Sherman Ballard v. Equifax Information Services, LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida denied Equifax Information Services, LLC’s motion to dismiss a Fair Credit Reporting Act claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)(1). The court held that, even accepting Equifax’s interpretation of the consumer-file disclosure requirement, the plaintiff sufficiently alleged that the omitted or incomplete information was included in credit reports. The court ordered Equifax to answer the complaint and required the parties to file a joint scheduling report.

Holdings

1. The complaint stated a claim because Ballard alleged that the information missing or incomplete in the file Equifax provided was included in Equifax's reports to third parties.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the complaint plausibly stated a claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)(1) based on allegations that Equifax failed to disclose full account numbers, account information, and payment history in Ballard's consumer file.
2. Whether the court should dismiss the complaint on the ground that the information required to be disclosed under § 1681g(a)(1) is limited to information that would appear in a consumer report.

Disposition

other