In Camarillo v. Balboa Thrift & Loan Ass'n, No. 3:20-cv-00913-BEN-BLM, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22351 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 4, 2021), Judge Benitez granted a petition to compel arbitration with respect to an FCRA claim arising out of an automobile RISC. In this case, neither party contends that (1) they lacked the capability to contract, (2) the RISC5 or Arbitration Provision… Read More
In Ewert v. FD Holdings, LLC, No. 20-cv-354-wmc, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9402 (W.D. Wis. Jan. 19, 2021), Judge Conley dismissed an FCRA claim premised on an account that passed through bankruptcy being improperly reported. Plaintiff Lance M. Ewert alleges that defendant FD Holdings, LLC, d/b/a "Factual Data," violated his rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C.… Read More
In Gatanas v. Am. Honda Fin. Corp., No. 20-07788 (KM) (JBC), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 228973 (D.N.J. Dec. 7, 2020), Judge McNulty allowed an FCRA claim to proceed against an auto finance company. Gatanas contracted with Honda for an auto loan. (See Compl. ¶ 1.) He paid off that loan, and the account was closed. (See id. ¶ 15.) Honda… Read More
In Nelson v. Mortgage, No. 19-01005-WS-B, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 222396 (S.D. Ala. Nov. 25, 2020), the District Court granted summary judgment to a mortgage company on an FCRA claim. Nationstar counters, however, that plaintiffs have made no showing that any such emotional distress damages resulted from the alleged FCRA violation, which is a legal requirement of the claim. See,… Read More
InHernandez v. Specialized Loan Servicing Llc, Nos. 19-55163, 19-56313, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 36064 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2020), an unpublished decision, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found against an FCRA Plaintiff. As to the FCRA claims, plaintiffs failed to establish that SLS neglected its duty to conduct reasonable investigations of the dispute notices it received from… Read More
In Layton v. Experian Info. Sols., Inc., No. 4:20-cv-00029-DN-PK, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 205221, at *2-3 (D. Utah Nov. 2, 2020), Judge Nuffer found no inaccuracy in the way that Discover was reporting the Plaintiff's bankrupt account. Layton sent a letter, certified, return receipt, to Experian disputing and requesting the above inaccurate information be removed as follows: "Immediately correct this… Read More
In Pongsai v. Am. Express Co., No. SA CV 19-1628-DOC (JDEx), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 198104 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 23, 2020), Judge Carter denied MSJ to American Express due to a question of fact. Defendant argues that "only notice from a [consumer reporting agency] can trigger a furnisher's duty to investigation" under the FCRA. Defendant's Motion at 12. It contends… Read More
In Denton v. JPMorgan Chase & Co., No. 4:19cv114, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185745 (E.D. Va. Oct. 6, 2020), Judge Davis allowed an FCRA to proceed due to Plaintiff’s allegation of emotional distress. Plaintiff's fourth count alleges that Chase violated 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b) either willfully/recklessly or negligently by failing "to properly investigate Plaintiff's dispute" and failing "to correct the… Read More
In Isler v. GE Emples. Fed. Credit Union, No. 3:18-cv-00867 (MPS), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176562 (D. Conn. Sep. 25, 2020), Judge Shea clarified when a Furnisher is and is not required to report an account as “disputed”. Plaintiff [*22] also argues that GE Credit Union was negligent in failing at least to mark Plaintiff's account as disputed. Some courts have… Read More
In Hammer v. Equifax Info. Servs., No. 19-10199, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 28800 (5th Cir. Sep. 9, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that no claim arose under the FCRA for failure to report a trade line in the consumer’s consumer report. Hammer alleges that Equifax violated the FCRA because it had favorable information about his… Read More
The Federal Trade Commission announced that it is seeking comment on proposed changes that would bring several rules implementing parts of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in line with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). In separate Notices of Proposed Rule Making (NPRMs), which will be published in the Federal Register shortly, the FTC… Read More
In Tillman v. Mich. First Credit Union, No. 19-12860, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139056 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 5, 2020), Judge Lawson declined to exercise jurisdiction over a collection counter-claim in an FCRA case. Nonetheless, federal courts have had little trouble finding that supplemental jurisdiction is proper over counterclaims like the one pleaded here where the underlying dispute is between a… Read More
In Zablocki v. Merchs. Credit Guide Co., No. 19-2045, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 23737 (7th Cir. July 28, 2020), the Court of Appeals dismissed an FDCPA claim premised on a debt collectors failure to aggregate debts into a single account when reporting to the CRAs. Viewing Merchants's separate reporting of debts from the perspective of an unsophisticated but reasonable… Read More
In Holland v. Chase Bank United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133642 (S.D.N.Y. July 28, 2020), Judge Engelmayer dismissed an FCRA claim against a Furnisher for absence of an “inaccuracy”, holding that Plaintiff’s claim that the debt was extinguished by the statute of limitations did not render the reporting of the debt inaccurate. Here, Holland asserts that Chase's furnishing of… Read More
In Chuluunbat v. Cavalry Portfolio Servs., LLC, No. 20 C 164, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128931 (N.D. Ill. July 22, 2020), Judge Kocoras granted a furnisher’s motion to dismiss an FCRA claim. Given these letters, Cavalry argues that it was required to do nothing further than what it had already done to comply with its obligations under Section 1681s-2(b). Chuluunbat… Read More
On June 16, 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) released a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding furnishers and credit reporting agencies (CRAs) obligations under the CARES Act. Here is a link to the FAQs: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_fcra_consumer-reporting-faqs-covid-19_2020-06.pdf Most critically, the FAQs clarified that when enforcing the amendments to FCRA under the CARES Act, the Bureau "expects furnishers and consumer… Read More
In Krosch v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, No. 19-CV-2784 (NEB/KMM), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99150, at *5-9 (D. Minn. June 5, 2020), Judge Brasel held that a consumer stated no FCRA claim against a CRA due to the CRA's alleged failure not to report all furnishers' tradelines. Experian argues that the Complaint fails to allege either of these elements because… Read More
In Hogue v Silver State Schools Credit Union, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of an FCRA case due to lack of Article III standing. First, Hogue has not shown actual harm to his concrete interests. The district court found that “no third parties made an adverse credit decision as to [Hogue] based on this disputed… Read More
In Denan v. Trans Union LLC, No. 19-1519, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 14930 (7th Cir. May 11, 2020), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a CRA, under the guise of determining accuracy, was not obligated to adjudicate the consumer claims that the debt was not valid. Here, plaintiffs contend not only that Trans Union had a… Read More
In Tailford v. Experian Info. Sols., No. SACV 19-02191JVS(KESx), 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84658 (C.D. Cal. May 12, 2020), Judge Selna dismissed a claim against Experian for failure to disclose in a “file” under the FCRA behavioral data that it maintained on the consumer. The data the Experian maintained was as pleaded as follows: Experian also collects "non-traditional" consumer data… Read More
