CLARKSBURG — A woman is suing Experian and Trans Union after she claims they violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Lisa McMorrow filed the lawsuit against Experian Information Solutions and Trans Union LLC in Monongalia Circuit Court. It was later removed to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia at Clarksburg.
McMorrow claims she had a mortgage loan serviced through Ocwen Loan Servicing from March 2014 until June 1 and on Dec. 1, 2015, she filed a lawsuit against Ocwen for the mishandling of the loan, including failing to apply payments to the loan and misrepresenting amounts allegedly due.
The parties mutually agreed on Dec. 21, 2016, to settle the litigation and a settlement and release were signed, according to the suit.
McMorrow claims the agreement provided that Ocwen had 30 days to notify the credit reporting agencies to update that any of Ocwen’s prior derogatory reporting on the mortgage loan instead reflect no reporting for that month. A dismissal in the case was filed on March 21, 2017.
McMorrow noticed when she applied for an auto loan in August 2018 that there were issues with her credit report related to the Ocwen mortgage loan.
The plaintiff was denied credit because of the payment history that was appearing on her credit reports involving Ocwen and when she investigated it, she saw that Experian and Trans Union had each issued a consumer credit report for the plaintiff that indicated derogatory events on the mortgage account, according to the suit.
McMorrow claims she reported the issue to Trans Union and Experian and asked them both to investigate and correct the accounts, but neither agency ever responded to her requests.
The defendants’ actions in failing to correct McMorrow’s credit reports caused her harm, according to the suit.
McMorrow is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. She is represented by Michael Nissim-Sabat and Jennifer S. Wagner of Mountain State Justice in Morgantown.
The lawsuit was removed to federal court after Trans Union filed a notice of removal, arguing that because McMorrow made claims involving federal laws, the case belonged in federal court.
Trans Union is represented by Robert E. Ryan and R. Mitch Moore of Steptoe & Johnson in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia Case number: 1:19-cv-00220