On January 20, the Third Circuit in In re Horizon Healthcare Services Data Breach Litigation reversed a district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit under the Fair Credit Reporting Act involving a data breach at Horizon Healthcare. The Third Circuit held that the plaintiffs had standing to pursue their claims under the FCRA without any accompanying
Credit Reporting + Data Brokers
Ninth Circuit Agrees to Remand Action to State Court Based on Spokeo
The Ninth Circuit in Medellin v. IKEA U.S. West Inc. recently remanded a plaintiff’s appeal to the district court with instructions to dismiss the case after the plaintiff admitted that she lacked Article III standing to proceed in federal court.
As background, Rita Medellin’s class action complaint alleged that IKEA violated the Song-Beverly Credit Card …
Plaintiff Has Standing in FCRA Class Action Suit, Says Pennsylvania Magistrate Judge
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 …
Federal Court Grants Temporary Injunction to FTC Over Credit Bureau Center’s Allegedly Fraudulent Practices
On January 10, the FTC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Credit Bureau Center LLC and three individuals for allegedly luring consumers into signing up for credit monitoring services using fake rental property ads and offers of free credit reports.
The complaint alleged that all the…
District Court Finds That “Complete and Up to Date” Requirement of FCRA § 1681K Does Not Include an Accuracy Component
A consumer reporting agency complies with § 1681k(a)(2) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) if it “maintain[s] strict procedures designed to insure that whenever public record information which is likely to have an adverse effect on a consumer’s ability to obtain employment is reported it is complete and up to date.” In Kelly v. …
Arkansas AG Files Suit Against Credit Repair Organization
On December 20, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a consumer protection lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas against Florida-based Capital Credit Solutions Inc. and Willie J. McKenzie for alleged violations of the Federal Credit Repair Organization Act, the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and the Arkansas Credit …
OPM Issues Final Rule on Inquiring into Job Applicants’ Criminal History and Credit Information
Effective January 3, 2017, the Office of Personnel Management will require that, unless an exception has been granted, federal hiring agencies cannot inquire into an applicant’s criminal history or adverse credit information until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. This federal initiative is consistent with, and provides a timely reminder of, the …
CFPB Signals Intent to Move Forward With System Allowing Consumers to Rate Companies’ Responses to Complaints
According to a Federal Register notice published on November 29, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is soliciting further comments on its proposal to provide consumers with the option to fill out a short survey on their satisfaction with companies’ resolution of consumer complaints. In the notice, the CFPB described the proposal:
The purpose of this…
Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment Filed in Costco FCRA Class Action
As we previously reported, the named plaintiff in Paci v. Costco Wholesale Corporation filed a Fair Credit Reporting Act putative class action against Costco alleging that the retailer’s receipts contained more digits of the payment card’s account number than is permitted under the Act.
The parties recently filed cross-motions for summary judgment. Costco argued …
FCRA Lawsuits Increase in 2016
While the number of lawsuits filed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act remained relatively steady or fell, claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act rose sharply between October 2015 and October 2016. The total number of FCRA lawsuits increased from 283 to 355 – a 25.4 percent increase.…