Young v. Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc.

• Decision Date: 11 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. 00-31254.,00-31254.
• Citation: 294 F.3d 631
• Parties: James YOUNG, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EQUIFAX CREDIT INFORMATION SERVICES, INC.; et al., Defendants, Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc.; J.C. Penney Co., Inc.; Credit Bureau of Lake Charles Inc., Defendants-Appellees. James Young, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Credit Bureau of Lake Charles Inc.; Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc.; J.C. Penney Co., Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

294 F.3d 631

James YOUNG, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EQUIFAX CREDIT INFORMATION SERVICES, INC.; et al., Defendants, Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc.; J.C. Penney Co., Inc.; Credit Bureau of Lake Charles Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

James Young, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Credit Bureau of Lake Charles Inc.; Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc.; J.C. Penney Co., Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 00-31254.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

June 11, 2002.

Michael Talmadge Lewis (argued), Pauline Shuler Lewis, Christopher Ethan Kittell,

Lewis & Lewis, Clarksdale, MS, David Anthony Szwak, Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak, Shreveport, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Kevin John Christensen (argued), Hulse & Wanek, New Orleans, LA, for J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Cindy Dawn Hanson (argued), Bradley Jay Miller, Mara McRae, Kilpatrick Stockton, Atlanta, GA, Brian D. Roth, Sessions, Fishman & Nathan, New Orleans, LA, for Equifax Credit Information Services Inc.

Frederick L. Cappel, Raggio, Cappel, Chozen & Berniard, Lake Charles, LA, for Credit Bureau of Lake Charles.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Before GARWOOD, WIENER, and CLEMENT,¹ Circuit Judges.

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff-appellant James Young (Young) appeals the dismissal on summary judgment of his action against defendants-appellees J.C. Penney Co. (Penney), Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc. (Equifax), and Credit Bureau of Lake Charles (CBLC). We affirm in part and vacate and remand in part.

Facts and Proceedings Below

Young contends that the defendants injured him by publishing defamatory credit information concerning a Penney department store charge account (the Penney account) that another person fraudulently opened in his name. On January 27, 1999, Young filed suit against the defendants in the 9th Judicial District Court for the Parish of Rapides, Louisiana alleging breaches of earlier settlement agreements and new torts, including violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1681u.

Young alleges that Pamela Odom (Odom), who was formerly Young's live-in girlfriend and who is the mother of Young's minor daughter, opened the joint charge account in Young's name without his consent in 1992. The Penney account became delinquent and the delinquency appeared on Young's credit report. Penney allegedly reported information concerning the delinquent account to CBLC and Equifax. CBLC and Equifax are affiliated entities that share a common credit reporting database and issue consumer credit reports to potential creditors. Young alleges he was denied credit based on the information about the Penney account that appeared on credit reports issued by CBLC and Equifax. Young disputed the Penney account with each of the defendants.

Odom allegedly opened other fraudulent accounts in Young's name with other creditors; these accounts are not at issue in the present case. In 1996, Young filed a suit in state court (Young I) against the current defendants and several others in regard to the various disputed accounts, including the Penney account. In September 1997, Young settled his claims against Penney, Equifax, and CBLC, and the court dismissed his claims against those defendants with prejudice. At that time, Young executed releases evidencing the settlement.

The relevant language of the release to Penney (the Penney Release) provided:

James Young releases, acquits, discharges, and covenants to hold harmless J.C. Penny [sic] Co., Inc.... from any and all actions, causes of action, ... and claims of every type, and also any injuries or damages not now known or which may later develop, all resulting from the alleged theft of his identity relative to the allegedly erroneous and/or fraudulent extension of credit in his name and all other claims as are more particularly described in that certain suit styled [Young I] on the docket of the Ninth Judicial District Court, State of Louisiana, bearing Civil Docket Number 186,314.

The relevant language of the release to Equifax and CBLC (the Equifax/CBLC Release) provided as follows:

[Young] does hereby release, acquit and forever discharge Credit Bureau of Lake Charles, Inc. and Equifax Credit Information Services, their agents, employees, insurers, successors, assigns and attorneys, of and from any and all actions or cause of action whatever, which he now has or may hereafter have arising out of the occurrence as set forth in the above mentioned suit, including all claims for costs, expenses, loss of earnings, pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, compensatory damages, punitive and exemplary damages and damages of any nature whatsoever.

APPEARER AGREES this release includes all claims asserted against Credit Bureau of Lake Charles, Inc. and Equifax Credit Information Services in the above mentioned suit and authorizes his attorney to dismiss those claims with prejudice.

In consideration for these releases, each of the defendants paid Young a sum of money.

Young filed the present suit (Young II) in state court in January 1999, alleging that after the above settlement and releases the defendants continued to report the Penney account data, in violation of the settlement agreements, the FCRA, and state tort law. Young's complaint contended that the settlement agreements included an agreement that the defendants would remove the Penney account data from Young's credit file. Young alleged that he was denied credit from other potential creditors because of the continued reporting, after Young I was settled, of the Penney account data. The defendants removed Young II to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on February 25, 1999.

On August 10, 2000, the district court entered judgment for Penney pursuant to Penney's Motion for Summary Judgment/Exception of Res Judicata and dismissed Young's claims against Penney with prejudice. The court found that the Young I settlement agreement imposed no obligation on Penney to clear its credit records of the offending information. Young filed a motion for reconsideration, or, in the alternative, to amend the judgment to dismiss only his claim for breach of the settlement agreement. Young argued that, just before the district court entered its order, Equifax's designee, Janet Mullins, testified in a deposition that Penney had reported the Penney account information to Equifax in July 1998, ten months after the Young I settlement. Young contended that Mullins's deposition evidence established a prima facie case for the new defamation alleged in Young II. The district court denied the motion because the deposition did not add any information previously unavailable and also failed to establish the elements of defamation. Within thirty days, Young filed a notice of appeal from the grant of summary judgment and the denial of the motion for reconsideration.²

On November 7, 2000, the district court granted summary judgement for Equifax and CBLC. The court again stressed that the plain language of the settlement agreement did not require that Equifax and CBLC delete the Penney account information or otherwise modify Young's credit records. The court held that the claims were barred as res judicata because, although the Penney account information had since been reported repeatedly, it was the same information that was at issue in Young I. Thus, Young's new claims arose from the same occurrence set out in the first suit and were barred by the settlement agreement. Young could have negotiated for removal of the offending information in the Young I settlement agreement, but did not do so. Young filed a timely notice of appeal from the grant of summary judgment to Equifax and CBLC.

Discussion

I. Standard of Review

This court reviews a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Guillory v. Domtar Indus., Inc., 95 F.3d 1320, 1326 (5th Cir.1996). Summary judgment is proper if, after adequate opportunity for discovery, the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with any affidavits filed in support of the motion, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The moving party bears the burden of identifying an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Summary judgment is properly granted if the record does not contain appropriate summary judgment evidence which would sustain a finding in the nonmovant's favor on any issue as to which the nonmovant would bear the burden of proof at trial. Id. at 2552-53.

II. Res Judicata

Because Young I was in state court, the settlement of that suit has the same preclusive effect it would have under Louisiana law. Marrese v. Amer. Acad. of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 470 U.S. 373, 105 S.Ct. 1327, 1331-32, 84 L.Ed.2d 274 (1985); St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co. v. Williamson, 224 F.3d 425, 436 (5th Cir.2000). The Louisiana Code provision governing res judicata is La. Rev. St. § 13:4231:

4231. Res judicata

Except as otherwise provided by law, a valid and final judgment is conclusive between the same parties, except on appeal or other direct review, to the following extent:

(1) If the judgment is in favor of the plaintiff, all causes of action existing at the time of final judgment arising out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the litigation are extinguished and merged in the judgment.

(2) If the judgment is in favor of the defendant, all causes of action existing at the time of final judgment arising out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the litigation are extinguished and the judgment bars a subsequent action on those causes of action.

(...