Michael R. Pennington Quoted in Westlaw Journal Computer & Internet Regarding Spokeo v. Robins

Litigation partner Mike Pennington was quoted in Westlaw Journal Computer & Internet regarding what is at stake in a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court against Spokeo Inc., which purportedly runs a website that collects and publishes consumer "credit estimates."

The issue before the nation’s high court is whether Thomas Robins has constitutional standing to bring his proposed federal class action, which alleges Spokeo willfully violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

"I think the questions from the justices in oral argument suggest that the specific facts of Spokeo may not present the real issue as cleanly as another case might have," said Pennington. "For example, numerous federal statutes applicable to lenders and mortgage servicers, such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act [15 U.S.C. § 1692], require notices containing certain information to be sent within a certain number of days of a given event. If the notice is sent a day late, then even if the notice was otherwise perfectly accurate and even if the customer already new all of the information, some courts say the lender or mortgage servicer is automatically liable for statutory damages, potentially on a class-wide basis."

Read the complete article, "Spokeo v. Robins: Experts comment on constitutional standing," which first appeared in Westlaw Journal Computer & Internet on November 20, 2015.