Courtney Jorstad  |  September 11, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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LexisNexisA $13.5 million class action settlement against LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Inc. alleging that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was given final approval by a Virginia federal judge Friday.

LexisNexis has a service for debt collectors called Accurint, in which it sells financial information about debtors they are trying to collect on.

According to the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit, LexisNexis has sold its “Accurint brand reports to debt collectors without treating the reports as ‘consumer reports’ within the meaning of the the FCRA,” U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer explained in his final ruling.

LexisNexis has argued “that Accurint reports are not ‘consumer reports’ within the meaning of the FCRA, and as a result, have not attempted to afford customers with respect to the Accurint reports that the FCRA requires with respect to ‘consumer reports.'”

The LexisNexis class action lawsuit included two classes — the impermissible use class and the file request and dispute class.

The impermissible use class includes “every person listed in the Accurint reports.”

The file request and dispute class is for every person who requested a copy of their file” from LexisNexis and “every person who filed a dispute regarding the information reported,” from Oct. 1, 2006 through April 29, 2013, which is about 31,000 people.

Each person that falls in this class will receive about $300, unless they either excluded him or herself from the settlement or objected to it by July 12, 2013. If a class member received a postcard notifying them of this class action settlement, he or she does not have to do anything to receive their settlement payment.

The impermissible use class will receive injunctive relief. This class includes about 200 million people.

LexisNexis “will implement a substantial, nationwide program that addresses the issues raised in the complaint . . . and will result in a significant shift from the currently accepted industry practices.”

As a result, LexisNexis will “become the industry leader among data aggregation companies in the protection of customer information provided to debt collectors.”

Specifically, LexisNexis “will overhaul their currently existing Accurint for Collections (AFC) suite of products for the Receivables Management Market, which they currently do not treat as ‘consumer reports’ as defined by the FCRA,” Judge Spencer explained.

“The Defendants will split AFC into two newly developed suites of products and services,” he wrote. “The first suite, called ‘Collections Decisioning,’ falls within the FCRA definition of a ‘consumer report’ and will be treated as such.

“The second suite, called ‘Contact & Locate,’ will not be treated as falling within the ‘consumer report’ definition under the FCRA because the Parties agree it does not fall within the FCRA definition,” he added.

In 2013, LexisNexis agreed to the allegations by the class, that it violated the FCRA.

However, Judge Spencer explained that the Federal Trade Commission sees it differently.

“In this case, all of Plaintiffs’ claims are predicated on Accurint reports being deemed “consumer reports” within the meaning of the FCRA,” Judge Spencer wrote. “However, the FTC in 2008 voted unanimously that Accurint for Collection reports do not fall within the FCRA and do not involve credit reports.”

“Absent some authority to the contrary, the merit of Plaintiffs’ claims — and, necessarily, the absent class members’ theoretical future claims — is speculative at best,” he contends.

“For this reason, the benefit of substantial relief without the risk of litigation demonstrates the adequacy of the Settlement Agreement,” he added.

Information for receiving a settlement check is provided by a website set up for the purpose of informing class members.

Please let Top Class Actions know in the comments section if you receive a check from this LexisNexis class action settlement.

The LexisNexis Accurint Fair Credit Reporting Class Action Lawsuit is Gregory Thomas Berry et al., v. LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Inc. et al., Case No. 3:11-cv-00754-JRS in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division.

The class is represented by Leonard Bennett of Consumer Litigation Associates, Dale Pittman, Michael Caddell of Caddell & Chapman, and James Francis of Francis & Mailman.

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104 thoughts onLexisNexis Pays $13.5M Fair Credit Reporting Class Action Settlement

  1. Gg says:

    I am just learning about LexisNexis through applying for auto financing I have been noticing that they were being listed as a source for finance companies decisions on your loan application. I had no idea there was a class action suit against them nor did I know that they’re only supposed to keep your information and their database for a 90 days and it’s supposed to be permanently removed I see that that hasn’t happened based on some of the comments that I have read and the reports from the class action suit. I’m going to follow up with the justice department as you suggested. I kind of felt like something was going on because I’m getting all these negative responses even though my credit score has been increasing like every month it’s been increasing at least 18 to 30 points but yet is still not really affecting my approval for anything. I did request a copy of my credit report I have been involved in three data breaches since 2019 to 2023 the latest one being 2023 May of this year so please keep me informed of any additional information you may acquire but I’m going to contact the attorney general’s office cuz I didn’t know anything about what this company does and I’ve been up for hours researching them so I appreciate the information that you shared. Thank you! Oh and PS I felt like I was being blacklisted but I thought it was coming from the finance company it could be coming from them because of information that Lexus Lexus has that I wasn’t aware of and one of the denial letters that I received mentioned a bankruptcy and I’ve never filed bankruptcy so I don’t even know where they got that information from.

  2. Pamela Russell says:

    Lexis Nexis is now part of Sage Stream and they are a “nightmare”. They continue to provide erroneous information to “third party” and others. I need to get any info to particpate in a “class action” or become part of one already in progress. I had a “scammer” steal my Identity and had given all info to both organizations. I had “blocked” them from giving out this “bogus” and any other info . Now they are saying they can not “identify” me.. …. this has to STOP!

  3. Prabhakar Doddaballapur says:

    I am writing to file a formal complaint against Lexus and Nexus regarding their persistent harassment and the inclusion
    of incorrect information on my vehicle report, which has resulted in me being forced to pay exorbitant insurance amounts
    for several years. I believe these practices are deceptive and unjust, and I kindly request your intervention and investigation
    into this matter.

    I would like to provide the following details and evidence to support my complaint:

    Incident Details: Member Select Insurance Company.

    Dates: May 2014 Onwards [Specify the period during which the harassment and inaccuracies occurred]
    Nature of Harassment: Inaccuracies reported in my Insurance which resulted in very high insurance amounts which crippled my fiances.
    When I contacted over phone they refused to remove it from the report. Which resulted in Job loss and financial hardships in my life.

    Inaccurate Vehicle Reporting: Inaccuracies in the report led to the increase in premiums from $150/ Month to
    $350 /month which made me switch from one insurance to another and they have not stopped at that. Even now they have posted
    Member Select Insurance Companies though they are no claims they have posted in my credit report which is resulting in higher
    premiums for one car which does not make any sense.

  4. Alyssa FarrarDonkel says:

    Hello people!! LexisNexis Has NOT stopped. As of 4/20/2023 the operators for lexisnexis phone # will ask for your ss#. Unknown operator!! From Philippines or India. Hardly understand them. They lie. Go immediately to consumer protection
    & Advocacy section with the Attorney General in your state. File your complaint to them. I never heard of C.L.U.E. until an insurance company told me Geico underwriters were (liars) reporting I had at first in February I had 30 window repairs from 2020 to 2023. No I did not. Then after I call liars Geico, RUN,Cancel!!, they changed it willy nilly to 11 tows as of April 2023. They the underwriters at Geico are purposely ruining our C.L.U.E. report!!!
    Even the DMV said they have no idea who they are! Anyway I am as of today finding it hard to find a insurance company that doesn’t use them. Statefarm does not but if your credit is poor or fair, your monthly payment will be that. They now want instead of $78 a month but $163 because of misinformation being reported. So no, this last law suit did NOT stop them from the same nefarious cruel way they use, yrs USE us to pay for their crimes and fraud along with the auto or home owner insurance company one thought was billing you correctly for your policy. All because underwriters had a bad day and didn’t like you or whatever is up their big butt. This is uncalled for to the millions of people who are being mistreated Still as of Today.
    Revolt!!
    Cancel your auto insurance policy and demand accountability!!!!
    Stop being the lamb led to slaughter because of national greed lexisnexis is in cohoots with mist insurance companies. RUN
    Go to statefarm or freeway. Just stop lexisnexis. They have permission from you when you sign up to your BANK ACCT!! Your passwords!!. When I had Geico, someone every month was stealing money from bank acct. Since we canceled our geico acct we have had No bank card theft. Check your bank statements. These charges are for grocery, gas, antique stores!!. That’s how they steal from your cards!! Grey hound bus, motels. I am not kidding!!
    We have lost over $50k. Check your bank statements!!
    So I advocate for another class action suit against this nefarious group that is doing this crime with underwriters. Examine your underwriters. Actually listen to phone calls and ALWAYS RECORD Them!!!
    Do NOT believe the person talking or just listening to you from lexisnexis. We asked for the opt out. Opted out. We asked for our (clue) report. I’m filing today with attorney General and already started an investigation thru my states insurance board. I was told by an attorney that no attorney would sue . Of course they are negative and liar. Poor guy. Toxic. Egads. Hope I never have to hire that attorney!! But as you see when you read before this comment, there is attorney’s that did sue lexisnexis!! No body deserves this kind of business ethics

    1. pat says:

      Please contact me if you know of any way to fight Nexus Lexus as I know what a monster this company is and will pass on lies with total disregard that can ruin your credit. pcolligan@gmail.com

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