On Friday, Magistrate Judge David R. Strawbridge of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted motions for Final Approval of Class Action Settlement and Award of Attorneys’ Fees and Reimbursement of Expenses in Kelly v. Business Information Group, Inc. (“BIG”), 2019 WL 414915 (E.D. Penn. Feb. 1, 2019).

Plaintiff Michael Kelley filed this FCRA class action against BIG, a furnisher of consumer credit information, in 2015.  He alleged that he was denied employment opportunities due to an incorrect and adverse public record that was included in a consumer report which BIG furnished to his employer.  He also alleged that he was not given notice by BIG that a credit report with this adverse public record item was being produced to his employer.

As part of the settlement, BIG agreed to provide “same time” notice to consumers that a prospective employer would receive a BIG credit report containing information sourced from Trans Union LLC concerning bankruptcy filings, liens or civil judgments.  Also, BIG agreed to establish a Settlement Fund of $3.3M.  Of that, $1.5M will be allocated to the estimated 865 members of the “Automatic Payment Class”, consumers who filed disputes against BIG related to public information sourced from TransUnion. The Court approved attorneys’ fees of $1.035M.