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Two Verisk Analytics Inc. units agreed to pay $18 million to settle three proposed class action lawsuits that allege the company violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by failing to take reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy of background check reports provided to prospective employers.
The putative class action lawsuits targeted two Verisk units: Intellicorp Records Inc. and Insurance Information Exchange LLC. These companies provide consumer reports including background checks. In their class action lawsuits, the plaintiffs accuse the companies of violating the FCRA by providing incorrect, outdated or incomplete information to potential employers. Specifically, they argue that the defendants failed to provide certain consumers with copies of their consumer reports before delivering them to prospective employers and that the companies failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the reports.
The class action lawsuits alleged a number of issues with the background checks that were sent to prospective employers. Plaintiff Jane Roe (a pseudonym) indicated that a prospective employer received a copy of her background check that omitted material information that was available in public records, claiming that Intellicorp relied on out-of-date information when creating the report.
Plaintiff Michael Thomas, who claims he has no prior criminal history, accused Intellicorp of including the criminal history from other individuals. Due to this error, he claims he was falsely identified as a criminal and was thus disqualified from employment. Plaintiff Mark Johnson raised a similar complaint against Insurance Information Exchange.
The FCRA is a consumer protection statute that requires consumer reporting agencies to create policies that are fair and equitable to consumers with regard to the collection, dissemination and use of their consumer and credit information. In their class action lawsuits, the plaintiffs allege that the companies “fail to use ‘reasonable procedures’ necessary to ensure the ‘maximum possible accuracy’ of the reports they sell.” They also claim that Intellicorp violated the FCRA by failing to notify consumers when it compiles and sells a consumer report to an employer.
The defendants have denied all allegations set forth in the class action lawsuits, insisting that they complied with the FCRA at all times.
By filing the class action lawsuits, the plaintiffs were seeking a statutory damage award between $100 and $1,000 as permitted under the FCRA.
Proposed Class Members include all U.S. residents who were the subject of one or more consumer reports provided to a third party by Intellicorp or Insurance Information Exchange for employment purposes, which contained a “Criminal SuperSearch” result reflecting an arrest or conviction between April 16, 2010 and Sept. 16, 2013.
The parties agreed to a class action settlement amount of $18.6 million, which is equal to the monetary value of free consumer reports to all putative Class Members. The consumer reporting agencies also agreed to update and improve their reporting policies to maximize the accuracy of the reports.
The parties are also seeking to consolidate the three actions into a single class action lawsuit.
The proposed class action settlement is still subject to Court approval.
The plaintiffs are represented by O’Toole McLaughlin Dooley & Pecora Co. LPA, Chavez & Gertler LLP, Consumer Litigation Associates, Lyngklip & Associates Consumer Law Center PLC, The Law Offices of Devin H. Fok, A New Way of Life Reentry Project and Cohen Rosenthal & Kramer LLP.
The class action lawsuits are Jane Roe, et al. v. Intellicorp Records Inc., Case No. 1:12-cv-02288; Michael R. Thomas, et al. v. Intellicorp Records Inc., Case No. 1:12-cv-02433; and Mark A. Johnson, et al. v. Insurance Information Exchange LLC, Case No. 1:13-cv-00616, all in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.
UPDATE 1: Details on how to file a claim for the Intellicorp Background Check Class Action Settlement are up! Eligible consumers can receive between $50 and $2,000 if they file a valid claim by the April 21, 204 deadline.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Claim Form for this settlement requires you to enter the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number. This appears to be the way the Settlement Administrator will verify that you were subject to an improper background check by the defendants. We ALWAYS encourage our readers to protect their personal information by confirming with the Settlement Administrator and/or law firms handling a case to ensure that such information is required. We are NOT a law firm or Settlement Administrator and cannot advise you on if you should submit your SSN. Information on how to contact the Settlement Administrator and law firms for the Intellicrop Background Check Class Action Settlement can be found at www.IntellicorpClassAction.com.
UPDATE 2: A federal judge granted final approval to the Intellicorp background check class action settlement on June 5, 2014. The first round of payments could be going out at the end of the summer/early fall and the second round in early 2015, according to some reports.
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222 thoughts onBackground Check Firms Agree to $18M Class Action Settlement
I just received the same email brooke and Garrett got!! That’s exciting
Yippeeee! Thanks to you all for following up.
I got the same email that Brooke got!
I have an update :) the email I received today is as follows: From:mailto:questions@bgcthomassettlement.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 11:16 AM
To: Brooke S
Subject: RE: claim
We are processing the payments for approved Substantiated Injury Claims at this time. You should receive your check by May 17, 2016. The amount of the check will be approximately $3,000.
Yes!! Thanks Brooke!
I did respond today again, asking if tracking information will be available for the checks as they are mailed and what delivery service will be used. (USPS Certified, FedEx Express, UPS, etc.) Ill let you know what they say… typically I get an email the following day when I have emailed in the past.
Thanks for asking that. I was wondering that myself. Also, if they are saying we’ll get them by the 17th, thats in a week so they should know actual numbers soon.
I HAVE AN UPDATE! :) the email I just recieved from my request yesterday of specific detailed update is as follows. From: questions@bgcthomassettlement.com [mailto:questions@bgcthomassettlement.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 11:16 AM
To: Brooke S******
Subject: RE: claim
We are processing the payments for approved Substantiated Injury Claims at this time. You should receive your check by May 17, 2016. The amount of the check will be approximately $3,000.
Let’s just keep our fingers crossed
If I hear anything new I will let you know!
I emailed again today requesting a DETAILED update, last email I got is below: Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2016 10:04 AM
To: Brooke S******
We are still expecting payment for approved Substantiated Injury Claims to take place in May of 2016. We are currently determining the final check amount and distribution date.
Same one that I got.
I hope that they email you back with more detail though. I’m sure that they are tired of me asking lol.
I just got an e-mail saying I should receive a check by May 17 for approximately $3000.00. I hope this information helps someone.
Thank you. That gives me more hope that the 2800 is correct
Hey clem is your friend reliable? Do you believe that someone told him $2800?
I think my friend is reliable I just don’t know how reliable the people are that are sending the emails out because we’ve all heard different info. Any time I here an amount it is 2800-3000. I’m trying not to get my hopes up though. I could sure use the money though.
Same here
$2800 would help my daughter in college. Far more than I expected and I hope the figure is accurate. Thanks for checking! If I was home during the day I would stop the mailman at the truck. :)
New news!!! I’ve received an email with a more precise date on when sustainable injury checks will be mailed. They said it will be the middle or end of may 2016 ( this month ). Also one of my friends said that he has been emailing the settlement people and they said his may check would be $2800. BUT THEY HAVE SAID IN MORE RENCENT EMAILS THAT THEY DO NOT KNOW THE AMOUNT. so please don’t quote me or make plans for this amount.
Thank you! I just got an email from them yesterday stating that thry did not know the amount or date but they are still anticipating May 2016. Generic answers but answers nonetheless.
I guess we will have to view the home page once a week http://bgcthomassettlement.com/. This is where the date was posted after the 1st checks were mailed. Still showing November 15,2016.
Sorry, showing that was 2015.
The first batch of checks were a little over $600. According to the final settlement those checks were not supposed to exceed $300 following a general calculation. The checks are so much more because the number of class members ended up being much smaller than expected for various reasons. Yipeee for us! From my calculations the checks in May should be at least $1000.
I reached back out to questions@bgcthomassettlement.com today to confirm the date of distribution for Substantiated Injury Members and the final amount. In March when I reached out, the response I received was that the amount would be finalized closer to the May distribution date. I see many people have received several checks – $50 – $327 – $658.04, I have not received anything as of yet, when I was indeed a Substantiated Member, do you know anything in regards to why. I assume the $327 was for people who didnt fill anything out – te $658 was for people who did but not really in detail or were greatly effected – and the April May checks are for those of us who suffered a loss due to the false reporting of the background info. Is this accurate, if so what is the random $50 some people received? Thank you for your help.
That is true what was said above. There were two different check batches going out. The first in November and the second in May. I wish we knew how much they will be but I’m patiently waiting. I too was directly affected and lost a job because of the background check place so I cannot wait to get what is mine!