NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – A Birmingham, Alabama man is suing a background check company over claims it furnishes inaccurate information in its reports.
Ralph Gambles, individually and for all others similarly situated, filed a class-action lawsuit Dec. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Sterling Infosystems, alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
In January 2014, while Gambles was applying to work as a mortgage banker, Sterling furnished a background report on him to his prospective employer.
The report purported to contain information about where Gambles had lived. It included 53 total address entries, but the suit claims many of these addresses contradict one another, and that the report contained only 19 unique addresses. Job applicants can be labeled as high risk based on this information, the suit states.
The report also indicates when Gambles was "first seen" and "last seen" at each address, but the suit states many of these dates overlap and conflict with one another. The suit states this inaccurate information is adverse to Gambles and others in the class on whom Sterling has furnished background reports.
Gambles and others in the class seek statutory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees and costs. They are represented by attorneys Michele R. Fisher, E. Michelle Drake and Megan D. Yelle of Nicholas Kaster PLLP in Minneapolis, and by attorney Shanon J. Carson of Berger & Montague in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Case number 1:15-CV-09746-PAE