Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C., Files Class Action Lawsuit Against International Consumer Reporting Agency for Misreporting Individuals as Terrorists

Background Check Issues, Cases & Complaints No Comments

Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C., recently filed a federal consumer class action lawsuit against RealPage, Inc., an international consumer reporting agency that provides tenant reports to the real estate industry, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

The lawsuit alleges that RealPage, which operates its business through its “On-Site” and “LeasingDesk” divisions, improperly associated innocent consumers with terrorists, narcotics traffickers, money launderers, arms dealers, and other criminals subject to government sanctions in violation of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and the New York Fair Credit Reporting Act.

In the spring of 2020, our client, the plaintiff in the case, was looking to move to a new apartment in the Rochester, New York area. In or around March 2020, he applied to rent an apartment from the Villas of Victor apartment complex. In connection with his rental application, the complex requested a consumer report about him from RealPage.

RealPage produced a consumer report about our client using its standardized procedures. In doing so, it incorrectly matched him to an individual under the “Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) Search” portion of the report, essentially misrepresenting him as a terrorist. SDNs are people prohibited from transacting business in the United States for national security reasons.

Our client was misidentified as a Ukrainian individual named Alexey Milchakov, a known terrorist who can be found on the publicly available Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions (CCAS) List with the alias of “Fritz.” Although neither Milchakov nor anyone using the name or alias “Fritz” appears on the OFAC list, RealPage matched our client to the CCAS List entry for Milchakov using only the name “Fritz,” which is the last name of our client.

Villas of Victor denied our client’s rental application based on this information in his tenant report.

Our client disputed the accuracy of his name appearing in this section of the report, stating that the record did not belong to him. Despite being on notice from our client of its error, RealPage once again produced the same incorrect tenant report result when our client applied to a different apartment complex called Auburn Creek Apartments, resulting in another application denial.

“RealPage’s matching procedure is appalling,” said Jim Francis, a partner at Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C., and one of the lead attorneys on the case. “RealPage had so much information available to it from which to get our client’s tenant report right and yet it just disregarded that information—presumably because it wanted to sell more reports faster. RealPage defamed our client and caused him to be repeatedly denied rental opportunities because of its inaccurate and incomplete reporting techniques.”

Our client’s complaint alleges that RealPage violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the New York Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of the terrorist watch list information it sells about consumers. As a result, the complaint contends RealPage regularly makes inaccurate associations between innocent citizens and criminals on international sanctions lists. It also alleges that, using only a name, RealPage relies upon wholly inadequate matching processes to supply its consumer reports to its clients.

“This lawsuit brings to light a concerning and timely issue that is extremely distressing to its victims,” said John Soumilas, another partner at Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C., and the other lead attorney for the case. “Flagrant disregard for proper reporting processes and the misinformation it creates should not be tolerated. We will not stop until RealPage changes what we allege are harmful, reckless, and grossly negligent policies and procedures.”

As the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit, our client seeks to represent:

  1. all natural persons residing in the United States and its Territories about whom RealPage sold a consumer report to a third party that included any sanctions list record, during the period beginning five (5) years prior to the filing of the complaint and continuing through the date of the resolution of his case;
  2. all natural persons residing in the United States and its territories about whom RealPage sold a consumer report to a third party that included a CCAS List record on the report which appeared under a heading referencing only the OFAC List, during the period beginning five (5) years prior to the filing of the complaint and continuing through the date of the resolution of his case;
  3. all natural persons residing in the State of New York about whom RealPage sold a consumer report to a third party that included any sanctions list record, during the period beginning five (5) years prior to the filing of the complaint and continuing through the date of the resolution of his case; and
  4. all natural persons residing in the State of New York about whom RealPage sold a consumer report to a third party that included a CCAS List record on the report which appeared under a heading referencing only the OFAC List, during the period beginning five (5) years prior to the filing of the complaint and continuing through the date of the resolution of his case.

If you received a tenant report containing an inaccurate terrorist or government watchlist alert for you, you may be able to recover damages against the consumer reporting agency that created the report. Click here or call 215-735-8600 to schedule a free case review with a representative of Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. Located in Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco, we serve clients nationwide.