FCRA -- 15 U.S.C. § 1681

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 LEXIS 36064 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2020), an unpublished decision, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found against an FCRA Plaintiff.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