On January 18, a United States magistrate judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania opined that a plaintiff has standing under Spokeo to pursue his Fair Credit Reporting Act class action complaint in federal court.  

In Miller v. Trans Union LLC, plaintiff Ronald J. Miller alleges that Trans Union violated section 1681g(a) of the FCRA when it provided him with a misleading and confusing online personal credit report that failed to clearly and accurately disclose all information in his file.  Specifically, Miller claims that Trans Union provided him with a report that could be read to suggest that his name came up as a possible match on a list of terrorists, drug traffickers, money launderers, and other enemies of the state maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). 

The Court stayed the action pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo.  After the Supreme Court issued its ruling, the parties were invited to submit briefing on “the impact, if any, of the Spokeo decision on plaintiff’s motion for class certification.”  Chief Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson ultimately concluded that “the claims allege particularized and concrete harms stemming from the issuance of an OFAC list notice that is arguably both confusing and misleading.”  He went on to hold that Miller’s claims present an alleged “informational injury of the type that Congress sought to proscribe in enacting the FCRA.”  Judge Carlson recommended that the District Court find that Miller has standing to bring the FCRA claims alleged. 

We will continue to monitor this case for the district court’s decision.