In Chaing v. Verizon New England, Inc. – F.3d –, 2010 WL 431873 (1st Cir. 2010), the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of Verizon based on its reinvestigation under FCRA, explaining:
This leaves the question of the extent of a furnisher’s investigation obligation under § 1681s-2(b). The statute does not define the term “investigation” and is apparently intended to give the furnisher some flexibility. We know that the investigation is meant to determine if the disputed information is “incomplete or inaccurate.” Mere incompleteness, however, is not enough; the incompleteness must be such as to make the furnished information misleading in a material sense. See Saunders, 526 F.3d at 148 (holding that a furnisher may be held liable under § 1681s-2(b) for failure to report information as disputed when the omission is “misleading in such a way and to such an extent that it can be expected to [have an] adverse [ ] effect”) (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). We agree generally with the Fourth Circuit’s observation that “[i]t would make little sense to conclude that, in creating a system in-tended to give consumers a means to dispute-and ultimately, correct-inaccurate information on their credit reports, Congress used the term ‘investigation’ to include superficial, un reasonable [sic] inquiries by creditors.” Johnson v. MBNA Am. Bank, NA, 357 F.3d 426, 430-31 (4th Cir.2004) (citing cases interpreting CRAs’ analogous duty to investigate as requiring reasonable investigations); see also Gorman, 584 F.3d at 1156-57. ¶ . . . . Finally, what is a reasonable investigation by a furnisher may vary depending on the circumstances. For instance, a more limited investigation may be appropriate when CRAs provide the furnisher with vague or cursory information about a consumer’s dispute. The statute is clear that the investigation is directed to the information provided by the CRA. A CRA’s notice informs a furnisher of “the nature of the consumer’s challenge to the reported debt, and it is the receipt of this notice that gives rise to the furnisher’s obligation to conduct a reasonable investigation.” Gorman, 584 F.3d at 1157;see also15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b)(1)(B) (requiring a furnisher to review “all relevant information” provided to it by a CRA). Accordingly, the central inquiry when assessing a con-sumer’s claim under § 1681s-2(b) is “whether the furnisher’s procedures were reasonable in light of what it learned about the nature of the dispute from the description in the CRA’s notice of dispute.” Gorman, 584 F.3d at 1157;see also Westra, 409 F.3d at 827.
Ultimately, the Court of Appeals granted summary judgment for Verizon, finding that the Plaintiff had demonstrated neither actual inaccuracy nor that Verizon’s reinvestigation was unreasonable based on what the CRA told it. The Court of Appeals explained, “We repeat that an investigation under § 1681s-2(b) is geared to the information provided by the CRA to the furnisher; if the CRA fails in its obligation to provide “all relevant information regarding the dispute,” 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(2)(A), then there is a claim against the CRA but not the furnisher.”