Milton Mende v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1978, plaintiff Mende filed a complaint against defendant Dun & Bradstreet in the state superior court. A month later the complaint was removed to federal district court under diversity jurisdiction. Plaintiff’s complaint sought damages and injunc-tive relief from Dun & Bradstreet for alleged improper consumer credit reporting pursuant to the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act, Cal.Civ.Code § 1785 et seq. Plaintiff’s four causes of action were for (1) reporting obsolete credit information, (2) reporting inaccuracies in consumer reports, (3). failure to reinvesti-gate or delete inaccurate or unverifiable information, and (4) an injunction against the issuance of defendant’s reports.

Dun & Bradstreet filed an answer denying, inter alia, that it had an obligation to comply with the pertinent sections of the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (“California Act”).

Dun &. Bradstreet subsequently filed an amended answer that did not raise any new defenses but that included a counterclaim for attorneys’ fees. On June 10, 1980, the district court granted a motion of defendant for an order compelling plaintiff to answer interrogatories and…