A District Court judge in Kentucky has granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss after it was sued for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, ruling that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue after accusing the defendant of furnishing information about a debt twice on his credit report.
A copy of the ruling in the case of Lutes v. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. can be accessed by clicking here.
The plaintiff took out a home equity line of credit from a financial institution. That bank merged with the defendant. After the merger, the line of credit began appearing on the plaintiff’s credit report twice – once with the initial bank and once with the new bank. The plaintiff filed suit, alleging the defendant failed to properly investigate his dispute, and that he suffered a concrete injury because he was unable to be approved for a mortgage financing program for which he applied.
The defendant argued the plaintiff lacked standing to sue because he did not suffer a concrete injury. Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky agreed with the defendant. The letter provided by the plaintiff indicating that his mortgage application was unable to be approved was not addressed to him, it was addressed to “to whom it may concern” and then went on to say that the plaintiff “was unable to obtain mortgage financing in the loan program he was wanting due to the double reporting of late payments that kept his scores too low to qualify for it.”
The defendant argued that the letter was unauthenticated hearsay, to which Judge Caldwell agreed. Had the letter been addressed specifically to the plaintiff, then it would have been different, she ruled. Making the situation even worse for the plaintiff was that the letter was undated — there was no way to know when it was sent. The mortgage company apparently made three inquiries on the plaintiff’s credit report, with the first appearing months before the duplicative reporting began.
Without the letter, the plaintiff had no other legal legs on which he could stand, Judge Caldwell determined.
