Schoendorf

Defendant U.D. Registry, Inc. (UDR), is a consumer reporting agency that gathers information about unlawful detainer cases and sells it to landlords and other subscribers. Plaintiff Faye A. Schoendorf, a tenant, filed this action against UDR, alleging that it was providing misleading and incomplete information about her.

UDR moved to strike the complaint under section 425.16 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which prohibits “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” better known by the acronym SLAPP. The trial court concluded that this action was a meritless attempt to chill UDR’s constitutional rights and granted the motion.

On appeal UDR contends that it was not required to make any changes in plaintiff’s report because the information she provided was not a matter of public record. We conclude that plaintiff made a sufficient showing that UDR should have modified her report even if the additional information was not contained in court files or similar sources. Accordingly, we reverse.

I

Background

UDR provides a service to landlords known as “tenant screening.” UDR typically provides its subscribers with consumer reports consisting of a standard credit…