Shaw v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

306 F.R.D. 293, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38162, 2015 WL 1260552
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMarch 18, 2015
DocketCase No. 13cv1295-JLS (BLM)
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 306 F.R.D. 293 (Shaw v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shaw v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., 306 F.R.D. 293, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38162, 2015 WL 1260552 (N.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO COMPEL DEFENDANT’S WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.’S RESPONSES TO PLAINTIFFS’ REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

BARBARA L. MAJOR, United States Magistrate Judge.

Currently before the Court is Plaintiffs’ February 16, 2015 motion to compel Defendant’s Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.’s responses to discovery requests [ECF No. 83-1 (“MTC”) ], Defendant’s Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.’s February 23, 2015 opposition [ECF No. 84 (“Oppo.”) ], and Plaintiffs’ February 27, 2015 reply [ECF No. 88 (“Reply”) ]. For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion to compel Defendant’s Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.’s responses to Plaintiffs’ requests for production of documents.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On June 4, 2013, Plaintiffs filed their Class Action Complaint, on August 19, 2013—a First Amended Class Action Complaint, and on May 20, 2014—a Second Amended Class Action Complaint (“SACAC”), the operative pleading in this case. ECF Nos. 1, 30, 56. In the SACAC, Plaintiffs and proposed class representatives, John T. Shaw, Kenneth Coke and Raymond Rydman brought the action against Defendants Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (“Experian”), Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (“Wells Fargo”) and CitiMort-gage, Inc. (“CitiMortgage”) (Wells Fargo and CitiMortgage, collectively, the “Furnishers”) seeking damages and injunctive relief from Defendants’ alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. (the “FCRA”). ECF No. 56 at 2.

Plaintiffs allege that Experian, a “consumer reporting agency” as defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(f) of the FCRA, collects consumer credit information from the Furnishers, and electronically processes and stores the information in its databases. Id. at 4-5. Plaintiffs further allege that the Furnishers report consumer credit information to Experian and other credit reporting agencies through “coded tapes” by utilizing standard formatting known as “Metro 2.” Id. at 6. Metro 2 provides a basic reporting format and standard codes for reporting certain kinds of consumer credit information. Id. at 7. The Consumer Data Industry Association publishes the Credit Reporting Resources Guide, which contains “a comprehensive overview of the Metro 2 format” and “recommended credit reporting procedures for certain types of consumer credit reporting.” Id. at 7-8. The Guide provides two options for reporting short sales depending on whether the deficiency between the sale price and the balance owed on the loan is forgiven. Id. at 8. Plaintiffs claim that the Furnishers “did not report and Experian did not maintain [Plaintiffs’] short sale results and the accounts [296]*296related thereto as required by the Guide, Metro 2 formatting and their own dedicated policies and procedures for the proper reporting of the results of a short sale.” Id. at 9.

Plaintiffs allege that their mortgage short sales were incorrectly reported on their Ex-perian credit reports as foreclosures, bankruptcies, or other inaccurate derogatory events. Id. at 2, 11-12, 20-22. Plaintiffs further argue that Defendants violated the FCRA when they failed to correct the allegedly inaccurate reporting after Plaintiffs informed them about the issue. Id. at 12, 21-23.

Plaintiffs seek to represent the following proposed classes:

Class No. 1: All consumers domiciled or residing in the United States for whom Experian has furnished a consumer report within two years of the filing of this initial Complaint in this action and after which reported the results of a short sale by which the consumer’s lender released its lien on the real estate and accepted less than the amount owed on the debt in such a way that a consumer report for that consumer would indicate or suggest that a consumer lost the real estate through foreclosure and/or that the consumer had a currently delinquent account.
Class No. 2: All consumers domiciled or residing in the United States from whom Experian received a request for reinvestigation related to the reporting of the consumers’ short sales by which the consumer’s lender released its lien on the real estate and accepted less than the amount owed on the debt and for whom Experian was inaccurately reporting those short sales.
Class No. 3: All consumers domiciled or residing in the United States from whom Experian received a request for the consumers’ files but for whom Experian did not disclose all information contained in those files.
Class No. 4: All consumers domiciled or residing in the United States who disputed the accuracy of their short sale related accounts with Furnishers through Experi-an or any other consumer reporting agency and for whom the Furnishers have inaccurately, incompletely or misleadingly reported to any consumer reporting agency the results of a short sale by which the Furnishers released their liens on the real estate and accepted less than the amount owed on the debt, including, but not limited to, by reporting the mortgage or mortgage related account in such a way that it would appear to the subscriber or user of a consumer report that the consumer lost the real estate through foreclosure, that the consumer had filed for bankruptcy and/or that the consumer had a currently delinquent account.

Id. at 3-4. As such, one of the classes that Plaintiffs intend to certify against Defendant Wells Fargo is comprised of consumers who disputed the accuracy of credit reporting of their short sale accounts with Wells Fargo. See id.

LEGAL STANDARD

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure generally allow for broad discovery; authorizing parties to obtain discovery regarding “any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). Also, “[f]or good cause, the court may order discovery of any matter relevant to the subject matter involved in the action.” Id. Relevant information for discovery purposes includes any information “reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence,” and need not be admissible at trial to be discoverable. Id. There is no requirement that the information sought directly relate to a particular issue in the case. Rather, relevance encompasses “any matter that bears on, or that reasonably could lead to other matter that could bear on, any issue that is or may be [presented] in the ease.” Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 351, 98 S.Ct. 2380, 57 L.Ed.2d 253 (1978). District courts have broad discretion to determine relevancy for discovery purposes. See Hallett v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir.2002). Similarly, district courts have broad discretion to limit discovery where the discovery sought is “unreasonably cumulative or duplicative, or can be obtained [297]*297from some other source that is more convenient, less burdensome, or less expensive.” Fed.R.Civ.P.

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306 F.R.D. 293, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38162, 2015 WL 1260552, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shaw-v-experian-information-solutions-inc-cand-2015.