Complaint Against Experian and CCO Mortgage Corp. for Reporting Inaccurate Information on Consumer’s Credit Report

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

John Doe 

Plaintiff,

 

vs.

 

EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS, INC.

and

CCO MORTGAGE CORPORATION

 

Defendants.

 

Civil Action No. 

 

Complaint for Violations of    Fair Credit Reporting Act

 

Demand for Jury Trial

 

 

I. Preliminary Statement

  1. This is an action for damages brought by an individual consumer against the Defendants for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (hereafter the “FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681, et seq., as amended.

II.  Jurisdiction and Venue

  1. Jurisdiction of this Court arises under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331.
  2. Venue lies properly in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b).

III. Parties

  1. Plaintiff is an adult individual who resides in Ohio .
  2. Defendant Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (hereafter “Experian”) is a business entity and consumer reporting agency that regularly conducts business in the state of California, and which has its headquarters and a principal place of business located at 475 Anton Boulevard, Costa Mesa, CA  92626.
  3. Defendant, CCO Mortgage Corporation (“CCO”) is a business entity that regularly conducts business in the state of California, and which has a principal place of business located at 10561 Telegraph Road, Glen Allen, VA 23059.

IV. Factual Allegations

  1. Defendants have been reporting derogatory and inaccurate statements and information relating to Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s credit history to third parties (the “inaccurate information”).
  2. The inaccurate information includes, but is not limited to, an account with CCO Mortgage Corporation.
  3. The inaccurate information negatively reflects upon Plaintiff, Plaintiff’s credit repayment history, Plaintiff’s financial responsibility as a debtor and Plaintiff’s credit worthiness.  The inaccurate information consists of accounts and/or tradelines that do not belong to the Plaintiff.
  4. Defendants have been reporting the inaccurate information through the issuance of false and inaccurate credit information and consumer credit reports that they have disseminated to various persons and credit grantors, both known and unknown.
  5. Plaintiff has disputed the inaccurate information with Defendants by both oral and written communications to their representatives and by following Experian’s established procedures for disputing consumer credit information.
  6. Plaintiff has disputed the inaccurate information with Experian from August 2011 through the present.
  7. Notwithstanding Plaintiff’s efforts, Experian has sent Plaintiff correspondence indicating their intent to continue publishing the inaccurate information and Experian continues to publish and disseminate such inaccurate information to other third parties, persons, entities and credit grantors.  Experian has repeatedly published and disseminated consumer reports to such third parties from at least August 2011 through the present.
  8. Despite Plaintiff’s efforts, Experian has never:  (1) contacted Plaintiff to follow up on, verify and/or elicit more specific information about Plaintiff’s disputes; (2) contacted any third parties that would have relevant information concerning Plaintiff’s disputes; (3) forwarded any relevant information concerning Plaintiff’s disputes to the entities originally furnishing the inaccurate information; or (4) requested or obtained any credit applications, or other relevant documents from the entities furnishing the inaccurate information.
  9. Notwithstanding Plaintiff’s disputes, CCO has also failed to conduct timely and reasonable investigations of Plaintiff’s disputes after being contacted by the relevant credit reporting agencies concerning Plaintiff’s disputes, has willfully continued to report such inaccurate information to various credit reporting agencies, and has failed to mark the above accounts as disputed.
  10. Despite Plaintiff’s exhaustive efforts to date, Defendants have nonetheless deliberately, willfully, intentionally, recklessly and negligently repeatedly failed to perform reasonable reinvestigations of the above disputes as required by the FCRA, have failed to remove the inaccurate information, have failed to report on the results of its reinvestigations to all credit reporting agencies, have failed to note the disputed status of the inaccurate information and have continued to report the derogatory inaccurate information about the Plaintiff.
  11. As of result of Defendant’s conduct, Plaintiff has suffered actual damages in the form of (a) lost credit opportunities, (b) harm to credit reputation and credit score, and (c) emotional distress.
  12. At all times pertinent hereto, Defendants were acting by and through their agents, servants and/or employees who were acting within the course and scope of their agency or employment, and under the direct supervision and control of the Defendants herein.
  13. At all times pertinent hereto, the conduct of the Defendants, as well as that of their agents, servants and/or employees, was malicious, intentional, willful, reckless, and in grossly negligent disregard for federal and state laws and the rights of the Plaintiff herein.
  14. Plaintiff incorporates the foregoing paragraphs as though the same were set forth at length herein.
  15. At all times pertinent hereto, Experian was a “person” and “consumer reporting agency” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(b) and (f).
  16. At all times pertinent hereto, Plaintiff was a “consumer” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(c).
  17. At all times pertinent hereto, the above-mentioned credit reports were “consumer reports” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(d).
  18. Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1681n and 15 U.S.C. §1681o, Experian is liable to Plaintiff for willfully and negligently failing to comply with the requirements imposed on a consumer reporting agency of information pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681e and 1681i.
  19. The conduct of Experian was a direct and proximate cause, as well as a substantial factor, in bringing about the serious injuries, actual damages and harm to Plaintiff that are outlined more fully above and, as a result, Experian is liable to Plaintiff for the full amount of statutory, actual and punitive damages, along with the attorneys’ fees and the costs of litigation, as well as such further relief, as may be permitted by law.

V. First Claim for Relief – EXPERIAN-

Violation of FCRA        

  1. Plaintiff incorporates the foregoing paragraphs as though the same were set forth at length herein.
  2. At all times pertinent hereto, Experian was a “person” and “consumer reporting agency” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(b) and (f).
  3. At all times pertinent hereto, Plaintiff was a “consumer” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(c).
  4. At all times pertinent hereto, the above-mentioned credit reports were “consumer reports” as that term is defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(d).
  5. Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1681n and 15 U.S.C. §1681o, Experian is liable to Plaintiff for willfully and negligently failing to comply with the requirements imposed on a consumer reporting agency of information pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681e and 1681i.
  6. The conduct of Experian was a direct and proximate cause, as well as a substantial factor, in bringing about the serious injuries, actual damages and harm to Plaintiff that are outlined more fully above and, as a result, Experian is liable to Plaintiff for the full amount of statutory, actual and punitive damages, along with the attorneys’ fees and the costs of litigation, as well as such further relief, as may be permitted by law.

VI. Second Claim for Relief – CCO

Violation of FCRA

  1. Plaintiff incorporates the foregoing paragraphs as though the same were set forth at length herein.
  2. At all times pertinent hereto CCO was a “person” as that term defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(b).
  3. CCO violated sections 1681n and 1681o of the FCRA by willfully and negligently failing to comply with the requirements imposed on furnishers of information pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1681s-2(b).
  4. CCO’s conduct was a direct and proximate cause, as well as a substantial factor, in causing the serious injuries, damages and harm to the Plaintiff that are outlined more fully above, and as a result CCO is liable to compensate Plaintiff for the full amount of statutory, actual and punitive damages, along with attorneys’ fees and costs, as well as such other relief, permitted by law.

VII. Jury Trial Demand

  1. Plaintiff demands trial by jury.

VIII. Prayer for Relief

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff seeks judgment in Plaintiff’s favor and damages against the Defendant, based on the following requested relief:

(a)              Actual damages;

(b)             Statutory damages;

(c)              Punitive damages;

(d)             Costs and reasonable attorney’s fees pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n and 1681o; and

(e)              Such other and further relief as may be necessary, just and proper.