Last week, the decision in the Spokeo case influenced a California court’s decision to certify a class in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case. The class of applicants who claim that S2Verify, a background check company, unlawfully included criminal information in their reports, includes approximately 4,500 individuals who were subject to S2Verify reports from
Win for businesses—for now: Supreme Court rules in favor of Spokeo in FCRA litigation
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Spokeo Inc. v. Robins, marking a win for businesses—for now.
In a prior post, we discussed Spokeo, Inc.’s (Spokeo) request to the Supreme Court to overturn the February 2014 ruling from the Ninth Circuit that revived the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)…
Credit Protection Association settles FCRA violations for $72,000
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
A debt collection agency, Credit Protection Association (CPA), settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week for its violations of the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA) for $72,000. In the FTC’s complaint, the FTC said that CPA failed to follow the Furnisher’s Rule of the FCRA by not having policies and procedures in place…
FTC issues new FCRA guidance for employment background screening companies
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued new guidance for employment background screening companies containing information on how to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). One of the key elements of this new guidance is information related to when a company’s work defines them as a ‘consumer reporting agency’ under the FCRA. This guidance…
Pennsylvania Transit sued for Fair Credit Reporting Act violation
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
Last week, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) was hit with a class action alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) for not sufficiently notifying job applicants of its use of credit checks, as well as violations of the Pennsylvania Criminal History Record Information Act by discriminating against applicants convicted of drug felonies.…
FCRA claims against CoreLogic are here to stay, for now
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
The alleged Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) violations against CoreLogic National Background Data LLC (CoreLogic) won’t be going away. A Virginia federal court ruled that CoreLogic’s business does indeed fall under the FCRA, stating, “The undisputed documentary evidence from [CoreLogic] establishes that, in practice, [CoreLogic] has freely recognized that the background checks that it provides…
Dave & Buster’s faces FCRA class action for alleged background check violations
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
Joseph Alvarez filed a class action against Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain earlier this year in Florida alleging that it used background checks for employment decisions without providing a copy of the report to the applicants in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Alvarez applied for a job as a line cook at…
U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo v. Robins case will make waves in consumer class actions –one way or another
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Enforcement + Litigation
Back in early November of last year, Spokeo, Inc. (Spokeo) argued before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn a February 2014 ruling from the Ninth Circuit that revived the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) lawsuit filed against Spokeo by Thomas Robins. Robins alleges that Spokeo violated the FCRA by falsely reporting his financial, marital…
Background check companies to pay $13 million for FCRA violations
By Kathryn Rattigan on
Posted in Data Privacy, Enforcement + Litigation
General Information Services (GIS) and e-Background-checks.com Inc. (e-Background) agreed to pay $13 million in restitution and fines to settle their violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) charged by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB charged GIS and e-Background with failure to ensure that the background checks they produced to potential employers…
NAIC cybersecurity task force adopts Cybersecurity Bill of Rights for insurance consumers
By Benjamin Jensen on
Posted in Cybersecurity
On October 14, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Cybersecurity (EX) Task Force released an updated draft of its Cybersecurity Bill of Rights. The bill, which updates a prior draft published for comment in July 2015, details certain rights of insurance consumers in connection with protection of personal information and responses to data breaches…