Kentucky Woman Sues LexisNexis and Experian for Falsely Claiming on Her Credit Report She Was Deceased
Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C., recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Kentucky woman against LexisNexis Risk Solutions Inc. and Experian Information Solutions, Inc., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging the companies violated the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act.
According to the complaint in the lawsuit, LexisNexis and Experian have for a period of time since at least January 2022, marked our client as “deceased” on the credit reports the companies created about her and sold to third parties, and as a result, have not calculated or provided any credit score for her. However, our client is not deceased—she is very much alive. This false labeling by LexisNexis and Experian has made it practically impossible for our client to obtain credit.
In addition, both LexisNexis and Experian allegedly sell consumer reports of people it claims to be deceased to third parties in an automated fashion and without any specific or general certification that explains their reasons for doing so. After all, both companies know a deceased consumer would not apply for credit nor have any use for it.
“It might not seem like a big deal, but by falsely claiming our client is deceased, LexisNexis and Experian have damaged our client’s creditworthiness and made it difficult for her to obtain the credit opportunities she would otherwise be afforded by credit providers if her credit reports were accurate,” said Siobhán McGreal, the lawyer at Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. who filed the lawsuit. “As we allege in the complaint, neither company employs procedures that would assure the consumers it claims on its reports are deceased are actually deceased, all the while profiting when it sells those credit reports.”
The complaint alleges LexisNexis and Experian violated the FCRA by failing to follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of the information they reported about our client, which led to the companies falsely claiming our client was deceased. According to the complaint, our client has disputed the inaccurate information with LexisNexis since January 2022. However, both companies allegedly lack the procedures to confirm a consumer is deceased even when the consumer communicates directly with them, as our client did.
Despite our client’s efforts, according to the complaint, LexisNexis has never:
- Contacted our client to follow up on, verify, and/or elicit more specific information about her disputing her being designated as deceased;
- Contacted any third parties that would have relevant information concerning her disputes;
- Forwarded any relevant information concerning her disputes to the entities originally furnishing the inaccurate information; and
- Requested or obtained any credit applications, or other relevant documents from the entities, furnishing the inaccurate information.
As a result of LexisNexis’s and Experian’s alleged misconduct, our client has suffered actual damages in the form of loan denial or loss of credit opportunity, credit defamation, and emotional distress, including anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, and humiliation.
The relief our client is seeking in the lawsuit includes, among other things, actual damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees.
If your consumer report or employment background check contains inaccurate information about you, you may be able to recover damages against the credit reporting agency that created it. If you do so, the credit reporting agency may also be required to pay your attorneys’ fees and costs.
Click here or call 215-735-8600 to schedule a free case review with a representative of Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. Located in Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, we serve clients nationwide.