Thompson v. Equifax

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California grants Equifax’s motion to dismiss Kenan Thompson’s Fair Credit Reporting Act claims, with leave to amend. The court finds that some alleged inaccuracies and actual damages were adequately pleaded, but the allegations concerning credit utilization, the reasonableness of Equifax’s procedures, and willfulness were insufficiently detailed.

Holdings

1. Thompson adequately alleged inaccuracies based on Equifax's reporting of three paid accounts as charged off and two individual Discover accounts as authorized-user accounts.
2. Thompson failed to state a claim based on credit-utilization data because he did not explain what Equifax reported, why it was inaccurate, or why it was misleading.
3. Thompson did not adequately allege that Equifax's procedures for assuring accuracy or reinvestigating disputed information were unreasonable.
4. Thompson sufficiently alleged actual damages by alleging credit denials, emotional distress, injury to creditworthiness, and mental distress.
5. Thompson did not allege sufficient facts to infer that Equifax willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Thompson adequately alleged inaccurate credit reporting concerning charged-off accounts and the status of Discover accounts.
2. Whether Thompson adequately alleged inaccurate credit-utilization reporting.
3. Whether Thompson adequately alleged that Equifax failed to use reasonable procedures to assure accuracy or conduct a reasonable reinvestigation.
4. Whether Thompson adequately alleged actual damages.
5. Whether Thompson adequately alleged a willful violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Disposition

other