FCRA -- 15 U.S.C. § 1681

In Hogue v. Allied Collection Service, Inc., 2018 WL 771321, at *4–5 (D.Nev., 2018), the District Court granted summary judgment to an auto finance company who was sued for the way that it reported, and then reinvestigated, an automobile account after a debtor filed Chapter 13. Silver State argues that it is undisputed that plaintiff's auto account was delinquent on… Read More

In Nissou-Rabban v. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., 2018 WL 538962, at *6 (S.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Houston found that an FCRA plaintiff whose credit card account has passed through bankruptcy sufficiently alleged an "inaccuracy" under the FCRA and that such claim could proceed as a class action.  After allowing the Plaintiff to amend the Complaint to allege a class action, the… Read More

In Harris v. Nissan-Infiniti, LT, 2018 WL 387397, at *1 (D.Nev., 2018), Judge Mahan dismissed an FCRA claim grounded in a furnisher's reporting of an automobile account after Chapter 7 discharge.  The facts were as follows: On or about June 16, 2011, plaintiff filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (“bankruptcy”). (ECF No. 1 at 4). The bankruptcy court discharged plaintiff's obligations on… Read More

In Williams v. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., 2018 WL 317712, at *10 (N.D.Ala., 2018), the District Court found that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine did not bar an FCRA claim. Without question, the plaintiff in the present action has stated his belief that the default judgment entered against him in state court is meritless. Even so, his actual claim against Capital… Read More

In Gilchrist v. First National Bank of Omaha, 2018 WL 317267, at *2–3 (W.D.Wash., 2018), Judge Pechman dismissed a federal TCPA claim because it was compulsory to a debt collection action filed in the state court. There is no question in the Court's mind that there is a logical relationship between (1) the credit agreement between the Bank and Plaintiff, (2)… Read More

In Gadomski v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A., 2018 WL 263903, at *3–4 (E.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Nunley rejected a consumer's claim that her FCRA claim was not subject to contractual arbitration because she'd had an intervening bankruptcy discharge. Plaintiff first argues the Agreement was rendered unenforceable because of the Bankruptcy Action. (ECF No. 15 at 5–6.) However, Plaintiff offers no cases… Read More

In Muehlenberg v. Experian Information Solutions, et. al., 2017 WL 6622837, at *3–4 (N.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Orrick dismissed an FCRA case premised on allegedly inaccurate reporting of an account as it passed through Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings. The Chase Defendants next contend that a review of the entire challenged report “in context” shows that Muehlenberg has not plausibly alleged any inaccuracy… Read More

In Fredrickson v. Cannon Federal Credit Union, 2017 WL 6558578, at *4 (D.N.M., 2017), Judge Brack granted summary judgment to a furnisher who allegedly failed to report a consumer's dispute as "disputed" because, Judge Brack said, the dispute was meritless. Furnishers can breach their § 1681s–2(b) duties if they fail to report the existence of a dispute because such an omission… Read More

In Dacumos v. Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, 2017 WL 6406137, at *4–5 (W.D.Wash., 2017), Judge Martinez found that dismissal of a state court collection action by itself did not vitiate the debt and require the creditor to report the balance as "0". Plaintiff contends that because TMCC dismissed the collection case against her in King County Superior Court, that dismissal acts… Read More

In Ma v. Equifax Information Services, LLC, 2017 WL 6378979, at *6 (N.D.Ga., 2017), Judge May denied an FCRA defendant's Daubert challenge to a plaintiff's FCRA expert. This case arises from an alleged mix-up of consumer credit files, sale of inaccurate information to creditors, and a failure to fix the problem. Dkt. No. [1]. Plaintiff alleges these problems occurred when another person's… Read More

In Leones v. Rushmore Loan Management Services, LLC, 2017 WL 6343622, at *3 (S.D.Fla., 2017), Judge Dimitrouleas dismissed an FCRA class action because the information reported was not inaccurate in the first instance. Here, the reported information regarding Plaintiff's mortgage loan account—that it was 120 days or more delinquent and that foreclosure proceedings were initiated—was both accurate and complete. The Court… Read More

In Contreras v. Kohl's Department Stores, Inc., 2017 WL 6372646, at *3 (C.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Kato denied production of settlement agreements amongst FCRA co-defendants. Defendant argues the settlement agreements are necessary to determine (a) “whether Plaintiff has been fully compensated for his alleged injuries,” and (b) “the reasonableness of an attorney fee award should Plaintiff prevail on his claims.” JS at… Read More

In Kunwar v. Capital One, N.A., 2017 WL 5991864, at *3–6 (N.D.Cal., 2017), Judge Koh allowed an FCRA claim past the pleading stage based on the argument that reporting a debt that was "cancelled" by issuance of a 1099-C rendered the reporting inaccurate. Plaintiff's complaint alleges that Defendant reported an unpaid balance in Plaintiff's account with Defendant to the CRAs,… Read More

In Paul Gugger, Plaintiff, v. USAA Federal Savings Bank, Defendant., 2017 WL 5552254, at *2–4 (S.D.Cal., 2017), the District Court denied a motion to dismiss a credit reporting complaint premised on the theory that a 1099-C discharged a debt, making reporting of the balance of the debt inaccurate. The Internal Revenue Code requires a creditor discharging indebtedness to file an “information… Read More

In Rodriquez v. Your First Choice, LLC d/b/a/ First Choice Payday Loan, 2017 WL 4855406, at *3 (D.Nev., 2017), Judge Gordon denied a creditor's motion for summary judgment based on a triable issue of fact as to whether the creditor had a permissible purpose to pull a consumer's credit report. Section 1681b(a) of FCRA states that in general, “any consumer… Read More

In Daugherty v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, 2017 WL 3172422, (4th Cir. July 24, 2017), the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the jury's finding of improper reinvestigation and willfulness against a furnisher, but found the punitive damages award to be constitutionally excessive. We must affirm the district court's judgment regarding Ocwen's liability for willful misconduct if there was sufficient… Read More

Scott Hyman, Don Cram, and Bernie Kornberg published an article in the Conference on Consumer Finance Law Quarterly entitled Hyman, Cram, & Kornberg, The Intersection of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Federal Consumer Bankruptcy Laws, 70 Conf. Con. Fin. L. Q 113 (Summer 2017). A copy of the article can be found here. Read More

In Mamisay, et. al. v. TD Bank USA, et. al., 2017 WL 3387476, at *3–4 (N.D.Cal. Aug. 7, 2017), Judge Gonzalez-Rogers dismissed some claims but allowed some to proceed under the FCRA. As analyzed in the Court's prior ruling, the reporting of balances due, or past due, does not constitute an “actual inaccuracy” simply because a bankruptcy proceeding is pending. Biggs… Read More

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… Read More

In Vandonzel v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, et. al., No. 17-CV-01819-LHK, 2017 WL 3267571 (N.D. Cal., July 31, 2017), Judge Koh denied a furnisher's FRCP 12b6 Motion in an FCRA case. However, Gorman does not support Chase’s argument that an investigation of disputed information is narrowly limited to the exact wording of the dispute letter. In Gorman, the Ninth Circuit… Read More