Drew v. Equifax Information Services, LLC

This case lends credence to the old adage that bad things come in threes. Eric Drew is a cancer survivor, who required experimental leukemia treatment. During his treatment, Drew’s identity was stolen by a hospital worker. Finally, when Drew attempted to remedy the identity theft, the banks and credit rating agencies were allegedly uncooperative, and continued to report the fraudulently opened accounts, and in the case of one bank, the thief s address was tagged as Drew’s.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Chase Bank on Drew’s false-reporting claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b) (FCRA). Because issues of material fact remain as to Chase’s alleged violations of the FCRA, we reverse the judgment as to these claims. We also reverse the district court’s dismissal of similar claims against FIA Card Services (“FIA”) on statute of limitations grounds. We affirm the denial of Drew’s motion to amend to reinstate his claims under California law.

Background

Nearly a decade ago, in September 2003, Eric Drew began receiving experimental treatment for leukemia in Seattle. After this treatment was unsuccessful, Drew was hospitalized…