A District Court judge in New Jersey has certified a class action in a Fair Credit Reporting Act case over postcards sent to landlords detailing the eviction histories of tenants. The decision allows the case to proceed on behalf of tens of thousands of tenants whose names and eviction filing histories were allegedly disclosed on open, unsealed postcards mailed to landlords as a marketing tool.
The background: The case was filed after the plaintiff discovered a postcard that identified her by name and referenced a prior eviction filing. The postcard was sent to her landlord while an eviction proceeding was ongoing. According to the complaint, the postcards were generated from a standardized template and mailed without envelopes, making their contents visible during transit.
- The postcards identified prior eviction filings and suggested that the landlord could have been warned about “trouble tenants” if the landlord had been a customer.
- The plaintiff alleged that the postcards constituted consumer reports under the FCRA and were furnished for an impermissible purpose. She claimed the defendant failed to verify the identity of the landlord recipients or certify how the information would be used, as required by the statute.
- The lawsuit further alleged that the open and unsealed nature of the postcards caused reputational harm and invaded the privacy of tenants whose information appeared on them.
The ruling: In granting class certification, Judge Madeline Cox Arleo of the District Court for the District of New Jersey concluded that the postcards were substantially similar, were sent pursuant to the same marketing practice, and raised the same legal questions for all proposed class members.
- Judge Arleo rejected arguments that liability depended on whether landlords actually used the information to deny housing. Instead, the focus was on whether the defendant expected the information to be used in housing decisions and whether the postcards were furnished to third parties for an impermissible purpose. As the judge noted, “the Postcard Reports themselves indicate that the tenant information they include is the same type of information used in rental recommendation reports.”
- Judge Arleo also found that alleged reputational harm and embarrassment from the disclosure of eviction information on unsealed postcards was a concrete injury. She observed that claims of willful violations under the FCRA do not require proof of actual damages tied to housing denials.
