## Facts

- TeleCheck provided check-verification services and maintained information used in consumer reports about check writers.
- In 2002, Tennessee changed its driver’s license numbering system.
- Cheryl Beaudry alleged TeleCheck failed to account for the change, causing its system to inaccurately identify many Tennessee consumers, including her, as first-time check writers.
- Beaudry alleged TeleCheck was a “consumer reporting agency” under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and willfully failed to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of information in consumer reports.
- She sought to represent a class of affected Tennessee consumers and requested declaratory relief, injunctive relief, statutory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs.
- Beaudry did not allege out-of-pocket loss or other traditional actual damages; the claim relied on statutory remedies for a willful FCRA violation.

## Issues

1. Whether a plaintiff seeking statutory damages under FCRA § 1681n for a willful violation must plead and prove actual damages as a prerequisite to recovery.
2. Whether alleging that the plaintiff was the subject of inaccurate information in a consumer report, without alleging economic loss, is a sufficiently personal injury to support statutory damages under § 1681n.

## Decision

- The Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal and remanded.
- The court held that § 1681n does not require proof of actual damages to recover statutory damages for a willful FCRA violation.
- The court concluded Beaudry’s allegations plausibly stated a claim because she alleged a willful violation affecting her personally through inaccurate reporting.

## Legal Principles

- Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681n(a)(1), liability for willful noncompliance provides a disjunctive remedy: actual damages “or” statutory damages of $100–$1,000, making statutory damages available even absent proof of actual damages.
- A plaintiff may state a claim for statutory and punitive damages under § 1681n by plausibly alleging a willful violation of the FCRA’s duties (including the duty under § 1681e(b) to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy).
- For statutory damages, the required injury may consist of being personally subjected to an inaccurate consumer report generated through an alleged willful failure to comply with the FCRA, even if no economic loss is alleged.

## Conclusion

The Sixth Circuit held that the FCRA permits recovery of statutory damages for willful violations without pleading or proving actual damages, and that allegations of inaccurate consumer reporting affecting the plaintiff personally can support such a claim at the pleading stage.


Beaudry v. TeleCheck Servs., Inc., 579 F.3d 702 (6th Cir. 2009)