Massachusetts Federal Court Holds FCRA Does Not Preempt Massachusetts Inaccurate Reporting Claim

On December 1, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts denied a furnisher’s motion to dismiss claims of inaccurate credit reporting brought under Massachusetts state laws that allow claims against furnishers of credit information that fail to follow reasonable procedures to ensure that information given to consumer reporting agencies is accurate. Catanzaro v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., Civil Action 09-105550, 2009 WL 4363207 (D. Mass. Dec. 1, 2009). The consumer claimed that the defendants – furnishers of credit information a consumer reporting agency – violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Massachusetts state law in connection with furnishing and reporting allegedly incorrect credit report information. In rejecting the furnisher’s argument that FCRA preempted the state law claims, the court noted that the Massachusetts requirement to follow reasonable procedures to provide information to a consumer reporting agency that is accurate and complete, M.G.L. c. 93, § 54A(a), is one of two state statutory provisions that is expressly excluded from FCRA’s preemption provision. Although the Massachusetts provision allowing a private right of action, M.G.L. c. 93, § 54A(g), is not mentioned in the FCRA carve-out from preemption, the court held that § 54A(g) is similarly not preempted by the FCRA, as it is “simply a mechanism allowing private litigants to enforce a state standard for credit reporting that Congress deliberately chose not to preempt.” The court held, however, that the consumer’s additional state law claims were in fact preempted by the FCRA, and granted defendants’ motion to dismiss those claims.