Ricketson v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

266 F. Supp. 3d 1083
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedJuly 18, 2017
DocketCASE NO. 1:16-CV-1165
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 266 F. Supp. 3d 1083 (Ricketson v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ricketson v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., 266 F. Supp. 3d 1083 (W.D. Mich. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

ROBERT J. JONKER, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff noticed his credit report reflected a delinquency on his car loan. He notified Experian (and the other consumer reporting agencies) that this had to be a mistake because he had settled his dispute with the lender. The FCRA requires consumer reporting agencies (“CRAs”) like Experian to reinvestigate items a consumer disputes and report results to the consumer. Experian admits it did not do that here, but says it was just an honest mistake, and that it ultimately removed the disputed item from Plaintiffs report within 30 days anyway for other reasons. Plaintiff says he suffered real injury nonetheless because Experian left the dispute hanging without reinvestigating and reporting back to him as the statute requires, generating a level of emotional distress for which he sought and received medical treatment. Both sides move for partial or complete summary judgment on the remaining claims1 of negligent and willful violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681i. The Court denies both motions.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Ronald Ricketson, a resident of Byron Center, Michigan, owed an automobile debt to Credit Acceptance. Credit Acceptance sued Plaintiff in the 63rd District Court regarding that debt, but the parties stipulated to a dismissal with prejudice on December 26, 2014, each party bearing its own costs and fees (ECF No. 36-3). Subsequently, however, Credit Acceptance reported a negative tradeline on this debt to Defendant Experian, a consumer-reporting agency located in Ohio, and Equifax and Trans Union, other consumer-reporting agencies. Specifically, Plaintiff claims Credit Acceptance reported that Plaintiff had “voluntarily surrendered” the automobile at issue, and that he was “seriously delinquent on a $3,413 debt” to Credit Acceptance (ECF No. 36, PageID.329).

On April 2, 2015, Plaintiff sent Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax a letter disputing this tradeline and attempting to have it removed from his credit reports. Equifax and Trans Union removed the tradeline [1087]*1087after conducting reinvestigations. Experi-an did not. Instead, when it received the letter on April 7, 2015, it classified the letter as “suspicious,” a classification Ex-perian gives to letters that appear to have been sent by someone other than the consumer. Experian says this was a mistake. The letter should not have been classified as “suspicious” and a reinvestigation should have been conducted. Plaintiff agrees there should have been a reinvestigation, but argues that a reasonable jury could conclude Experian’s classification was not an honest mistake, but rather the natural result of an intentionally vague and ambiguous policy designed to limit reinves-tigations and shift the onus back to the consumer to trigger the statutory process a second time before Experian actually goes through with it.

Whether by honest mistake or otherwise, Experian did follow its suspicious communication protocol here, rather than statutory reinvestigation. In line with its policy, Experian sent Plaintiff a letter informing him it had received suspicious correspondence, stating that it would not be initiating a dispute, and requesting Plaintiff to call a 1-855 number if he was truly trying to dispute a debt. The parties agree that Plaintiff did not pursue the matter further with Experian until the filing of this litigation. The parties also agree that Experian did not take any further action to reinvestigate or report any results to Plaintiff.

At some point, however, Experian did remove the disputed tradeline from Plaintiffs credit report. Experian says this happened within 30 days of Plaintiffs letter due to the fortuity of Experian receiving a “carbon-copy” of the response Credit Acceptance sent to Equifax, a different CRA that did conduct a reinvestigaton. Plaintiff is unwilling to stipulate that the deletion occurred within 30 days, but did acknowledge that it does not have evidence to contradict Experian’s claim. In any event, regardless of when Experian removed it, all agree it never informed Plaintiff. Plaintiff-found out on his own no later than August 2016 (ECF No. 36, PageID.330). Plaintiff alleges he has suffered mental stress, lost sleep, and emotional distress as a result of Experian leaving him in the dark as to the status of the tradeline.

On August 26, 2016, Plaintiff filed his complaint in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court, naming Credit Acceptance, Equifax, and Experian as defendants (ECF No. 1-1). Defendant removed this case to federal court on September 22, 20Í6 (ECF No. 1-1). Subsequently, Plaintiff settled with Ex-perian and stipulated to dismiss Credit Acceptance with prejudice. On May 12, 2017, Experian filed its Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 34). That same day, Plaintiff filed its Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF Nos. 35, 36). In his response to Defendant’s Motion, Plaintiff withdraws his claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b) against Experian (ECF No. 40, PageID.541-542) (“Plaintiff hereby withdraws his claim under the ‘reasonable procedures’ requirements of 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b)”).2 Accordingly, Plaintiffs sole remaining claim against Experian is for violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681i.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS AND ANALYSIS .

Summary judgment is appropriate where the record evidence presents no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A fact is material if it is defined as such by substantive law and will-affect the outcome1 of the suit under the governing law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. [1088]*1088242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A genuine dispute exists, precluding summary judgment, if the court finds that a reasonable jury could find for the nonmoving party. Id. The burden is on the moving .party to show that no genuine dispute as to any material fact exists. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). Summary judgment is required where, “after adequate time for discovery and upon motion ... a party fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the court draws all inferences in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Agristor Fin. Corp. v. Van Sickle, 967 F.2d 233, 236 (6th Cir. 1992).

The FCRA requires a CRA to conduct a free reinvestigation of a consumer’s file if “the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer’s file ... is disputed by the consumer.” 15 U.S.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
266 F. Supp. 3d 1083, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ricketson-v-experian-information-solutions-inc-miwd-2017.