Wen Chiang succeeded on the law but failed on the facts in his Fair Credit Reporting Act claim against Verizon. In Chiang v. Verizon New England Inc., Case No. 09-1214 (lst Cir., Feb. 9, 2010), Chiang claimed that Verizon failed to investigate adequately his disputes about the telephone bill payment information it furnished to the consumer reporting agencies (“CRA”). In this case of first impression for the lst Circuit, the Court concluded that the FCRA does provide a private right of action when a furnisher of credit information fails to conduct a reasonable investigation after a CRA notifies it that a consumer disputes information it provided. 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b). In order to make out a case, a plaintiff must show:
- The furnisher received a dispute from a CRA;
- The furnisher’s investigation of the dispute was unreasonable; and
- There were actual inaccuracies that the furnisher could have discovered had it conducted a reasonable investigation.