Robinson v. U.S. Dep't of Educ., 18-1822

• Decision Date: 06 March 2019
• Docket Number: No. 18-1822,18-1822
• Citation: 917 F.3d 799
• Parties: Anthony ROBINSON, Plaintiff – Appellant, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Defendant – Appellee, and Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, d/b/a Fed Loan Servicing; Equifax Information Services, LLC; Experian Information Solutions, Inc.; Trans Union, LLC, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

917 F.3d 799

Anthony ROBINSON, Plaintiff – Appellant,

v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Defendant – Appellee,andPennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, d/b/a Fed Loan Servicing; Equifax Information Services, LLC; Experian Information Solutions, Inc.; Trans Union, LLC, Defendants.

No. 18-1822

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: January 29, 2019

Decided: March 6, 2019

ARGUED: Quinn Breece Lobato, LOBATO LAW LLC, Lanham, Maryland, for Appellant. Sarah Wendy Carroll, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General, Mark B. Stern, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Robert K. Hur, United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, DIAZ, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Diaz and Judge Floyd joined.

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Anthony Robinson appeals the dismissal of his lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The district court found that it lacked jurisdiction over the claim because Congress had not waived sovereign immunity for suits under FCRA. It is settled law that a waiver of sovereign immunity must be unambiguous and unequivocal. Because the purported waiver here falls well short of that standard, we affirm.

I.

This appeal arises from Robinson’s claims against the Big Three credit reporting agencies—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, and the U.S. Department of Education. The suit related to their treatment of an allegedly fraudulent student loan in Robinson’s name. As all claims against the nonfederal defendants have now run their course, only Robinson’s FCRA claims against the Department of Education remain on appeal.

The Department administers the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, through which it provides loans to students and parents for postsecondary education costs. Robinson’s complaint detailed how the Department of Education "directly or indirectly causes credit information to be furnished to ... consumer reporting agencies." J.A. 13, ¶ 7 (Amended Complaint). Robinson alleged that he "discovered that there were Direct Loan student loan accounts being reported to his Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union credit reports," J.A. 14, ¶ 8, even though he did not "authorize a student loan account to be opened in his name," id. ¶ 9. Appellant asserted that he "has been disputing the Direct Loan accounts," "[s]ince November 2011 or earlier." Id. ¶ 10; see also J.A. 14-15, ¶¶ 11-14. In this action, he alleged that the Department violated FCRA, specifically 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b), "by failing to fully and properly investigate [Appellant’s] disputes," J.A. 17, ¶ 27, and "failing to review all relevant information" related to his claim, id. ¶ 28. The complaint brought claims under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n and 1681o, which provide civil causes of action for willful and negligent FCRA violations, respectively.

The Department filed a motion to dismiss for want of subject matter jurisdiction based on sovereign immunity. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). After comparing FCRA’s language to several recognized waivers of sovereign immunity, the district court reasoned that FCRA’s language did not unequivocally and unambiguously waive sovereign immunity.

Robinson v. Pa. Higher Educ. Assistance Agency , No. GJH-15-0079, 2017 WL 1277429 (D. Md. Apr. 3, 2017). According to the district court, the plaintiff’s reading of the waiver would, among other things, absurdly expose the federal government to criminal prosecutions. The court thus granted the government’s motion and dismissed Robinson’s claims against the Department. Id. Robinson asked the district court to reconsider its ruling, but that motion was denied. Robinson v. Pa. Higher Educ. Assistance Agency , No. GJH-15-0079, 2017 WL 5466673 (D. Md. Nov. 13, 2017). He now appeals.

II.

The only question presented on appeal is whether the United States has waived sovereign immunity for suits alleging that the federal government willfully or negligently violated FCRA. See 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n - 1681o. We use "FCRA" to describe the statute as subsequently amended.

A.

The Supreme Court has recognized that sovereign powers have "traditionally enjoyed" a "common-law immunity from suit." Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez , 436 U.S. 49, 58, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978). As Alexander Hamilton noted while advocating the ratification of the Constitution in Federalist 81, "It is inherent in the nature of sovereignty not to be amenable to the suit of an individual without its consent." The Federalist No. 81, at 511 (B. Wright ed., 1961) (emphasis omitted). That foundational immunity is a "necessary corollary" to "sovereignty and self-governance." Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Cmty. , 572 U.S. 782, 788, 134 S.Ct. 2024, 188 L.Ed.2d 1071 (2014) (internal quotation marks omitted). As such, the federal government has long enjoyed freedom from suit without consent in federal courts. See, e.g. , United States v. Clarke , 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 436, 444, 8 L.Ed. 1001 (1834) (Marshall, C.J.) ("As the United States are not suable of common right, the party who institutes such suit must bring his case within the authority of some act of [C]ongress, or the court cannot exercise jurisdiction over it.").

The Department of Education thus enjoys as a federal agency a presumption of immunity from the present lawsuit. FDIC v. Meyer , 510 U.S. 471, 475, 114 S.Ct. 996, 127 L.Ed.2d 308 (1994). Indeed, "the existence of consent is a prerequisite for jurisdiction." United States v. Mitchell , 463 U.S. 206, 212, 103 S.Ct. 2961, 77 L.Ed.2d 580 (1983). A strong doctrine of sovereign immunity is nowhere more important than for damages claims. Money judgments against a sovereign allow "the judgment creditor" to compete with "other important needs and worthwhile ends ... for access to the public fisc." Alden v. Maine , 527 U.S. 706, 751, 119 S.Ct. 2240, 144 L.Ed.2d 636 (1999) ; see Office of Pers. Mgmt. v. Richmond , 496 U.S. 414, 428-32, 110 S.Ct. 2465, 110 L.Ed.2d 387 (1990) (applying similar rationale to damages against the federal government). Instead, as the Framers recognized, the allocation of resources must be left to the will of the people. Alden , 527 U.S. at 751, 119 S.Ct. 2240.

One way the people may exercise their will, however, is to consent to suit by waiving sovereign immunity. Meyer , 510 U.S. at 475, 114 S.Ct. 996. Damages suits against the United States, as with any litigant, may incentivize good behavior or appropriately compensate those who have been harmed. But it remains the province of the political branches, not the courts, to weigh the costs and benefits of exposing the federal government to civil litigation. "A waiver of the Federal Government’s sovereign immunity must be unequivocally expressed in statutory text ... and will not be implied."

Lane v. Pena , 518 U.S. 187, 192, 116 S.Ct. 2092, 135 L.Ed.2d 486 (1996). In other words, waivers cannot contain an ambiguity, which "exists if there is a plausible interpretation of the statute that would not authorize money damages against the Government." FAA v. Cooper , 566 U.S. 284, 290-91, 132 S.Ct. 1441, 182 L.Ed.2d 497 (2012). Sovereign immunity, in short, can only be waived by statutory text that is unambiguous and unequivocal. The requirement exists, in part, to prevent the inadvertent imposition of massive monetary loss.

B.

Against this backdrop, we shall examine the purported waiver itself. Robinson contends that his claims were wrongly dismissed because the United States has indeed waived sovereign immunity to civil actions under FCRA’s general liability provisions. See 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n - 1681o. The plaintiff bears the burden of showing that the government has waived sovereign immunity at the motion to dismiss stage. Williams v. United States , 50 F.3d 299, 304 (4th Cir. 1995). We review the district court’s ruling de novo. Welch v. United States , 409 F.3d 646, 650 (4th Cir. 2005).

FCRA provides a series of requirements for handling consumer credit information in order to "ensure fair and accurate credit reporting, promote efficiency in the banking system, and protect consumer privacy." Safeco Ins. Co. of Am. v. Burr , 551 U.S. 47, 52, 127 S.Ct. 2201, 167 L.Ed.2d 1045 (2007). Robinson claims the Department violated a provision that requires it, after being notified that a consumer disputes information relating to his credit, to "conduct an investigation with respect to the disputed information." 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b)(1)(A). FCRA § 1681o provides that "[a]ny person who is negligent in failing to comply with any requirement imposed under this subchapter with respect to any consumer is liable to that consumer" for actual damages, costs, and attorney’s fees. For its part, § 1681n applies to willful FCRA violations, and adds punitive damages to the remedies for negligent violations under § 1681o. District courts have jurisdiction over any timely action properly brought under either provision. See 15 U.S.C. § 1681p.

This case centers on the meaning of the word "person" in § 1681n and § 1681o, specifically whether the federal government is a "person" for purposes of FCRA’s general civil liability provisions. We begin our inquiry, as always, with the text of the statute. See Clark v. Absolute Collection Serv., Inc. , 741 F.3d 487, 489 (4th Cir. 2014). Robinson attempts to isolate FCRA’s definitional and civil liability provisions from the rest of the statute in arguing that FCRA’s text is straightforward. FCRA’s causes of action for willful and negligent violations apply to any "person." See 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681n - 1681o. The statute itself defines "person" to include "any individual, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, cooperative, association, government or...