Supreme Court Won’t Hear TransUnion’s Case
The Supreme Court has refused to hear TransUnion LLC’s arguments that sale of consumer information generated from credit data is protected by the First Amendment. The decision marks the end of the decade-long fight between the Federal Trade Commission and the Chicago-based information service bureau over interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
TransUnion has not used data from its credit files to generate marketing lists in more than a year, and so the decision will not materially affect its current operations. But the decision by the court not to hear the case could pave the way for several class-action lawsuits filed on behalf of consumers, and sets the stage for further inquiry into free-speech protections.
The court did not give a reason for declining to hear the case. Based on an earlier Supreme Court decision, a 1994 Appeals Court ruling held that Dun & Bradstreet reports did not qualify as free speech because those reports contained false information.
