Goode v. Lexisnexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Inc.

284 F.R.D. 238, 2012 WL 2400883
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided June 26, 2012·No. Civil Action No. 2:11-cv-2950-JD·Published·Cited by 28 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

DuBOIS, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

In this putative class action, plaintiffs allege that defendant’s system for conducting employment-related background cheeks violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act [240]*240(“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. Plaintiffs are employees who were fired by their employers, and potential employees who were denied employment, based on background checks that defendant conducted for those employers.

On March 22, 2012, the Court granted in part and denied in part defendant’s first Motion to Dismiss. Thereafter, the Court granted plaintiffs leave to amend their Class Action Complaint (“First Complaint”). Plaintiffs filed an Amended Class Action Complaint (“Amended Complaint”) on April 23, 2012, and defendant filed a second Motion to Dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 12(f) seeking dismissal of the new counts in the Amended Complaint and asking the Court to strike the class action allegations in Count I of the Amended Complaint. For the reasons stated below, the Court denies defendant’s second Motion to Dismiss.

II. BACKGROUND1

A. The “Esteem” System

Defendant operates a proprietary system called “Esteem” that “helps organizations identify applicants with [a] history of theft or fraud.” (Am. Compl. ¶ 11.) Subscribing member employers (“members”) pay a fee based on the number of their employees, and in return, defendant performs background checks on current and potential employees. (Esteem Member: Service Agreement, Am. Compl. Ex. A.) Members must also give defendant new records of theft incidents involving their own employees and customers. (Am. Compl. ¶ 16.) Members may only submit incident reports in two situations: (1) if the member referred the incident for criminal prosecution, or (2) if the employee admits guilt. (Id. ¶ 17.) If, as is alleged in this case, the employee admits guilt, the member employer includes an “admission statement” — a statement describing the incident and admitting guilt signed by the person who committed the theft — with the report. (Id. ¶ 19.)

When a member requests information about a current or potential employee, defendant searches its system for possible matches between the employee’s personal information and a record on file. (Id. ¶ 24.) If a match is found, defendant “verifies” the match by comparing the personal data from the inquiry with the incident data and the admission statement supporting the incident. (Id.) Once a match is verified, defendant classifies the employee in accordance with adjudication scores agreed upon by defendant and the member (“adjudication”). (Id. ¶ 41.) If the employee falls below a certain threshold, defendant assigns the employee a “noncompetitive” score. (Id.) Defendant then generates a “report” detailing the match and the adjudication and sends the report to the inquiring member. (Id. ¶ 27.) The admission statement is not provided as part of the report. (Id. ¶ 28.)

The FCRA requires, inter alia, that before taking any “adverse action” against an employee, the person taking such action must send the employee a copy of the report and a notice of the consumer’s rights under the FCRA. 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(3). As part of the service provided to members, defendant sends these “pre-adverse action letters” on members’ letterhead to employees or potential employees whose information results in a match after it completes the adjudication and sends the report to the member. (Id. ¶¶ 43, 44, 46.) Defendant includes a copy of the report with the pre-adverse action letter, but not a copy of the admission statement. (Id. ¶ 46.) The pre-adverse action letter also contains a disclaimer that defendant “did not participate in any employment decision and will be unable to provide any specific reasons as to why [the employer] may choose to take an adverse employment action.” (Pre-Ad-verse Action Letter, Am. Compl. Ex. B.) Several days after it sends the pre-adverse action letter, defendant sends the employee a final “adverse action letter” on the member’s letterhead. (Am. Compl. ¶ 44.)

In the Amended Complaint, plaintiffs allege that defendant failed to “follow reason[241]*241able procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy” of the files in the Esteem system. (Id. ¶ 136.) Plaintiffs point out that “[djefen-dant has few policies and procedures governing employer practices regarding the form, content, and quality of contributed admission statements.” (Id. ¶ 137.) Rather, member employers are free to submit admission statements in any form; defendant does not require that there be an “express admission” in the admission statement. (Id. ¶ 139.)

Plaintiffs also allege that defendant does not conduct a “reasonable reinvestigation” of information in an employee’s file if the employee contacts defendant to contest the accuracy of that information. (Id. ¶ 153.) Rather, defendant “disregards the gravity of the reinvestigation obligation.” (Id.)

B. Facts Pertaining to Plaintiff Kee-sha Goode

Plaintiff Keesha Goode worked as a customer service representative and cashier in a Forman Mills store from November 2006 to October 2008. (Id. ¶ 51.) Forman Mills is a subscribing member of Esteem. (Id. ¶ 52.) Forman Mills fired Ms. Goode in October 2008 based upon an accusation that she committed a theft. (Id. ¶ 56.) Forman Mills submitted an incident report to defendant following Ms. Goode’s termination. (Id. ¶ 57.) The incident report contained an admission statement that Ms. Goode signed. (Id.) Forman Mills did not inform Ms. Goode that it was submitting the admission statement to defendant. (Id. ¶ 58.)

In May 2009, Ms. Goode applied for a job at a store owned by the Family Dollar Stores chain. (Id. ¶ 60.) Family Dollar Stores decided to hire Ms. Goode, provided that she passed an employment background screening conducted by defendant. (Id. ¶ 61.) Soon after applying, she received a pre-adverse action letter from defendant telling her that it had matched her information to the incident report Forman Mills submitted in October 2008. (Id. Exs. B, C.) The letter did not contain a copy of the admission statement. (Id. ¶ 68.) The pre-adverse action letter was on Family Dollar Stores’ letterhead, but it was actually sent by defendant pursuant to the Esteem member services agreement between defendant and Family Dollar Stores. (Id. ¶ 65.) The letter advised Ms. Goode to contact defendant LexisNexis if she wished to contest “the accuracy or completeness of any of the information provided by [defendant].” (Id. Ex. B.)

Some time thereafter, Ms. Goode sent defendant a letter requesting her entire “file” and disputing the alleged theft from Forman Mills. (Id. ¶ 69, Ex. D.) Defendant responded with a letter dated August 6, 2009, stating that defendant had reinvestigated the incident and that “the original information provided on the background report was reported accurately.” (Id. ¶ 70, Ex.

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Goode v. Lexisnexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Inc., 284 F.R.D. 238, 2012 WL 2400883 (E.D. Pa. 2012).

284 F.R.D. 238 (Goode v. Lexisnexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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