The Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed the jury’s verdict in the Kim v. BMW Financial Services, LLC., — Fed.Appx. — 2017 WL 3225710 (9th Cir. July 31, 2017).
The district court properly denied BMW FS’s motion for a new trial on the amount of damages awarded under the FCRA claim. . . Kim’s testimony that he was denied credit three times after BMW FS’s negative reporting—despite the fact that he previously had good enough credit to purchase three different vehicles—provided evidence that the harm to Kim’s creditworthiness was substantial. In addition, Kim presented expert testimony that derogatory reports (which indicated his car was repossessed) carry serious consequences, including lower credit scores and a reduced ability to obtain employment. In light of the inherent difficulty in quantifying damages for injury to creditworthiness or reputation, the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s award of $250,000 for the FCRA claim. . . .Finally, BMW FS contends that it is entitled to a new trial because the district court erred in refusing to give a requested jury instruction regarding the meaning of a “reasonable” investigation under FCRA. “We review challenges to the district court’s formulation of the jury instructions for an abuse of discretion by determining whether the instructions, considered as a whole, were inadequate or misleading.” . . .Here, the district court fully instructed the jury on the elements of a claim under FCRA, including the requirement that any investigation be “reasonable.” See Gorman v. Wolpoff & Abramson, LLP, 584 F.3d 1147, 1152 (9th Cir. 2009). BMW FS challenges not the accuracy of this instruction, but rather the district court’s refusal to instruct the jury on additional language from the Gorman opinion. However, the instructions as a whole were not inadequate or misleading; they correctly described the requirement that any investigation be “reasonable.” Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to give BMW FS’s requested instruction.