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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Firm Accused of Errors in Background Reports

RICHMOND, Va. (CN) - A Little League volunteer claims in a lawsuit that his reputation was destroyed after the company that did his background check erroneously identified him as a sex offender.

In a complaint filed last week, Robert Taylor says he volunteered to help the Westmoreland County Little League in April 2015, and willingly complied with its request for a copy of his consumer background report.

But he says he was shocked and devastated when the report provided by First Advantage LNS Screening Solutions stated he was listed in the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry.

"Even on the top level summary screen of the basic sex offender search available on the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry website ,the individual on the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry what was convicted of Second-Degree Sexual Assault of a Child is of a different race, has a different middle name, and a different address than the plaintiff," the complaint says.

Taylor contends that it should have been clear from his personal identifiers alone that the reported criminal information was false, and that he wasn't the sex offender in question.

"In creating and furnishing the Plaintiff's consumer report, Defendant failed to follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of the information contained in it," the complaint says. "For example, it recklessly included sexual offense information pertaining to a stranger with a different social security number and date of birth living in a different state to appear in Plaintiff's consumer report."

Taylor notes that his isn't the first lawsuit filed against First Advantage LNS Screening Solutions over what he called the company's "loose match" method of gathering supposed criminal background information.

In a separate lawsuit filed June 26, plaintiff Evelyn Sanders claims she was denied a job after First Advantage reported she had two drug possession charges on her criminal record.

"The consumer report that defendant LNS furnished regarding the plaintiff was materially inaccurate," Sanders said. "None of these criminal convictions belonged to the plaintiff. Accordingly, LNS's report regarding the plaintiff was inaccurate, materially incomplete, and also patently misleading."

Both Taylor and Sanders are represented by Matthew Erausquin and Leonard Bennett of Consumer Litigation Associates in Alexandria, Va.

First Advantage did not immediately respond to request for comment by Courthouse News.

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