The Western District of Texas recently considered an issue that’s led multiple circuits in different—and contradictory—directions: does the Fair Credit Reporting Act waive the United States’ sovereign immunity? The plaintiff in Thurston v. Equifax Info. Servs., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 203511, argued just that.
The plaintiff in this dispute held an account with the
The latest entry in a nearly decade-long dispute between a plaintiff and his former employer and manager, Mattiaccio v. DHA Grp., Inc., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129464 (D.D.C. July 21, 2020) is an in-depth analysis of standing under the FCRA in the face of unclear pleading by a pro se litigant.
The Mattiaccio plaintiff
In Ostreicher v. TransUnion, LLC, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109279 (S.D.N.Y.), the plaintiff filed suit in federal court claiming that a variety of defendants, including a credit reporting agency (“CRA”) and various furnishers, inaccurately reported certain information. One of the furnishers moved to compel arbitration based on the cardmember agreement governing the relationship between
In Frank v. Autovest, LLC, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 18082 (9th Cir. June 9, 2020), the Ninth Circuit addressed a thorny standing issue under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”): does a consumer who alleges harm from a technical violation of the FDCPA have standing to continue her suit when her deposition testimony shows
Standing to bring suit is an issue that is never waived and never goes away, regardless of the parties’ arguments. Recently, the Ninth Circuit reviewed an appeal of an FCRA claim that had gone through discovery, summary judgment, and a fully briefed appeal. It determined that the parties and the lower court had focused on
In Stewart v. Credit Control, LLC, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81332, the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a pro se claim against a debt collector. The plaintiff claimed that the debt collector, who pulled the plaintiff’s credit information to facilitate collection of a debt, lacked a “permissible purpose” for obtaining his information.
In addressing
To sue, you must have standing. To have standing, you must have an actual, concrete injury. In 2011, Experian accidentally gave a lender a list of prescreened consumers. The consumer found out about this disclosure five years later, after an attorney told him about it. The consumer admitted that the disclosure didn’t affect his credit, and couldn’t dispute that he probably got (and threw away) the offer the lender would have made to that list of customers. Still, he sued, claiming that the disclosure breached his privacy and caused him emotional distress. Experian, refusing to sit on its laurels, filed a counterclaim based on the consumer’s possession of the 2011 disclosure. The district court determined that nobody had standing, and tossed the entire case. Both parties appealed.
Continue Reading No Actual Leg to Stand On: Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Consumer’s FCRA Suit and Experian’s Counterclaim for Lack of Article III Standing