Blacklisted?

[Anna]

Jamie Fishman was the guest on WBAI tonight. Here's his earlier memo:

There will be an article in this Sunday's Times Real Estate Section about the problem of blacklisting tenants who have been sued in Housing Court. I am planning a federal class action against the largest tenant screening bureau. After Sunday's article I expect the heightened awareness of the issue will bring out more people who have been victims of this practice. I am looking for more plaintiffs and would appreciate any referrals.
Specifically, I'm looking for people who have applied to rent an apartment and have been turned down, at least in part, because a report from the First American Registry that included a prior Housing Court Case, described only as "Case Filed." If the case has been resolved, either by settlement, dismissal, discontinuance or whatever, it violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act by not including the disposition.

**we're only looking for people who have been denied an apartment because of a registry report.

Thanks,

Jamie Fishman
Fishman & Neil, LLP
305 Broadway
NY, NY
212 897 5840
JamesR626@aol.com

You can still read the two articles on the MYTimes, but they might not be online for free much longer, so I suggest you copy them to your PC's today: When the Credit Check is Only the Start and When a Screening Report Errs

[NYHawk]

will someone please send me the articles about tenants being blacklisted?? thanks

[Anna]

the links in the other blacklisting thread still work today...
http://www.tenant.net/.WWW/ubbgraphics/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000825#000000

get them while you can!

[NYHawk]

Thank you!!!!

[Anna]

Anti-blacklisting lawsuit in progress:

Yesterday lawyers representing a tenant filed a class-action lawsuit against First American Registry, a large tenant-screening company, seeking an injunction requiring it to provide updated, accurate information in its reports.

read the whole article here:
http://nytimes.com/2004/02/27/nyregion/27real.html

read the two original NYTimes articles on blacklisting here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/realestate/12COV.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/realestate/12SIDE.html

[Anna]

Blacklist lawsuit UPDATE, as reported in the NYLJ earlier this month:

Suit to Stop Use of Tenant Screening Reports May Proceed

A lawsuit accusing one of the nation's largest tenant information services of providing incomplete and misleading information survived a motion to dismiss Monday. Southern District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan refused to dismiss a claim that tenant screening reports issued by First American Registry violate the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The lawsuit, White v. First American Registry Inc., 04-1611, filed as a class action, claims tha First American's screening reports are based solely on computerized records of lawsuits filed in New York City Housing Court. The company issues its reports without further checking of court records showing the outcomes of cases, said James B. Fishman, who represents the named plaintiff, Adam White. Mr. White lost an apartment, Mr. Fishman of Fishman & Neil said, because First American informed a prospective landlord that he had been sued six years ago for non-payment without disclosing that the case had been dismissed. Jay Harris, a vice president at First American, said that if the plaintiff's view of the Fair Credit Act is accepted, the business practices of a large number of companies that prepare credit reports based on records from New York's court will be "significantly impacted." __Daniel Wise

note: to clarify: First Amer gets its reports from HC when a case is FILED: the very same HC computer contains the fact that the case was dismissed. First Amer told the judge that it believes it should not have to get (and pay for) the updated complete info before selling the info to landlords. The judge was not pleased.....