Childress v. Experian Information Solutions, No. 14-2864 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseIn 2006 plaintiff filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, but later voluntarily dismissed the petition. A credit-reporting agency received a copies from Lexis and reported the petition “dismissed.” In 2009 the plaintiff’s lawyer demanded that the agency remove all reference to her bankruptcy because it had been dismissed at her behest. The agency refused. In 2012 she told the agency: “my bankruptcy was not dismissed. It was voluntarily withdrawn prior to plan approval.” The agency then purged the reference to the bankruptcy from her file, but did so because it was seven years since she had filed the petition. Plaintiff alleged that by failing to report in 2006 that the petition had been voluntarily withdrawn, the agency had willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and sought damages, 15 U.S.C. 1681n(a). The district court granted the credit agency summary judgment in without deciding whether to certify a class. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. An agency must report that a bankruptcy petition was withdrawn “upon receipt of documentation certifying such withdrawal” and must “follow reasonable procedures to as-sure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the” person who had filed for bankruptcy. In 2006, when the plaintiff’s petition was withdrawn, no documentation certifying such withdrawal was submitted to the agency.
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