New York Court Slams Dealership on Identity Theft
On July 13, 2023, New Yorkers had a major win for their consumer rights when the Southern District of New York issued a decision that a jury should get to decide whether a car dealership willfully allowed a Brooklyn woman’s identity to be stolen to sell a car.
Under a law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), consumers have the right for their credit reports to not be pulled and used without their permission. Legitimate auto dealerships will pull a consumer’s credit report with their permission to help determine what financing they can obtain to buy a car.
In this case, Francois v. Victory Auto Group LLC d/b/a Victory Mitsubishi, the consumer’s identity was stolen by a man who went to the Victory Mitsubishi dealership and gave the dealership her personal information, which was used to buy a car. Victory Mitsubishi made several arguments to the Court, but most importantly (1) it was the thief, not the dealership, that caused Ms. Francois’ emotional distress and (2) the dealership did not know that it was identity theft.
The Court rejected these arguments because of how the identity theft occurred. The thief also had the credit report of another consumer pulled who was not with the thief, as well as having his own credit pulled, but their credit was insufficient to get financing to buy a car, so the car was bought in the name of Ms. Francois instead. The Court held that this showed that Ms. Francois’ credit report being pulled without her permission was crucial to the fraudulent sale of the car in her name, and thus the Dealership should be responsible for her emotional distress. And because the thief had tried to get credit using multiple names, the Court held there was a plausible inference that Defendants knew that it could be or was identity theft, and disregarded that possibility in order to make a sale.
The Dealership asked the Court to reconsider its decision, claiming that the Court got the order of the credit reports wrong, and on February 2, 2024 the Court denied their Motion, holding that it was not the order of the credit reports that was important as much as that they were all pulled before the fraudulent sale of the car.
If your credit reports were pulled without your permission, please call (718) 522-7900 to set up a consultation. We are located at 16 Court St., 26th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11241 and represent consumers throughout the New York City area. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
