Plaintiffs brought suit for Louisiana residents whose credit information was sold by TransUnion to third parties in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681, et seq, pursuant to the enforcement provisions of Louisiana Revised Statute 9:3571.1(G)(3). The court of appeal rejected TransUnion’s arguments that the suit was effectively preempted by parallel litigation in the Federal Courts. The filing of a similar class action in Federal Court by the same counsel did not render plaintiff inadequate, nor did the FTC’s administrative enforcement action preclude a finding of superiority. The court also rejected the defendant’s argument that individual issues predominated under Banks v. New York Life: “The exact information sold and the buyers of this information will not be the same for each individual but all the individuals would have the same basic complaint that their legally protected privacy interests had been violated.” See Andrews v. TransUnion Corp., 2004-2158 (La. App. 4th Cir. 8/17/2005), 917 So.2d 463, writ denied.

[See also, In re Trans Union Corp. Privacy Lit., MDL No. 1350, 2005 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 17548 (N.D.Ill. Aug. 17, 2005) (certifying class of Illinois consumers for statutory damages under the FCRA).]

[Note – Steve Herman and Herman Herman Katz represent Mr. Andrews and the Louisiana class.]