New Jersey Complaint Against Experian for Mixing Consumer’s Credit Report and Reporting False Accounts

Uncategorized No Comments

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

 

                                                                                   

Plaintiff  “B”

                                                                                             

                        Plaintiff,                                            Civil Action No.

            vs.                                                                                                     

                                                                                              COMPLAINT

EXPERIAN  INFORMATION

SOLUTIONS, Inc.                                                              JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

 

                                    Defendant.                                       NON-ARBITRATION

                                                                                    

                                                                             

UPreliminary Statement

 

  1. This is an action for damages brought by an individual consumer, against Experian Information Solutions, Inc., for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (hereinafter the “FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681, et seq.

The Parties

 

  1. Plaintiff  is an adult individual residing in TX.
  2. Defendant, Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (hereafter “Experian”) is a business entity that regularly conducts business in the State of New Jersey, and which has a principal place of business located at 5 Century Drive, Parsippany, New Jersey 07054.

JURISDICTION & Venue

 

  1. Jurisdiction of this Court arises under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p and 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and supplemental jurisdiction exists for the state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367.
  2. Venue lies properly in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b).

Factual Allegations

 

  1. Defendant has been reporting derogatory and inaccurate statements and information relating to Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s credit history to third parties (hereafter the “inaccurate information”).
  2. The inaccurate information includes, but is not limited to, a public record bankruptcy, accounts with Bank of America, Bank United, Blair Corporation, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, GE Capital, Kohls, WFNNB and personal information.
  3. The inaccurate information negatively reflects upon Plaintiff, Plaintiff’s credit repayment history, Plaintiff’s financial responsibility as a debtor and Plaintiff’s credit worthiness. The inaccurate information consists of accounts and/or tradelines that do not belong to the Plaintiff. Due to Defendant’s faulty procedures, Defendants mixed the credit file of Plaintiff and that of another consumer with respect to the inaccurate information and other personal identifying information.
  4. Defendant has been reporting the inaccurate information through the issuance of false and inaccurate credit information and consumer credit reports that it has disseminated to various persons and credit grantors, both known and unknown.
  5. Plaintiff has disputed the inaccurate information with Defendant by both oral and written communications to its representatives and by following Experian’s established procedures for disputing consumer credit information.
  6. Plaintiff has disputed the inaccurate information with Experian from May 2011 through the present.
  7. Notwithstanding Plaintiff’s efforts, Experian has sent Plaintiff correspondence indicating their intent to continue publishing the inaccurate information and Experian continues to publish and disseminate such inaccurate information to other third parties, persons, entities and credit grantors.  Experian has repeatedly published and disseminated consumer reports to such third parties from at least May 2011 through the present.
  8. Despite Plaintiff’s efforts, Experian has never:  (1) contacted Plaintiff to follow up on, verify and/or elicit more specific information about Plaintiff’s disputes; (2) contacted any third parties that would have relevant information concerning Plaintiff’s disputes; (3) forwarded any relevant information concerning Plaintiff’s disputes to the entities originally furnishing the inaccurate information; (4) requested or obtained any credit applications, or other relevant documents from the entities furnishing the inaccurate information; and (5) performed any handwriting analysis.
  9. Despite Plaintiff’s exhaustive efforts to date, Defendant has nonetheless deliberately, willfully, intentionally, recklessly and negligently repeatedly failed to perform reasonable reinvestigations of the above disputes as required by the FCRA, have failed to remove the inaccurate information, have failed to report on the results of its reinvestigations to all credit reporting agencies, have failed to note the disputed status of the inaccurate information and have continued to report the derogatory inaccurate information about the Plaintiff.
  10. As of result of Defendant’s conduct, Plaintiff has suffered actual damages in the form of lost credit opportunities, harm to credit reputation and credit score, and emotional distress.
  11. At all times pertinent hereto, Defendant was acting by and through its agents, servants and/or employees who were acting within the course and scope of their agency or employment, and under the direct supervision and control of the Defendant herein.

17.       At all times pertinent hereto, the conduct of the Defendant, as well as that of its agents, servants and/or employees, was malicious, intentional, willful, reckless, and in grossly negligent disregard for federal and state laws and the rights of the Plaintiff herein.

 

COUNT I – EXPERIAN

VIOLATIONS OF THE FCRA

 

  1. Plaintiff incorporates the foregoing paragraphs as though the same were set forth at length herein.
  2. At all times pertinent hereto, Experian was a “persons” and a “consumer reporting agency” as those terms are defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(b) and (f).
  3. At all times pertinent hereto, Plaintiff was a “consumer” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(c).
  4. At all times pertinent hereto, the above-mentioned credit reports were “consumer reports” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(d).
  5. Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1681n and 15 U.S.C. §1681o, Experian is liable to the Plaintiff for willfully and negligently failing to comply with the requirements imposed on a consumer reporting agency of information pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681e and 1681i.
  6. The conduct of Experian was a direct and proximate cause, as well as a substantial factor, in bringing about the serious injuries, actual damages and harm to Plaintiff that are outlined more fully above and, as a result, Experian is liable to Plaintiff for the full amount of statutory, actual and punitive damages, along with the attorneys’ fees and the costs of litigation, as well as such further relief, as may be permitted by law.

JURY TRIAL DEMAND

37.       Plaintiff demands trial by jury on all issues so triable.

 

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff seeks judgment in Plaintiff’s favor and damages against the Defendant, based on the following requested relief:

(a)                Actual damages;

(b)               Statutory damages;

(c)                Punitive damages;

(d)               Costs and reasonable attorney’s fees pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n, 1681o; and

(e)                Such other and further relief as may be necessary, just and proper.

DESIGNATION OF TRIAL COUNSEL

            Plaintiff hereby designates John Soumilas as trial counsel in the above-captioned matter.  Plaintiff reserves the right to amend this designation as necessary.

ARBITRATION CERTIFICATION

            I, Mark D. Mailman, counsel of record do hereby certify pursuant to Local Civil Rule 201.1(d) that relief other than monetary damages is sought and that the damages sought are in excess of $150,000.  I further certify that, to my knowledge, the within case is not the subject of any action, arbitration or administrative hearing now pending in any court.

Respectfully submitted,

FRANCIS & MAILMAN, P.C.

BY:     _/s/ Mark D. Mailman____________________

MARK D. MAILMAN, ESQUIRE

JOHN SOUMILAS, ESQUIRE

GEOFFREY H. BASKERVILLE, ESQUIRE

Land Title Building, 19th Floor

100 South Broad Street

Philadelphia, PA 19110

(215) 735-8600

Attorneys for Plaintiff