Kidd v. Thomson Reuters Corp.

299 F. Supp. 3d 400
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedOctober 26, 2017
Docket16–CV–1668 (JMF)
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 299 F. Supp. 3d 400 (Kidd v. Thomson Reuters Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kidd v. Thomson Reuters Corp., 299 F. Supp. 3d 400 (S.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

JESSE M. FURMAN, United States District Judge:

In 2014, Plaintiff Lindsey A. Kidd applied for a job with the Georgia Department of Public Health ("GaDPH"). Using a subscription-based online research platform operated by Defendant Thomson Reuters Corporation ("Thomson Reuters"), the GaDPH obtained information indicating that Kidd had been convicted of a crime. That information turned out to be wrong, but in the meantime it appears to have cost Kidd the job. As a result, she now brings claims against Thomson Reuters under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. , ("FCRA"), a statute that protects consumers with respect to the collection and dissemination of personal information collected by "consumer reporting agencies." The question presented here, which raises issues of first impression in this Circuit, is whether Thomson Reuters qualifies as a "consumer reporting agency" covered by the statute. The Court concludes that it does not and, thus, grants summary judgment to Thomson *402Reuters with respect to all of Kidd's claims.

BACKGROUND

The following relevant facts, taken from the Complaint and admissible materials submitted by the parties, are undisputed unless otherwise noted. See Costello v. City of Burlington , 632 F.3d 41, 45 (2d Cir. 2011). At issue in this case is an online research platform-called Consolidated Lead Evaluation and Reporting or "CLEAR" for short-offered by Thomson Reuters to subscribers. (Docket No. 49 ("Def.'s SOF") ¶ 3). CLEAR "provides subscribers with access to proprietary and public records information for investigative purposes." (Id. ¶¶ 4, 8). It is primarily used by federal, state, and local government agencies to investigate crimes and suspected fraud. (Id. ¶¶ 5-7). The platform includes public records information regulated by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA") and the Driver's Privacy Protection Act ("DPPA"), so prospective customers are required to have permitted uses under those statutes to access data and must identify and certify those permitted uses to Thomson Reuters in various documents. (Id. ¶¶ 9, 10). Similarly, each time an authorized user seeks access to CLEAR, that user must select a permitted use for undertaking the search (such as a use permitted by the GLBA, the DPPA, or state voter registration laws). (Id. ¶ 11). Only then can the user enter a search query into CLEAR. (Id. ¶ 12). A subscriber searching CLEAR by using a name may retrieve a wide array of records-including aliases, court docket references, criminal history, and other information associated with the name. (Id. ¶ 14; Docket No. 57 ("Pl.'s SOF") ¶ 14).

Significantly, Thomson Reuters explicitly prohibits the sale and use of CLEAR for any purpose regulated by the FCRA. (Def.'s SOF ¶ 18). It communicates and enforces that prohibition in several ways, including employee training, mandatory employee reporting, marketing materials, contractual requirements, mandatory customer certifications, customer vetting, investigations, and remedial actions. (Id. ¶¶ 21-68). Additionally, Thomson Reuters will not sell CLEAR to customers that lack a permitted use for the product or have only FCRA-regulated uses. (Id. ¶ 39). Despite these efforts, Thomson Reuters has discovered instances in which CLEAR subscribers have used the platform for employment screening and other purposes regulated by the FCRA. (Id. ¶ 63; Pl.'s SOF ¶¶ 60, 63). When the company learns of such alleged misuse, it opens an investigation. (Def.'s SOF ¶ 64). There were forty-six such investigations from May 1, 2012, through the filing of Kidd's complaint. (Id. ¶ 68). After conducting investigations in those cases, Thomson Reuters terminated ten CLEAR subscriber accounts; concluded that twelve of the subscribers had not misused CLEAR; and secured new attestations of compliance from the other twenty-four subscribers. (Id. ).

In November 2014, Kidd applied for a job as an Immunization Program Consultant with the GaDPH and agreed in writing to submit to a "criminal history and background check." (Pl.'s SOF ¶ 76). Kidd received word from GaDPH that she was the top candidate for the position and was given an expected start date. (Pl.'s SOF ¶¶ 77, 78). On November 10, 2014, however, GaDPH obtained a "National Comprehensive Report" through CLEAR, which included criminal history information purportedly about Kidd (in addition to her date of birth, social security number, and information on her professional license status). (Id. ¶¶ 14, 94-95). Most significant for present purposes, the report stated that Kidd was divorced and that she had been convicted of a crime in Baltimore, Maryland-both of which were inaccurate. (Id.

*403¶¶ 95, 96). On December 16, 2014, a GaDPH representative advised Kidd that there was a problem with her application because a criminal case had appeared on her background check. (Id. ¶ 79). Kidd did not obtain access to the CLEAR results until after she hired an attorney; in the meantime, the possibility of a job at GaDPH disappeared. (Id. ¶¶ 82, 88, 91-92). Kidd allegedly could not find another suitable job until April 2016. (Id. ¶ 93; Docket No. 64).

On March 4, 2016, Kidd filed putative class action against Thomson Reuters, alleging violations of the FCRA. (Docket No. 1 ("Compl.")). At the initial pretrial conference, the parties proposed, and the Court agreed, to bifurcate the case, with a first phase limited to discovery on the threshold issues of whether Thomson Reuters is a "consumer reporting agency," as defined in Title 15, United States Code, Section 1681a(f), and whether CLEAR reports are "consumer report[s]," as defined in Title 15, United States Code, Section 1681a(d)(1). (Docket No. 19, at 2; Docket No. 27). Thomson Reuters now moves for summary judgment.

THE SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment is appropriate where the admissible evidence and pleadings demonstrate "no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) ; see also Johnson v. Killian , 680 F.3d 234, 236 (2d Cir. 2012) (per curiam). A dispute qualifies as genuine "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505,

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Bluebook (online)
299 F. Supp. 3d 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kidd-v-thomson-reuters-corp-ilsd-2017.