Omnicare Credit Reporting Class Action Settlement Gets Green Light

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Earlier this week, a California federal judge preliminarily approved a proposed $1.3 million class action settlement over allegations Omnicare Inc.’s background check authorization practices violate federal and state credit reporting laws.

Plaintiff Ijeoma Esomonu says that, when she applied to work for Omnicare, she was required to fill out and sign a background check authorization form and a liability waiver.

According to the Omnicare class action lawsuit, the disclosures required under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) were “embedded with extraneous information” instead of in a stand-alone document as required by the FCRA.

Because the disclosures did not meet the FCRA requirements, Esomonu says that the credit and background reports Omnicare violated federal and state law.

In addition to the FCRA, Esomonu also asserts Omnicare’s practices constituted violations of California’s Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act and California’s Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act.

The parties had agreed to an earlier background check class action settlement proposal but it was rejected in 2017 by a judge who was concerned that the plaintiff’s award was too high in relation to the amount each Class Member would receive from the proposed $485,000 settlement.

Omnicare and Esomonu reached a revised background check class action settlement in March and asked the judge to preliminarily approve the deal.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. granted Esomonu’s motion for preliminary approval. He found that the Class Members have sufficient commonality and that Esomonu’s claims are “factually and legally similar” to the Class Members, and that she is a suitable representative for the Class.

The judge also found that the parties reached the Omnicare class action settlement after engaging in arms’ length negotiations and the payment to Class Members is reasonable given the risks of continued litigation.

Class Members of the proposed Omnicare background check settlement include anyone who received Omnicare’s background disclosure forms from May 4, 2010 through May 25, 2018 and had a consumer report on them that was procured by Omnicare.

Eligible Class Members who do not opt out of the Omnicare settlement will receive a pro rata share of the settlement fund, according to the class action settlement documents. It is estimated that each Class Member will receive a payment of approximately $16.50.

About 50,000 Class Members may be eligible for payment from the Omnicare background check class action settlement, the judge notes in the preliminary approval order.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this Omnicare class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Esomonu is represented by Shaun Setareh of Setareh Law Group.

The Omnicare Credit Reporting Class Action Lawsuit is Ijeoma Esomonu v. Omnicare Inc., Case No. 1:15-cv-02003, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: October 2018, the Omnicare background check class action settlement is now open. Click here for more information.