MEREDITH SCHRAMM-STROSSER
This Comment advocates that Congress clarify, and ultimately modify, the FRCA’s preemptive qualities to allow individuals to seek equitable relief under state common law to enjoin CRAs from republishing false and defamatory information. This clarification will allow consumers to seek the full spectrum of common law remedies for an action against a CRA pursuant to § 1681h(e) of the FCRA. Part I discusses the historical relationship between consumer reports and the common law tort of defamation. Part II discusses the FCRA’s passage and current efficacy of its remedial provisions. Part III discusses the three types of federal preemption authorized by the Supreme Court of the United States and then addresses how the federal courts have interpreted the FCRA under these preemption guidelines. Part IV explains how allowing injunctive relief for common law defamation within the FCRA regulatory framework would provide consumers the much needed relief they need and why Congress should remove the provisions of the FCRA that currently preempt state courts from granting consumers equitable relief against CRAs.
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