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robbieo11 has just posted in the CreditWrench Resources forum of CreditWrench under the title of Consumer Not Required To Plead That A Cra Gave Notice To A.

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8. CONSUMER NOT REQUIRED TO PLEAD THAT A CRA GAVE NOTICE TO A

FURNISHER OF A CONTESTED ENTRY; DISCOVERY ON THIS IS ALLOWED

Watson v. Trans Union Credit Bureau, et al., 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7376, No. 04-205-B-C

(D. Me. 04/28/05).

FCRA imposes obligations on furnishers of information, technically speaking, only

after a CRA notifies them about disputed record information. The furnisher must investigate

the disputed information and report the results back to the CRA. A consumer can sue a

furnisher under FCRA for failing to fulfill its obligations; however the consumer is not

absolutely required to specifically allege in his complaint that the CRA properly notified the

furnisher about the disputed credit information. Rather, the consumer should be given an

opportunity to collect evidence on this point during discovery to establish this FCRA element.

The plaintiff Watson was victimized by identity theft. The thief obtained credit from

New Cingular Wireless and ran up cellular phone bills in Watson's name. After the identity

thief failed to pay the cellular phone bills, Cingular reported the delinquent account in

Watson's name to the CRAs.

Watson sued Cingular for violating FCRA by failing to properly investigate and to

correct inaccurate information on his credit report. Cingular moved to dismiss on the grounds

that Watson inadequately alleged a FCRA violation since Watson did not assert that Cingular

as the furnisher was notified by a CRA.

FCRA Section 1681s-2(b)(1) provides that "[a]fter receiving notice pursuant to section

1681i(a)(2) of a dispute with regard to the completeness or accuracy of any information

provided by a person to a consumer reporting agency, the person shall" take certain measures

to address and resolve the dispute. Cingular argued that Watson's claim should be dismissed

because he failed to allege that Cingular received notice from a CRA . The Court disagreed:

"Given the fact that [the consumer] would not necessarily be privy to communications between

the credit reporting agency and the furnisher, it is legitimate to allow [him] discovery on the

question, rather than dismissing the action for want of a straw allegation."
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