9th Cir.;
11-56843

The court of appeals reversed a judgment and remanded. The court held that allegations regarding the posting of a materially false credit profile on the internet were sufficient concrete to satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement for Article III standing.

Spokeo, Inc., operates a website by the same name that compiles consumer data and builds individual consumer-information profiles. It posted a report on Thomas Robins. Robins discovered the report to be inaccurate. According to Robins, the report falsely stated his age, marital status, wealth, education level, and profession, and included a photo of a different person. These errors harmed his employment prospects at a time when he was out of work, and he continued to be unemployed and suffered emotional distress as a consequence. Robins sued Spokeo for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which requires that a reporting agency “follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy.”