Tailford v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., No. 20-56344 (9th Cir. 2022)
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of plaintiffs' motion for a remand to state court and the district court's dismissal of plaintiffs' class action suit alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by Experian. Plaintiffs alleged that the FCRA required Experian to disclose behavioral data from its "ConsumerView" marketing database, "soft inquiries" from third parties and affiliates, the identity of certain parties who procured consumer reports, and the date on which employment data was reported.
The panel concluded that the allegations of injury to plaintiffs' informational and privacy interests as recited in the first amended complaint are sufficiently concrete to support Article III standing at this pleading stage. The panel also concluded that none of the information plaintiffs contend Experian failed to include in its section 1681g of the FCRA disclosures is subject to disclosure under section 1681g(a)(1), (3) or (5), considered individually or in combination.
Court Description: Fair Credit Reporting Act. The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of plaintiffs’ motion for a remand to state court and the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ class action suit alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act by Experian Information Solutions, Inc., a consumer credit reporting agency. Plaintiffs alleged that the FCRA required Experian to disclose behavioral data from its “ConsumerView” marketing database, “soft inquiries” from third parties and affiliates, the identity of certain parties who procured consumer reports, and the date on which employment data was reported. Affirming the district court’s denial of plaintiffs’ motion to remand the case to the state court, the panel held that plaintiffs’ pleadings contained sufficient allegations of injury to support Article III standing. The panel held that as the party invoking the federal judicial power, Experian had the burden of establishing the facts necessary to support standing at the pleading stage. Because plaintiffs’ pleadings adequately alleged particularized injuries to their individual privacy and information interests, the panel rejected plaintiffs’ argument that Experian failed to show that plaintiffs had Article III standing. Under the Spokeo III test, these interests were sufficiently concrete to confer standing because the statutory provisions at issue were established to TAILFORD V. EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS 3 protect a plaintiff’s concrete interests in privacy and accuracy in the reporting of consumer credit information (and not merely procedural rights). Distinguishing TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct. 2190 (2021), the panel further concluded that the specific violations alleged presented a material risk of harm to plaintiffs’ concrete interest in consumer privacy. Affirming the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ first amended complaint, the panel held that none of the data alleged to be missing from Experian’s consumer reports was subject to disclosure under 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(a)(1), (3), or (5), considered individually or in combination. The panel held that § 1681g(a)(1), requiring disclosure of “all information in the consumer’s file,” did not require disclosure of all the information in Experian’s internal-only “Admin Reports.” The panel held that Experian did not violate § 1681g by failing to include in its disclosures several inquiries from third parties. Further, Experian was not required to disclose the behavioral data included in the ConsumerView database. Finally, Experian did not violate § 1681g(a)(1) by failing to disclose the dates on which employment dates were reported to it. 4 TAILFORD V. EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS
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