Mariana Santamaria Rivas v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland grants Experian Information Solutions, Inc.’s motion to compel arbitration in a Fair Credit Reporting Act action brought by Mariana Santamaria Rivas. The court holds that Experian established the existence of a binding arbitration agreement formed through the plaintiff’s enrollment in CreditWorks and that the declaration supporting the motion was admissible. The court stays the case pending arbitration.

Holdings

1. The declaration of CIC's Director of Product Operations was admissible because it was based on his professional experience, job responsibilities, and review of CIC's internal membership records, and it sufficiently established personal knowledge of the uniform CreditWorks enrollment process and Rivas's enrollment.
2. A valid arbitration agreement was formed because the CreditWorks enrollment page reasonably communicated the existence of the hyperlinked Terms of Use, and Rivas manifested assent by entering the enrollment information and clicking the "Create Your Account" button.
3. Experian's motion to compel arbitration was granted, and the action was stayed pending arbitration.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Experian's declaration describing the CreditWorks enrollment process and internal records constituted admissible evidence based on personal knowledge.
2. Whether the CreditWorks online enrollment process formed a valid arbitration agreement between Rivas and Experian under Maryland contract law.
3. Whether the FCRA claims fell within the scope of the arbitration agreement and required the court to compel arbitration and stay the action.

Disposition

remanded