Furnisher Reinvestigation

The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued the Sessa decision last week: Sessa v. TRANS UNION, LLC, Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 2023.   This line of cases, following the 9th Circuit’s Gross decision, continues to wrestle with the distinction between a legal and factual dispute under the FCRA, which is also complicated by evolving standards applicable to furnishers… Read More

In Scarbo v. Wisdom Fin., No. 22-1398, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 31020, at *9 (3d Cir. Nov. 9, 2022), the Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit held that a furnisher conducted a reasonable investigation as a matter of law. We conclude that the District Court properly granted summary judgment in favor of LVNV and Great Lakes on Scarbo's claims… Read More

In Miller v. Westlake Servs. LLC, No. 8:21-cv-00692-JLS-KES, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 197076, at *21-30 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 28, 2022), Judge Staton granted partial summary judgment to an FCRA Plaintiff who claimed that she was a victim of identity theft. First, the Court declines Plaintiff's invitation to rule that "solely engaging in data conformity" renders a furnisher's investigation per se… Read More

In Gross v. Citimortgage (9th Cir. 2022) -- FCRA decision, No. 20-17160, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 13096, at *8 (9th Cir. May 16, 2022), the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that under the FCRA, a furnisher of credit information must make a reasonable investigation if the consumer about whom it furnishes information to a credit reporting bureau… Read More

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has long held that as part of their investigation obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumer reporting agencies (“CRAs”) are not required to assess the merits of a legal defense to a payment obligation being reported on a consumer credit report. Carvalho v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, 629 F.3d 876, 891… Read More

In  Bruce v. Am. Honda Fin. Corp., No. 3:20-cv-00128-ECM, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107187, at *9 (M.D. Ala. June 8, 2021), Judge Marks ruled against a FCRA Plaintiff on the claim that identification of the amount monthly payment on a closed, zero-balanced account is "inaccurate" and suggests to users that the account is open. Now pending before the Court is… 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 LEXIS 36064 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2020), an unpublished decision, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found against an FCRA Plaintiff.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 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

In Marna Paintsil Anning v. Capital One Auto Fin., No. 19-cv-01686-KAW, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128039, at *8-9 (N.D. Cal. July 31, 2019) , Judge Westmore said that an FCRA Plaintiff can get past the pleadings on an FCRA Re-investigation claim where the Plaintiff can allege specific inaccuracies with  reporting, no response from regarding the dispute, and that the credit… Read More

In Sanchez v. U.S. Bank Nat'l Ass'n, No. 8:18-cv-00500-JLS-KS, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108692 (C.D. Cal. June 27, 2019), Judge Staton denied an FCRA/CCRAA Plaintiff’s MSJ that proceeded on the claim that the Plaintiff’s father allegedly falsely took out credit on Plaintiff’s behalf.  The facts were as follows: On August 22, 2015, an individual whom Plaintiff claims is his father,… Read More

In Bondi v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC., 2018 WL 5291221 (C.A.9 (Nev.), 2018), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in an unpublished decision found that no FCRA claim would lie for a direct dispute with the Furnisher and, even if one did, the Furnisher did not unreasonably investigate the dispute simply because it reached a conclusion adverse to the consumer.… Read More

In Heard v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, 2018 WL 4028116 (N.D. Ala. August 23, 2018), Judge Haikala found that a mortgage company’s dialer was an ATDS under the TCPA. Nationstar argues that its system is not an automatic dialer because it does not “store” caller information. That information, Nationstar argues, is located on a separate “host system.” (Doc. 51, p. 6). But… Read More

In Caseman v. Silver Schools Credit Union, 2018 WL 3620484, at *5 (D.Nev., 2018), Judge Boulware granted summary judgment to a furnisher who submitted corrections to a consumer's account information to a CRA, but where the CRA did not make the change because it did not comply with the CRA's internal formatting. The Court finds that Silver State acted reasonably and… Read More

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 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 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 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 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 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