Miller v. Trans Union, LLC

644 F. App'x 444
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided March 16, 2016·No. No. 15-3240·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

LUDINGTON, District Judge.

Appellant Carin Miller appeals the decision of the district court to grant summary judgment to Appellee Trans Union, LLC.1 She claims that a “credit monitoring report” furnished to her by TransUnion Interactive, LLC, (“TUI”) on October 3,2013 (“October 2013 Report” or “Report”) violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. On appeal she argues that the district court erred in concluding that the Report is not governed by the Act and that it was not furnished by Trans Union. In response, Trans Union makes the arguments it has made repeatedly below: it did not furnish the October 2013 Report so it cannot be liable for any violation of the Act, though it maintains the Report is not regulated by the Act and therefore did not violate the Act.

Because the October 2013 Report is not governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and because it was furnished to Miller by TUI and not Trans Union, we affirm.

I.

Appellant Carin Miller, Plaintiff below, is a resident of Ohio and a consumer as that term is defined in 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(c). Am. Compl. ¶ 3, Page ID 282. Appellee Trans Union, Defendant below, is a Delaware corporation principally located in Chicago, Illinois. Answer ¶ 6, Page ID 861. Trans Union is a consumer reporting agency as that term is defined in 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(f). Id. '

A.

Miller filed a complaint against Trans Union and five other defendants oh March 26, 2013. In addition to Trarjs Union, Miller named as defendants: Experian Information Solutions, Inc., and Equifax, Inc., two other consumer reporting agencies; Wites & Kapetan, P.A., a law firm offering debt settlement services; Infinity Marketing Solutions, Inc., a company that allegedly “harvests and sells data,” Compl. ¶ 8, Page ID 3, from consumer reporting agencies; and a Doe debt collector that was never identified.

Miller was a regular user of credit cards and accumulated an outstanding balance on one or more of those cards in the amount of $16,000. Wites & Kapetan sent a letter to Miller on March 28, 2011 offering to assist her in the settlement of her debts. The letter stated that Wites & Kapetan had “obtained your name and address from a data company, which indicates that you may have approximately 16,000 [sic] in unpaid credit card bills and/or other unsecured debt.” W & K Letter, Page ID 7. The letter advised Miller [446] that Wites & Kapetan “do[es] not have any other information regarding your situation.” Id, That proviso included a footnote reading: “To further explain, we do not have your social security number, account names or numbers, your Credit Report, or any other information about you other than what is indicated in this letter.” Id, Miller assumed Wites & Kapetan had gained access to her credit report, despite the fact that Wites & Kapetan explained that it did not have her credit report. Nevertheless, and with no more information, Miller filed her complaint.

In her complaint, Miller alleged that the consumer reporting agency defendants furnished consumer credit reports without a permissible purpose in violation of §§ 1681b & 1681e(a) of the Act. Defendants Wites & Kapetan, Infinity, and Doe allegedly purchased Miller’s debt information which, Miller suggested, Wites & Ka- ■ petan ultimately used to offer her debt settlement services. She further alleged that defendants Wites & Kapetan, Infinity, and Doe committed the tort of invasion of privacy, specifically by intruding upon her seclusion, when they acquired her information from the consumer reporting agency defendants,

B.

Miller then filed an amended complaint. Since the amended complaint was untimely, it was initially stricken, but the district court granted Miller leave to amend on June 16, 2014.2 Around the time Miller amended her complaint, Experian and Equifax were dismissed by stipulation. At that point, Trans Union was the only remaining consumer reporting agency defendant and the only active defendant left in the case.3 Miller’s amended complaint stated a new claim against Trans Union. This claim was predicated on a report that Miller alleged she requested from Trans Union on October 8, 2013, over six months after her initial complaint was filed.

1.

Miller’s amended complaint contained allegations that originated with a credit offer Miller received in the mail. On August 15, 2013, she received from Mobiloans what she describes as “a prescreened offer of credit” based on information in her credit report. Am. Compl, ¶¶ 22-23, Page ID 285. The Mobiloans offer included a “Prescreen & Opt-Out Notice” that read, [447] in part: “If you do not want to receive prescreened offers of credit from this and other companies, call the consumer reporting agencies toll-free at 1-888-50PT-OUT (1-888-567-8688), or visit the website at, www.optoutrequest.com; or write: Tran-sUnion Opt-Out Request, P.O. Box 505, Woodlyn, PA 19094-0505.” Mobiloans Offer, Ex, E, Am. Compl., Page ID 386. Because the Mobiloans offer included a Trans Union opt-out address, Miller assumed that Mobiloans must have obtained her credit report from Trans Union.

Miller then .sought to obtain a consumer disclosure of her credit file to review the suspected Mobiloans credit inquiry. Although Miller initially navigated to the Federal Trade Commission website and then to annualcreditreport.com, she admits that she eventually navigated away from annualcreditreport.com and “went to a TransUnion website.” Miller Dep. 73, Page ID 1536. What she ordered was the October 2013 Report from TUI. The Report bears the name and logo of Trans Union at the top, but the printed root URL in the footer is, https://tui.transunion. com. Oct. 2013 Rep., Ex. A, Am. Compl., Page ID 294. In addition, Miller received a receipt for the Report sent from the email address, transunion@e-tui. transunion.com. Miller Dep. 74, Page ID 1536. To obtain the type of report Miller obtained, a user must also enter into a service agreement with TUI. That service agreement begins: “Welcome to the Tran-sUnion Interactive web site, tui.transun-ion.com[.]” Service Agreement 1, Page ID 1546.

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Miller v. Trans Union, LLC, 644 F. App'x 444 (6th Cir. 2016).

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