Why Judges Matter: Sometimes the “court of last resort” is a court

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Victimized by credit reporting agencies, a desperateconsumer turns to federal courtPerhaps you saw the segment of 60 Minutes this week about the nightmare thatcan follow when credit reporting agencies make mistakes – something they do withalarming frequency.  (If you missed it,you can see it here):

The story made clear thatthe process for trying to get an error corrected doesn’t work.  Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine alleged thatthe companies routinely violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act.But what struck us washow one victim finally got justice – the one and only step she could take.Her name is JudyThomas.  But the bad credit of one JudithKendall somehow wound up on her report. According to 60 Minutes:

 it became a six-year battle with credit agencies, requiringbox loads of correspondence to try and prove that she was Judy Thomas, notJudith Kendall, all to no avail. …

There are logs ofdaily phone calls to dispute centers, hundreds of letters to Experian, Equifaxand TransUnion, even correspondence from Judith's Kendall's creditors in Utah,acknowledging that the debts on her credit report aren't hers. …

Thomas told 60 Minutes:

“I couldn'trefinance. I couldn't take advantage of the interest rates. I couldn't get anew-- I couldn't get a car. I couldn't cosign for my children's student loans.And I'd worked hard for my credit. I was-- and these people were taking it awayfrom me.”

Then comes what is, in many ways the most important part ofthe story:

Finally JudyThomas took the only recourse available to her. She sued Equifax and TransUnionin federal court. And after a year-long battle, the credit reporting agenciessettled for an undisclosed sum and promised to clean up her file.

Federal courts don’t just deal with abstract concepts, orwith terror suspects or alleged crime bosses. Sometimes federal courts are the only recourse for everyday Americanslike Judy Thomas.  That, of course, isone reason why it’s so important that there is a judge for every vacancy on ourfederal courts.  When there are too fewjudges, cases like this drag on for years – something that the Judy Thomas’ ofthe word cannot afford.  Or they maynever be brought at all.
Of course there are other solutions – like enforcing theFair Credit Reporting Act and beefing up penalties for credit reportingagencies that fail to correct their mistakes. But when all else fails, we need federal courts – fully staffed withfederal judges.