Thursday, August 26, 2010
Credit Expert Witness Training Announced for Oct 2010

The Ulzheimer Group and John Ulzheimer will be hosting a credit expert witness training in Atlanta on October 20th and 21st.  This two day training will include the following subjects.

Day 1 - FDCPA, FCRA, Rosenthal Act, Credit Damages, the role of the credit expert witness, discovery, deposition prep and deposition best practices, expert reports, rebuttal reports, declarations, and how to craft an effective CV. 

Day 2 - Retainer Agreements, common mistakes made by ineffective credit expert witnesses, a mock deposition, and marketing

If you are interested in learning more or would like an agenda please contact John via the contact function on this site.

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Thursday, August 26, 2010
Equifax Sues Data Furnisher LexisNexis for FCRA Slip Up

Authored by Ryan Abbott and Published by Courthouse News Service

Equifax Information Services claims LexisNexis slipped up in selling its reports on a civil judgment, prompting a consumer to file a Fair Credit Reporting Act claim against it. Equifax says it was sued by a consumer who claims the credit agency failed to adopt reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy in its reporting of the status of judgments that have been set aside, vacated or dismissed with prejudice.  Equifax sued LexisNexis, a public records vendor, in Federal Court. It says LexisNexis has not responded to its demand for indemnification.  

According to the complaint, the two companies have a 2008 agreement that requires LexisNexis to provide Equifax with the status of judgments.  To the extent that judgments were satisfied, reversed, vacated, or otherwise modified, LexisNexis is required to provide that information to Equifax on the same frequency schedule used to obtain the initial judgment, according to the complaint.

 

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Monday, April 12, 2010
Ulzheimer and Team of Attorneys Wins Jury Verdict for Defense 9-3 in Credit Damages Case

On April 5th, 2010 a jury in San Diego voted 9-3 for the defense in a credit damages claim against an insurance company.  John Ulzheimer served as the credit expert witness for the defense team and testified at deposition and trial that the actions of the defendant did not, in any way, cause credit damages to the plaintiff.

Plaintiff was a non-staff handyman at an apartment complex and was sued several years prior when a party at the apartment went horribly bad and someone was injured.  He was named in the lawsuit and the apartment's insurance provider would not provide for a defense since he was not an employee.  He lost by default and a judgment in excess of $4 million dollars was filed against him.

Shortly after, he filed a lawsuit against the insurance company and changed his story to say that he WAS an employee of the apartment complex and should have had his defense paid for.  Within the complaint was a claim for credit damages caused by the judgment.

Plaintiff hired his own expert witness who claimed the judgment, which was never on any of the plaintiff's credit reports, caused him to be declined credit and cost him a job.  Plaintiff's expert, who claims to be an expert in credit reporting and credit scoring, overlooked one key fact...items not on your credit report cannot cause credit report damage or credit score damage.  Yet, even under oath at deposition, their expert held firm that items not on a credit report can cause credit damage.

A review of the Plaintiff's three credit reports showed that the judgment was not being reported and had never been reported.  Regardless, even if it had been reported it would have had no incremental negative impact on his credit because his credit reports were populated 100% with negative information and no positive information.  His credit scores would have been in the lowest 1% nationally even without the judgment being reported to his credit.  As such, any lender or employer who would have reviewed his credit as part of their underwriting or screening processes would have seen a record of horrible credit performance.

Ulzheimer was the last expert witness the testify.  Shortly after the jury rendered their verdict, not guilty on all counts and the plaintiff takes $0.  The feedback from the jury members was positive, "The jury said they thought you were great and they didn't believe (the plaintiff's expert) at all."

Although Ulzheimer has been an expert witness in over 50 cases, trials are rare.  The results in San Diego kept Ulzheimer's trial record a perfect 3-0.

 

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Thomas Reuters Acquires Round Table Group

Today I received the following email from Round Table Group, an expert witness consulting service.

Dear Mr. Ulzheimer:

More than 15 years ago, we established Round Table Group as an expert witness consulting service to connect the right industry experts, corporate executives and academics with litigators building their cases. Today, Round Table Group helps connect expert witnesses to Am Law 200 and boutique law firms across the United States. We are pleased to tell you that our next step is just as exciting – we are joining Thomson Reuters, a leader in providing intelligent information to businesses and professionals.

Round Table Group will align with the litigation businesses within Thomson Reuters, and will complement the expert witness content on Westlaw, the preferred online legal research service for lawyers. The combination of Westlaw’s expert witness content and Round Table Group’s services will provide our litigator customers with an enhanced service and a more complete litigation solution. And along with our consulting services, this partnership will connect you to an expanded client base through Westlaw.

You can expect our service commitment to you will remain our highest priority throughout this transition and will be an area we will continue to invest in to achieve new levels of service performance on your behalf. And you will continue to work directly with your Round Table Group team, just as you do today.

We are delighted by the opportunity that this acquisition represents for you, Round Table Group and Thomson Reuters. We will continue to keep you updated as our plans unfold. If you have any questions, please contact us at (202)-595-1338. We look forward to continuing to work with you as a valued partner.

Best regards,

 

Russ Rosenzweig
Chief Executive Officer
Round Table Group

Allison Guidette
Vice President and General Manager - Litigation
Thomson Reuters

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Subcommittee to Examine Role of Credit Scores

Washington, DC - Tomorrow, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, will hold a hearing to examine the role consumer credit scores and reports play in today’s economy.  Credit scores and reports are ubiquitous in the current financial marketplace and are used for everything from credit card and mortgage approval to setting car insurance rates and even judging whether or not someone is employable. 

“Consumers’ credit scores and credit reports have become their passports in our financial world,” Rep. Gutierrez said. “Yet many consumers do not fully understand how these increasingly important scores and reports are created and used by lenders and others, how consumers can obtain copies of their credit scores and reports and use them to their best advantage, and what they can do in order to correct inaccuracies in their credit reports.” 

The subcommittee hearing will focus on how credit scores and reports are formulated, who purchases them and for what purpose. The hearing is also intended to provide a discussion of relevant issues of particular concern to consumers and several Members of Congress, including the impact of rising medical debt on credit scores and reports and their use for hiring purposes. Witnesses will include FICO, VantageScore, and the three major credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and Transunion.  The Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission will also testify to their recent and ongoing oversight efforts over the consumer credit scoring industry.

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