Chester v. Purvis

260 F. Supp. 2d 711, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7812, 2003 WL 21038943
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedMarch 26, 2003
DocketIP 01-1560-CBS
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 260 F. Supp. 2d 711 (Chester v. Purvis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chester v. Purvis, 260 F. Supp. 2d 711, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7812, 2003 WL 21038943 (S.D. Ind. 2003).

Opinion

ENTRY ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

BARKER, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This is an action against an attorney for allegedly misusing a credit report during the deposition of the plaintiff. This case is collateral to a putative class action, Hill v. Priority Financial Services, Inc., IP981319-C B/S, a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case. The plaintiff here was (until he withdrew) a named representative of the class, and the defendant, attorney Gregory Purvis, was counsel for Priority Financial Services, Inc. (hereafter PFS). Mr. Chester’s complaint alleges that, during the course of discovery in Hill v. PFS, Mr. Purvis deposed Mr. Chester. During the deposition, Mr. Purvis allegedly used a credit report involving Mr. Chester’s credit history to form questions to Mr. Chester. Mr. Chester alleges that Mr. Purvis’ use of the credit report violated Mr. Chester’s statutorily protected confidentiality pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681(b)(a) and (f).

Mr. Purvis seeks summary judgment as to Mr. Chester’s claim. Mr. Chester, in turn, asks us to construe his written submissions as both an opposition to Mr. Purvis’ motion and as a cross-motion for summary judgment. For the reasons explained below, we DENY Mr. Purvis’ motion for summary judgment. In addition, we note that we are prepared to enter summary judgment in favor of Mr. Chester on the record as it stands. Before entering summary judgment in favor of Mr. Chester, we offer Mr. Purvis an opportunity to respond and thus order Mr. Purvis to file a response, if he wishes, to Mr. Chester’s motion for summary judgment within thirty days after the date of this order.

II. Statement of Facts

The material facts are uncontested. Mr. Chester was named as a representative of a putative class of plaintiffs in Hill v. PFS. Mr. Purvis represented PFS in that lawsuit. During discovery, Mr. Purvis took Mr. Chester’s deposition. Mr. Purvis testified that among the purposes for depos *715 ing Mr. Chester was to test his adequacy as a class representative, to test his potential effectiveness as a witness, to test his memory, and to determine his ability to pay certain costs, or, as Mr. Purvis testified, to test Mr. Chester’s “financial condition generally.” Purvis Dep., p. 68. In the course of deposing Mr. Chester, Mr. Purvis asked some questions concerning Mr. Chester’s status as a debtor. Mr. Chester displayed an apparent lapse of memory with respect to collection actions that may have been filed against him.

Ms. Rebecca Pollard, PFS’s Vice President, attended Mr. Chester’s deposition as a company representative. In response to Mr. Chester’s apparent failure of memory with respect to his credit record, Ms. Pollard showed Mr. Chester’s credit report to Mr. Purvis; she “pointed out different items” on the report to Mr. Purvis. Purvis Dep., pp. 74-75. Mr. Purvis acknowledges that, during the deposition, he may have held the credit report in his own hands. Purvis Dep., p. 85. He also acknowledges that questions which he posed to Mr. Chester about Mr. Chester’s credit history may have been based solely on the credit report supplied by Ms. Pollard because there may not have been a public record on which to base those questions. Purvis Dep., pp. 76-80, 85.

In sum, Mr. Purvis acknowledges that he used some of the information he gathered from Mr. Chester’s credit report to formulate questions during Mr. Chester’s deposition. During Mr. Purvis’ deposition in the current action, he was asked the following questions and answered as follows:

Q: Is this an accurate statement, that you read the, or you read part of or some parts of Mr. Chester’s consumer report on November 9th of '99?
A: Yes.
Q: You used some of the information that you obtained from reading this consumer report to aid you in formulating certain questions of Mr. Chester?
A: Yes.

Purvis Dep., pp. 98-99.

III. Discussion

A. The Standard on Summary Judgment

We are asked to decide what are essentially cross motions for summary judgment. In doing so, we may grant one party summary judgment (as to all or a part) or deny both parties’ motions. In any event, the standard for determining summary judgment is the same, even where only one party has moved for it.

Summary judgment is appropriate if “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). A genuine issue of material fact exists if there is sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to return a verdict in favor of the non-moving party on the particular issue. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Eiland v. Trinity Hosp., 150 F.3d 747, 750 (7th Cir.1998).

On a motion for summary judgment, the burden rests on the moving party to demonstrate “that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). After the moving party demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue for trial, the responsibility shifts to the nonmovant to “go beyond the pleadings” and point to evidence of a genuine factual dispute precluding summary judgment. Id. at 322-23, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 *716 L.Ed.2d 265. “If the non-movant does not come forward with evidence that would reasonably permit the finder of fact to find in her favor on a material question, then the court must enter summary judgment against her.” Waldridge v. American Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918, 920 (7th Cir. 1994) (citing Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 585-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265; Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202).

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260 F. Supp. 2d 711, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7812, 2003 WL 21038943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chester-v-purvis-insd-2003.