Free Memorandum in Support of Motion - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:O3—cv—OO26§?JBA Document 66-2 Filed Ot/js-6/2004 Page 1 of 4
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT I
DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT
WILLIAM SPECTOR, ) .
Plaintiff, g
v. g Case No. 3:03CV253(JBA) c
EQUIFAX INFORMATION SERVICES g
LLC, )
)Ianuary 15, 2004 j
` Defendant. )
AFFIDAVIT OF ALICLA FLUELLEN
· STATE OF GEORGIA )
COUNTY OF FULTON g I
I I Personally appeared before me, the undersigned officer duly authorized to administer I
oaths, Alicia Fluellen, after being duly sworn, and stated as follows: I_
1. My name is Alicia Fluellen. I am a Director in the Office of Consumer Affairs
for Equifax Information Services LLC ("Equifax"). I have personal knowledge of the
matters contained herein, except to the extent that I state herein that my information is from __
company records or some similar source, and am otherwise competent to give this affidavit. I
understand that this affidavit will be used in support of Equifax’s motion for summary I I
judgment in this case. I
2. Equifax accepts information regarding a consumer’s credit only from those ‘
sources of credit information, which include banks, creditors and merchants, which, either on the
basis of Equifax’s prior experience, or because of the particular source’s reputation, are
determined by Equifax to be reasonably reliable sources of information. Equifax compiles this I

Case 3:O3—cv—OO2535JBA Document 66-2 Filed O1{t6/2004 Page 2 of 4
information into consumer reports that can be distributed to users of infomation who have i}
contracted with Equifax. Equifax maintains over 250 million files containing information related
to the creditworthiness of consumers, including a file for Plaintiff These tiles are maintained in
an database and ordinarily available online. _
l 3. Generally, in the ordinary course of business, Equifax releases a particular
consumer’s file in two circumstances: (1) to an existing or potential creditor of the consumer and
(2) to the consumer himself pursuant to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. l68l, et
seq. and various similar state statutes. In the first example, the file released is called a "credit
report” or "consumer report." In the second example, the tile released is called a "consumer
disclosure."
` When a consumer files a lawsuit against Equifax, it initiates certain policies and
procedures that are specific to files that are involved in litigation. One such policy is to take the 1
file "offline". When a tile is offline, it still exists within Equifax’s database, but is unavailable E
electronically to potential creditors and even Equifax personnel in charge of responding to
routine consumer requests for a disclosure. If a potential creditor requests a file that is offline, it i
will receive a message stating that the file is unavailable and inviting the credit grantor to contact
Equifax. Equifax does this to protect itself] its customers and constuners hom harm and/or
further damages or suits resulting from providing credit reports that contain disputed and l
possibly inaccurate information as well as, in some instances, the concem over possible identity J
theft.
---e 5. Equifax also has a policy concerning requests by consumers for copies of their `
credit files when their file is involved in litigation. When Equifax receives such a request, it
forwards the request to its outside counsel to handle.

Case 3:03—cv—00253;:JBA Document 66-2 Filed 01716/2004 Page 3 of 4
6. In the present case, Equifax received Plaintiff s two requests for a credit file. 2,
Since Plaintiff s file was offline, the requests were forwarded to Equifax’s Office of Consumer 3
U . Affairs. Under its policy, the requests should then have been forwarded to Equifax’s outside
counsel so that he could review the request and arrange for a copy to be sent to Plaintiff. il
7. Citizen’s Bank electronically requested a copy of Plaintiff s credit file on if
November 27, 2002. Since the file was offline, Citizen’s received a message that the file was
` unavailable and advising it to contact Equifax to get the file. Citizen’s Bank never contacted P;
Equifax to request a copy of the credit file following its receipt of this notification nor did
Plaintiff ever contact Equifax to ask that Citizen’s Bank be provided a copy of his report or put _
his file back online.
8, Gulf Oil electronically requested copies of Plaintiffs credit file on April 7, 2003
and April 18, 2003. His file was offline at the time of these requests and Gulf also received a Y
notification similar to the one received by Citizen’s Bank. Gulf Oil never contacted Equifax to qi
request a copy of Plaintiffs file following its receipt of these notifications.
9. Equifax sent two copies of Plaintiffs credit file to its counsel in March of 2003 so
that they could be forwarded to Plaintiff or his counsel.
l0. A copy of Plaintiffs credit file was sent directly to him on July 16, 2003 and j
another on September 25, 2003. --
ll. Equifax never acted with malice or intention to harm Plaintiff in this matter. q
l

Case 3:03—cv—00253;JBA Document 66-2 I Filed 01[15/2004 Page 4 of 4 `_
This 14th day of January, 2004. It
FURTHER AF PLANT SAYETH NOT.
ALIC LUELLEN `
Sworn to and subscribed before me *
i t ` 4th day oflanuary, 2004. X
li 4* \xN*“E Q I
re?
Not . Public f$*_,·"··$`°`M@ __
My Commission Expires: { § 1
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**•$¤QT:€%iss. R

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ATLLIBOI 1643109.1