In Abernathy v. Continental Service Group, Inc. d/b/a/ Conserve, et. al., 2018 WL 3370524, at *6–7 (D.Nev., 2018), Judge Gordon found that a furnisher properly re-investigated a consumer dispute, evaluating prior disputes in context as well as how much information the consumer gave in the dispute itself. Abernathy's first dispute letter to Experian stated the ConServe account was “not familiar.”… Read More
In Williams v. Nichols Demos, Inc., No. 5:17-CV-07101-EJD, 2018 WL 3046507, (N.D. Cal. 2018), the Honorable Edward Davila of the Northern District of California granted defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings and remanded the case back to state court after finding that the plaintiff lacked Article III standing pursuant to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136… Read More
In Randall v. Dish Network, LLC, 2018 WL 3235543, at *3 (E.D.N.Y., 2018), Judge Spatt dismissed an FCRA-permissible purpose case premised on identity theft. The Plaintiff has not successfully alleged that Dish negligently violated § 1681q by allowing an identity thief to open an account and perform a consumer credit check on the Plaintiff’s account. “A person cannot obtain information… Read More
In Felts v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2018 WL 3130674 (11th Cir. 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that a Bank’s reporting of a mortgage account in forbearance as ‘past due’ did not violate the FCRA. The Court of Appeals imposed a causation requirement on an FCRA re-investigation claim, namely that the (un)reasonableness of a re-investigation… Read More
In Petrou v. Navient Corporation, 2018 WL 3020160 (S.D.Cal., 2018), the District Court found that a mere claim of identity theft did not render the reporting of an account inaccurate within the context of the substantive laws governing the collection of student loans. Plaintiff alleges that his daughter, Selaina A. Petrou, in order to fund her undergraduate education, fraudulently obtained two… Read More
In Boydstun v. U.S. Bank, 2018 WL 2730729, at *1 (9th Cir. 2018), the Court of the Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment in favor of U.S. Bank in a Fair Credit Reporting Act case. On appeal, he challenges the district court’s decision to exclude as irrelevant all evidence of damages stemming from the denial of an equipment loan to… Read More
In Lowe v. MAC Credit Union, Inc., 2018 WL 2422999 (W.D. Tex. 2018), Judge Rodriquez dismissed an FCRA claim against an Alaska-based credit union whose customer had relocated to Texas due to lack of jurisdiction. The unilateral activity of a plaintiff who claims some relationship with a nonresident defendant cannot satisfy the requirement of contact with the forum state. The fact… Read More
In Shaw v. Experian Information Systems, 2018 DJDAR 4948, 2018 WL 2424105 (9th Cir. May 29, 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Experian’s reporting of Plaintiffs’ short sales during the real estate market crash between 2008 to 2012 to subscribers of credit information did not violate 15 U.S.C.§ 1681e or § 1681i of the FCRA… Read More
In Daniel v. National Park Service, 2018 WL 2424494 (9th Cir. 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit again addressed the impact of Spokeo within the context of a FACTA-receipt case. The Court found that not only must a concrete injury be pleaded, but the injury must be fairly traceable to the violation. We recently considered whether “receiving… Read More
In Delgado v. Ally Financial, et. al., 2018 WL 2128661, at *5–6 (S.D.Cal., 2018), Judge Benitez ordered an FCRA case to arbitration, rejecting the Plaintiff's argument that the bankruptcy eliminated the arbitration clause. Delgado also opposes the enforcement of the arbitration provision on the basis his bankruptcy discharge rendered the arbitration provision unenforceable. (Doc. No. 25 at 4.) This assertion,… Read More
In Dacumos v. Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, 2018 WL 2059562 (W.D.Wash., 2018), Judge Martinez dismissed a credit reporting claim against an automobile finance company deriving from an earlier settlement where the company allegedly agreed not to collect further on the Account. Plaintiff also contends that TMCC breached Paragraph 2.b. of the Agreement by reporting Plaintiff’s loan balance as $13,593.00 instead of… Read More
In Kozlowski v. Bank of America, 2018 WL 2096381 (E.D.Cal.), 4 (E.D.Cal., 2018), the District Court found that the Plaintiff failed to allege an FCRA claim against a furnished. Plaintiff fails, however, to adequately allege the second and third elements of a claim under § 1681s-2(b). Plaintiff does not allege in her complaint that a consumer reporting agency notified the furnisher—here, BANA—of… Read More
In Gadomski v. Equifax Information Services, Inc., 2018 WL 2096862, at *4–6 (E.D.Cal., 2018), the District Court found that no willful violation of the CRA could lie absent prior notice that the information was inaccurate or that the information came from an unreliable source. Here, Defendant does not dispute that the information reported on Plaintiff’s credit report was inaccurate. (See ECF… Read More
In Evans v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, 2018 WL 2035315, at *5–7 (C.A.7 (Ill.), 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a debt collector violates the FDCPA when the debt collector receives an (untimely) dispute from a debtor in response to a 30-day validation letter and thereafter reports the account to a consumer reporting agency without reporting… Read More
In Robinson v. National Credit Systems, Inc., 2018 WL 1877462 (M.D.Fla.), 4 (M.D.Fla., 2018), the District Court struck a number of affirmative defenses as not resembling actual defenses, but let stand an affirmative defense to an FCRA claim derived from common law negligence. In its fifth affirmative defense, National argues, “any damages suffered by the Plaintiff[s] should be apportioned in… Read More
In Escobar v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency Services, Inc., 2018 WL 1740364 (E.D. Pa. 2018), Judge Padova found that a furnisher can almost never close its books on a stale FCRA claim. First, Judge Padova found that a consumer can renew a stale FCRA claim merely by filing a new dispute with the CRAs. PHEAA recognizes that, while the United… Read More
In Florence v. Cenlar Federal Savings & Loan, 2018 WL 1145804, at *5–7 (D.Nev., 2018), Judge Navarro held that a mortgage debt was accurately reported through and after Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings. As a court stated in this District, “[t]he [c]ourt was unaware of any statute or case providing that discharge in bankruptcy makes a debt unreportable as opposed to uncollectable.”… Read More
In Stewart v. Equifax Information Systems, LLC, et.al., 2018 WL 1138286, at *13–14 (D.Kan., 2018), Judge Crabtree denied summary judgment to an FCRA plaintiff and granted summary judgment to a furnisher arising out of the furnisher's providing information about a credit card account that the Plaintiff's ex-husband took out without her consent. The Court offers an interesting discussion of how… Read More
In Lee v. Professional Recovery Systems, Inc., 2018 WL 1008432, at *3–6 (Cal.App. 1 Dist., 2018), the Court of Appeal held in an unpublished decision that the FCRA preempts the Rosenthal Act. Defendants contend this claim [violation of section 1788.17 --Ed.] is preempted by title 15 of the United States Code, section 1681t (governing credit reporting). . . . The violations plaintiff alleges… Read More
In Bassett v. ABM Parking Services, Inc., 2018 WL 987954, at *5–6 (C.A.9 (Wash.), 2018), the 9th Circuit found no Spokeo standing for a bald FACTA violation. Bassett's argument that Congress “created a substantive right that is invaded by a statutory violation” is unconvincing because it depends entirely on the framing of the right. One could fairly characterize the “right”… Read More
