Without his consent or knowledge, Robbin Ward’s daughter took out a lease in his name. She was later evicted for nonpayment, and the back-rent owed was transferred to a debt collector. The debt collector reported the debt to credit agencies, who noted it on Mr. Ward’s credit report. Mr. Ward disputed the debt claiming identity fraud, but the debt collector refused to remove the debt because it could not confirm his claims. He then sued the debt collector under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, claiming the collector failed to conduct a reasonable investigation, and a jury awarded him $500,000.
The debt collector appealed to the Tenth Circuit, which today vacated the judgment and ordered judgment be entered in the debt collector’s favor. In so doing, the Tenth Circuit held that “inaccuracy is a prima facie element” of an unreasonable investigation claim under the FCRA, and that, “to establish that element, a consumer must demonstrate the disputed information was objectively and readily verifiable by the furnisher of the information…as containing a mistake or error.” The court stated that this standard was consistent with that used by other circuits.
While Mr. Ward had asked for remand if the court adopted the “objectively and readily verifiable” standard so he could attempt to meet it, the Tenth Circuit refused to do so, holding that there was no evidence he could muster to support his assertions; even if the debt collector had contacted his daughter and she admitted to identity fraud, the court reasoned, that would not be good enough since she could be lying.
