Forum

U.S. Supreme Court

Case Status

Decided

Docket Number

06-84

Term

2006 Term

Oral Argument Date

January 16, 2007

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Questions Presented

Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in holding that a defendant can be found liable for a “willful” violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) upon a finding of “reckless disregard” for FCRA’s requirements, in conflict with the unanimous holdings of other circuits that “willfulness” requires actual knowledge that the defendant’s conduct violates FCRA.

Case Updates

Supreme Court decides scope of adverse action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

June 04, 2007

The Supreme Court adopted a liability standard under the FCRA holding that an insurer willfully fails to comply with the statute if it acts in reckless disregard of the statute’s notice obligation. In doing so, the court properly reversed the erroneous Ninth Circuit decisions.

U.S. Chamber files amicus brief

November 13, 2006

NCLC urged the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s lenient ruling reducing the threshold of the Fair Credit Reporting Act's (FCRA) ”willfully” requirement so as to trigger statutory and uncapped punitive damages unnecessarily. NCLC also argued that the Ninth Circuit erred in its ruling in determining when an “adverse action” notice is triggered under the FCRA. The erroneous Ninth Circuit decisions came out of several class action lawsuits that were filed against various insurance companies for alleged willful violations of the FCRA for failure to provide applicants with adverse action notices taken against the applicants in receiving insurance premium quotes. In its brief, NCLC argued that the Ninth Circuit holdings are contrary to the statutory text of the FCRA and will have a substantial effect on many different sectors of American business. The case was consolidated with GEICO General Insurance Company, et al. v. Edo.

Cert. petition granted

September 26, 2006

U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging Supreme Court to review scope of adverse action under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

August 21, 2006

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