The opinion of the court was delivered by: MARVIN ASPEN, Chief Judge, District
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff Angela Mann ("Mann") filed a three-count complaint against
defendants, Experian Information Solutions ("Experian") and Hogan
Information Services Company (incorrectly sued as Dolan Information, and
hereinafter "Hogan"), alleging violations of the Fair Credit and
Reporting Act ("FCRA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.*fn1 Presently before us
is Hogan's motion for summary judgment. For the reasons stated below, we
grant Hogan's motion.
In June 2002, Mann ordered a copy of her consumer disclosure report
from Experian, a consumer
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reporting agency. She received a copy of her consumer report on June 7,
2002, which reported that the Hamilton County Recorder had issued a tax
lien in the amount of $67 (location number SQ03615029) against Mann.
(Pl. Ex. A). Mann considered this tax lien to be an error so on August
1, 2002*fn3 she sent a dispute letter to Experian notifying it that she
believed the tax lien to be an error and requesting that the lien be
deleted from her credit file. She also requested that two other
derogatory reports, from St. Vincent's Hospital and Indynet, be
investigated or deleted from her file. (Pl. Ex. B). Mann apparently
attached to her letter correspondence she had received from the Indiana
Department of Revenue dated June 7, 2002 which stated that the tax lien
issued in the amount of $331 was in error and therefore tax warrant
number 03831256 should not have been issued. (Pl. Ex. C).
According to Mann, on August 13, 2003, she received a revised
disclosure from Experian. (Pl. Ex. E). On that same day, Mann received a
second copy of her Experian credit file. (Pl. Ex. F. at 2). The new copy
reported that a tax lien in the amount of $67 from the Hamilton County
Recorder had been released (location number SQ03615029). Id. A second tax
lien from the Hamilton County Recorder in the amount of $331 was also
included on her report (location number SQ03831256). Mann considered both
liens to be in error and contends she contacted Experian again in order
to contest both tax liens reported in her file.*fn4 In her complaint,
Mann alleges she sent a letter to Experian on August
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21, 2002 notifying it of her dispute. Mann does not provide a copy
of this letter or any documentation to support this contention.
Experian sent Hogan a Consumer Dispute Verification (CDV) form
requesting that Hogan conduct an investigation. (Def. Ex. C). Hogan is an
Oklahoma corporation that gathers public record information from court
files and provides this information to certain consumer reporting
agencies. (Def. Ex. A, ¶ 5). Hogan contracted with Experian to provide
public record information to Experian about consumers. Hogan states it
received a CDV request from Experian on August 22, 2002 seeking
information relating to a tax lien issued against Mann in case number
03615029.*fn5 (Def. Ex. C). According to Hogan, the CDV did not include
any documentation concerning the dispute that may have been submitted by
Mann to Experian. Hogan verified that a tax lien in the amount of $67 was
entered against Mann by the Hamilton County Recorder on March 26, 2002,
and later was released.*fn6 (Def. Ex. D). The tax lien at issue was case
number 03615029. On or around August 26, 2002, Hogan reported this
information to Experian. (Def. Ex. A, ¶ 11). Mann does not provide any
documentation as to how, or whether, subsequent credit reports issued by
Experian reported the lien.
On October 25, 2002, Mann filed the instant action against Experian and
Hogan alleging violations of the FCRA. In Count I, Mann alleges Experian
violated the FCRA by disseminating inaccurate information about the liens
entered against her. Mann contends that despite her efforts,
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Experian continued to disseminate inaccurate information about the
liens and that, as a result, she was denied credit on August 27, 29 and
September 16, 2002. Count II asserts a defamation claim against Experian
alleging Experian published false and derogatory statements about Mann's
credit history to various creditors. Count III alleges Hogan violated the
FCRA by failing to investigate Mann's dispute and failing to comply with
the requirements of 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2. Pursuant to a stipulation
and agreement between Mann and Experian, the action against Experian was
dismissed with prejudice on August 19, 2003. As such, only Count III
against Hogan remains.
Summary judgment is proper only when "there is no genuine issue as to
any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a
matter of law." Fed R. Civ. P. 56(c). A genuine issue for trial exists
when "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict
for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242,
248 (1986). This standard places the initial burden on the moving party
to identify "those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answers to
interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if
any, which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of
material fact." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986)
(quotation marks omitted). Once the moving party has met this burden of
production, the nonmoving party "may not rest upon the mere allegations or
denials of the adverse party's pleading" but rather "must set forth
specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial."
Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). In deciding whether summary judgment is appropriate,
we must accept the nonmoving party's evidence as true, and draw all
inferences in that party's favor. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255.
However, if a party "fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the
existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that
party will bear the burden of proof at trial," summary judgment is
required. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322. Finally, to avoid summary judgment,
the nonmoving party must produce "more than a scintilla
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of evidence" to support her position. Pugh v. City of Attica, 259 F.3d 619,
625 (7th Cir. 2001) (citation omitted).
The Fair Credit Reporting Act was enacted in part to require that
consumer reporting agencies adopt reasonable procedures to ensure the
accuracy of the information contained in a consumer's credit report. See
15 U.S.C. § 1681 (b). The FCRA imposes certain duties on consumer
reporting agencies as well as on entities that furnish information to
credit reporting agencies. 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2. Mann claims that Hogan is
a "furnisher of information" as that term is defined in the FCRA. When a
consumer reporting agency notifies the furnisher of information of a
dispute with regard to the completeness or accuracy of information
furnished by a provider, the provider has a duty to conduct an
investigation with respect to the disputed information, review all
relevant information provided to it by the consumer reporting agency, and
report the results of the investigation to the consumer reporting
agency. Id. § 1681s-2(b)(1)(A)-(C). If the information is found to be
incomplete or inaccurate, it must report the results to all consumer
reporting agencies to which it provided the information. Id. §
1681s-2(b)(1)(D). The entity furnishing the information must satisfy
these requirements within thirty days of its receipt of the notice of the
dispute. Id. § 1681s-2(b)(2). If the entity furnishing the information
negligently or willfully fails to comply with the FCRA, it is liable.
Id. §§ 1681n, 1681o.
Mann contends that Hogan failed to conduct a reasonable investigation
into her dispute. Mann's allegations are complicated by the fact that
there were two different liens reported on her consumer report in August
of 2002. The letter Mann attached to her dispute letter, from the Indiana
Department of Revenue, references a lien for $331 (lien number 0381256)
that was apparently issued erroneously by the Hamilton County Recorder on
April 23, 2002. On the other hand, Hogan reports that it was asked by
Experian to investigate a lien for $67 (lien number 03615029) that was
issued by the Hamilton
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County Recorder on March 26, 2002, and subsequently released. Mann
does not distinguish between the two tax liens contained in her report.
For clarity's sake, we will discuss each lien separately.
Lien number 03831256 was filed against Mann by the Hamilton County
Recorder on April 23, 2002 in the amount of $331. (Pl. Ex. C). This lien
appeared on Mann's credit report issued by Experian August 13, 2002. (Pl.
Ex. F at 2). Throughout her complaint and Local Rule 56.1 Statement of
Facts, Mann discusses Hogan's investigation of her dispute about "a
lien" but never specifies of which lien she complains. Mann was either
confused or initially unaware of the existence of two liens her
credit report dated June 7, 2002 noted a lien for $67, her dispute letter
referenced the lien noted in the June 7, 2002 credit report, but the
letter she attached to dispute the existence of this lien referenced the
$331 lien. Although both tax liens were issued by the Hamilton ...