Barrow v. Trans Union, LLC

Barrow v. Trans Union, LLC

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOYNER, J.

Defendant Trans Union, LLC has brought this Fair Credit Reporting Act matter before the Court for adjudication of its Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. In response, Plaintiff has filed a Cross-Motion for Partial Judgment on the Pleadings or, in the alternative, to Amend her Complaint. For the reasons outlined below, the Motions shall be denied.

Statement of Facts

This case arises out of what Plaintiff, Lalisha Barrow, alleges is the full satisfaction of her "AES account"¹ beginning with the denomination "2PAO" on July 12, 2012 "which brought it current with a $0 balance." (Pl's Compl., para. 7). Despite this satisfaction, the Complaint avers that on July 24, [*2]  2018, Trans Union "reported Plaintiff's AES account as having a 'Pay Status: Account 120 days past due.'" (Compl., paras. 8, 9). Plaintiff submits that it:

is impossible and incorrect for an account that was fully satisfied which brought it current with a "0" balance as of [sic] to still be reporting as late as of 7/24/2018. Not only is the AES account false on the face of the credit report but this reporting is extremely misleading because it makes it look like the Plaintiff is still late on this account that was previously fully satisfied.

(Pl's Compl., para. 9).

Plaintiff goes on to allege that, as dictated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, she "mailed a detailed and thorough dispute letter to Trans Union" on October 27, 2017, subsequent to which AES purportedly "verified the account as accurate and instructed Trans Union to continue to report the inaccurate credit information." (Pl's Compl., para. 10). According to the Complaint, Plaintiff's most recent credit report is dated 7/24/2018 and it currently contains "the same inaccurate information that was disputed on 10/27/2017." (Id.) It is further averred that neither AES nor Trans Union has undertaken a good faith investigation into [*3]  the dispute and Trans Union does not have reasonable procedures in place to verify and ensure maximum possible accuracy. (Compl., paras. 11-15). These failures constitute an alleged violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1681, et. seq. on Trans Union's part with the result that Plaintiff has suffered a lower credit rating and credit score, as well as "great physical, emotional and mental pain and anguish, all to [her] great detriment and loss." (Compl., paras. 16-18).

In filing its motion, Trans Union asserts that it is entitled to judgment on the pleadings because its reporting of Plaintiff's American Education Services student loan account was accurate and that Plaintiff's reasonable reinvestigation procedures claim is time-barred by the FCRA's two-year statute of limitations. In her cross-motion, Plaintiff rejoins that inasmuch as it cannot be possible that a report which indicates a current pay status as past due when it is not past due, she is entitled to the entry of judgment in her favor. Alternatively, Plaintiff requests leave to amend her complaint to correct any deficiencies.

Full case includes Shepard's, Headnotes, Legal Analytics from Lex Machina, and more.