PITTSBURGH — A Western Pennsylvania credit union is suing Target Corp. for the cost of reissuing debit cards to about 75 customers whose account information was compromised by computer hackers who stole 40 million credit and debit card numbers from the retailer’s customers.

The federal lawsuit filed Friday by the First Choice Federal Credit Union in New Castle seeks class action status, claiming there will be far in excess of the 100 victims and $5 million in damages needed to justify a class action under federal law once other financial institutions come forward.

“The complaint alleges that Target knew or should have known that its payment processes were vulnerable to this sort of attack, yet the company failed to take adequate measures to protect sensitive data and did not inform customers or financial institutions about the ongoing attack for several weeks after it was discovered,” according to the statement.

A Target spokeswoman repeated the Minneapolis-based chain’s assurances that customers aren’t liable for any fraudulent purchases

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages, attorney’s fees, and a finding by the court that Target violated Minnesota law by maintaining customer account information longer than 48 hours.