Schweitzer v. Equifax Information Solutions LLC

Summarized by Richard Corbi , Otterbourg P.C.
14 years 6 months ago

Citation:

Case No. 10-4137 (Aug. 10, 2011 3d Cir.) (Not Precedential)

Tag(s):

3rd Circuit

Ruling:

The Third Circuit issued several rulings. First, it held that Mr. Schweitzer did not a establish a claim for negligent noncompliance under FCRA, with the exception of the Americredit account. In order to establish a prima facie violation of negligent noncompliance, FCRA requires that the consumer must present evidence tending to show that a credit reporting agency prepared a report with "inaccurate" information; meaning that it is misleading in such a away that it can be expected to have an adverse effect. Therefore, a consumer report that contains technically accurate information may be deemed inaccurate if the statement is presented in such a way that it creates a misleading impression. Here, most of the accounts were reported accurately, with the exception of the Americredit account. The District Court erred in holding that the Americredit account was report was not inaccurate. Mr. Schweitzer provided Equifax with the details concerning his chapter 11 proceedings, alleged that no other bankruptcies were associated with his name and noted that the account was not discharged in his chapter 11. Nevertheless, two subsequent credit reports identified the loan as being in bankruptcy. Thus, the Third Circuit held that that there was negligent noncompliance pursuant to FCRA regarding the Americredit account. In addition, there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the reinvestigation conducted by Equifax was reasonable under FCRA. Also, the Third Circuit held that there was no violation of FCRA where Equifax reinserted into Mr. Schweitzer's credit report inaccurate information that had been deleted following a reinvestigation. Finally, the Third Circuit held that there there were was no cause of action for negligent misrepresentation against Equifax because Mr. Schweitzer was not the one who acted in justifiable reliance on the alleged misrepresentation.

Procedural context:

Plaintiff Schweitzer appealed the district court's granting of summary judgment to Equifax on a assertions of violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and state law claims. The district court held that certain claims were barred to the extent that they arose prior to January 2, 2007, the date Mr. Schweitzer's wife settled those claims in state court.

Facts:

In March 2008, Mr. Schweitzer and his wife filed a state court lawsuit against Equifax, a credit reporting agency, for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting ("FCRA") claiming they consumer loans because their credit reports contained false and misleading information. Equifax issued credit reports to Mr. Shcweitzer on November 6, 2006, November 27, 2006, March 21, 2007, and October 17, 2007 regarding 6 accounts. First, Mr. Schweitzer wrote Equifax a letter stating that a tax lien had been released, to which Equifax replied that the release remains on file for 7 years. Mr. Schweitzer also reported that two Americredit loan accounts were inaccurate because one was related to his car and the other was related to this daughter's car. Equifax still reported that one of the accounts belonged to him and was part of a chapter 7 bankruptcy. Mr. Schweitzer sued Americredit, forcing it to notify Equifax to cease reporting the two separate accounts. In addition, Mr. Schweitzer wrote Equifax regarding the EMC Mortgage account and that it had been paid in full. Equifax responded that the adverse accounts paid in full will be deleted in 7 years. Mr. Schweitzer also wrote Equifax regarding an account with First Premiere that was a revolving account and had been paid and closed. No evidence was presented regarding the Duquesne Light and Power account and the S&T Bank Account and therefore, summary judgment was affirmed regarding those accounts

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