Credit Reporting Agency Shakes FCRA Row Over Shared Data
Troutman Sanders is mentioned in an April 5 Law360 story titled, “Credit Reporting Agency Shakes FCRA Row Over Shared Data,” for its representation of Clarity Services, Inc. Clarity provides real-time credit reporting, fraud detection and risk management solutions to lenders in the subprime consumer market. In 2016, Joyce Benton alleged that Clarity violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) by disclosing consumers’ information to tribal lenders who were licensed to make loans by their respective Native American Tribes, but not by the State of California. On April 4, a California federal judge granted summary judgment for Clarity prior to Benton having a chance to seek class certification, resulting in a complete win for the firm’s client. The Court’s ruling included two significant holdings for the industry: (1) that compliance with the FCRA and compliance with state lending laws are separate concepts; and (2) that a consumer reporting agency does not need to separately verify that its client’s agents are complying with the FCRA as long as it has put safeguards in place. Partners Ronald I. Raether Jr., David M. Gettings, Mark C. Mao and associates Meagan Mihalko and Sheila M. Pham represent Clarity.