On June 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of a consumer reporting agency (CRA) in a FCRA related case, holding that the CRA followed “reasonable procedures” when it included a plaintiff’s twin brother’s speeding ticket on two successive background checks. The plaintiff alleged that the CRA violated the FCRA’s requirement to “follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy” under 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b) when the agency searched the North Dakota Courts’ website using the plaintiff’s full name and date of birth, which returned the twin brother’s speeding conviction.

The court rejected the plaintiff’s arguments that the agency should not have relied on the court website, should have maintained specific procedures for twins or similar names, and should have investigated further based on alleged facial inaccuracies such as differing driver’s license numbers. The court held that the agency reasonably relied on the North Dakota Courts’ website as a reputable source, noting that the FCRA is not a strict liability statute and that a CRA is not liable for reporting inaccurate information from a source it reasonably believes is reputable absent notice of systemic problems. The court found that court records grouped the brothers together under one “case jacket” and listed them as aliases of each other, and that neither a “boilerplate” disclaimer on the court website nor an inconsistency between the report’s criminal section showing a speeding ticket and its motor vehicle section showing a clean driving record constituted evidence of such systemic problems. The court also found that the plaintiff had not shown the CRA knew he was a twin and that requiring the agency to go beyond the face of court records would substantially increase the cost of reporting services.