INDUSTRY NEWS
Court dismisses FCRA class action for failure to show concrete injury
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, quoting the Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo v. Robins, affirmed the dismissal of an applicant’s class-action suit, finding that the plaintiff failed to show he suffered a concrete injury and thus lacked Article III standing.
In the case of Groshek v. Time Warner Cable, Inc., the plaintiff alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)’s “stand-alone” disclosure requirement. The plaintiff alleged that the disclosure included extraneous information such as a liability release.
The Seventh Circuit found that the plaintiff failed to show he suffered a concrete injury and thus lacked Article III standing because he did not allege that the companies failed to provide him with a disclosure that informed him that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes; that any of the additional information caused him to not understand the consent he was given; that he would not have provided consent but for the extraneous information on the form; that additional information caused him to be confused; or that he was unaware.
With respect to an alleged privacy injury, the Seventh Circuit concluded that because the plaintiff admitted he signed the disclosure and authorization form, he could not maintain that he suffered a concrete privacy injury.
Source: Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, 8/1/2017