Consumer Law

Fourth Circuit FCRA Identity Theft Decision: Sloane v. Equifax

By Brian Wolfman

Readers of this blog will likely be interested in the Fourth Circuit's recent Fair Credit Reporting Act decision in Sloane v. Equifax, No. 06-2044 (Dec. 27, 2007). The case concerns an instance of identity theft that severely affected the plaintiff's home and work life. Equifax's failure to respond to the plaintiff's requests and to follow its own procedures are laid out in the court's opinion. The Fourth Circuit rejected all of Equifax's arguments on liability and most as to emotional distress damages, but did reduce the emotional damages from $245,000 to $150,000. (The jury's $106,000 economic damages award was left in place.) The opinion also discusses the societal scourge of identity theft. Well worth reading.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on December 29, 2007 (boomark / email).