Man settles lawsuit against Equifax, others over credit reports

CHARLESTON - A lawsuit against Trans Union LLC and others involving claims of inaccurate credit reports has been settled and dismissed from federal court.

Equifax Information Services LLC and Experian Information Solutions Inc. were also named as defendants in the suit.

On Aug. 26, an agreed dismissal order was filed in which Equifax and the plaintiff advised the court that all matters in controversy between the parties have been compromised and settled, according to the order.

On Sept. 12, another agreed dismissal order was filed in which Trans Union, Experian and the plaintiff advised the court that all matters in controversy between the parties have been fully compromised and settled.

On Oct. 14, 2002, Timothy B. Bryant entered into a loan with ABN-AMRO Mortgage Group Inc. and CitiMortgage Inc. was the successor by merger to ABN-AMRO, according to a complaint filed Sept. 25, 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia at Charleston.

Bryant claimed on April 21, 2008, he asserted, through his attorney, claims regarding the loan transaction, including those arising out of the appraisal that was completed in conjunction with the origination of the debt.

On Dec. 22, 2008, the Circuit Court of Logan County entered a judgment order against CitiMortgage and the court's order declared that the note and deed of trust executed by Bryant are void and unenforceable, according to the suit.

Bryant claimed on Jan. 7, 2009, the court entered a corrected judgment order that again declared the note and deed of trust void and unenforceable.

The defendants issued consumer credit reports for Bryant that included a mortgage account for CitiMortgage and stated the status of the mortgage was past due, according to the suit.

Bryant claimed he informed the defendants that his mortgage loan was voided as a result of litigation and enclosed a copy of the judgment order and requested the defendants reinvestigate the matter and delete the disputed mortgage loan.

The defendants failed to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation of the information in Bryant's credit file after receiving actual notice of the inaccuracies; failed to delete inaccurate information upon actual notice of inaccuracies; failed to maintain reasonable procedures with which to filter and verify disputed information in the credit file; and relied upon verification from a source it has reason to know is unreliable, according to the suit.

Bryant was seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest.

He was being represented by Sarah K. Brown and Daniel F. Hedges of Mountain State Justice.

Equifax was represented by Julia Chico Abbitt of Jackson Kelly PLLC. Trans Union and Experian were represented by Debra Lee Hovatter of Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC.

The case was assigned to District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia at Charleston case number: 2:12-cv-05824