third-party payment processors, evidently acting in concert with Home Depot, sent email notifications to putative class members – including named FI plaintiffs known to be represented by counsel in this matter – stating that Home Depot and MasterCard had reached a settlement involving the Home Depot data breach," the attorneys stated in a request for an emergency hearing. "Some of the class communications state that failure to affirmatively opt out of the settlement will result in a release of all claims pending in this case, without even specifically mentioning the litigation, or even telling the class members how much they would receive under the settlement."