Summary judgment denied in Fair Credit Reporting Act case

Comeaux v. Experian Information Solutions, 2004 WL 1354412 (2:02 CV 0304-DF/HWM)
Judge: McKee, Magistrate Judge
Division: Marshall
Date: June 8, 2004
Holding: Magistrate Judge RECOMMENDED that Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment be DENIED.
COMMENTS:
This is a Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA") case in which the plaintiff claims that the defendant combined her credit file with the credit file of another consumer, thereby causing adverse credit that belonged to another consumer to be placed in the plaintiff's credit file. The defendant sought summary judgment, claiming that the plaintiff failed to bring her reinvestigation claims within two years of her last communication with the defendant, that she failed to present any evidence that she sustained damages related to inaccurate data contained on her credit report, and that she had not presented any evidence that Experian engaged in willful conduct to harm her.
On referral from Judge Folsom, Magistrate Judge McKee found that the plaintiff had established a genuine issue of material fact requiring trial as to whether her case met an exception to the two year statute of limitations in 15 U.S.C. § 1681p. Judge McKee similarly found that the plaintiff had presented evidence that she sustained both actual and emotional distress damages sufficient to defeat summary judgment. Finally, Judge McKee found that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to the willfulness of the defendant's actions, and the causal link between the plaintiff's alleged damages, and any inaccurate reporting by the defendant, therefore summary judgment was not proper as to the plaintiff's punitive damages claims.
(Note: Judge Ward recently granted in part and denied in part a summary judgment in a FCRA case against this same defendant in Pace v. Experian Information Solutions Inc., 2004 WL 1057795 (E.D.Tex. Apr 28, 2004) (NO. CIV.A. 2:03-CV-45) summarized under "Judge Ward cases")