Consumer Protection – FCRA — preemption

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United States Court of Appeals

Civil

Consumer Protection – FCRA — preemption

The Fair Credit Reporting Act preempts both state statutes and state common law actions.

“The district court saw a difference between ‘law,’ which it thought refers to all sources of law, and ‘laws,’ which the judge thought refers only to statutes. Swift reached the same conclusion (the Rules of Decision Act refers to state ‘laws’ rather than ‘law’); Erie held otherwise. Under the Dictionary Act, 1 U.S.C. §1, ‘words importing the plural include the singular’. Legislative-drafting manuals used by both the House and the Senate instruct legislators to write all statutes in the singular in order to avoid ambiguity. See House Legislative Counsel’s Manual on Drafting Style §351(g) (1995); Office of the Legislative Counsel, United States Senate, Legislative Drafting Manual §§ 104, 113 (1997). The interpretive problems generated by §1681t(b)(1) demonstrate the wisdom of that advice.”

Reversed and Remanded.

10-3975 Purcell v. Bank of America

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Moody, J., Easterbrook, J.