EAST ST. LOUIS — A Waterloo man who filed for bankruptcy claims Experian, TransUnion and others are incorrectly reporting a former debt in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Karl Buckman filed a complaint May 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois East St. Louis Division against TransUnion LLC, Experian Information Solutions Inc., and Kohner Properties Inc., alleging violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
According to his complaint, Buckman filed a "no asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy" in February 2016. Prior to his bankruptcy, he signed a personal guaranty on a business lease held by Kohner. He alleges that he met all of the requirements for his Chapter 7 bankruptcy and that his obligation to Kohner was discharged on July 27, 2016.
Buckman claims that Kohner is seeking to collect on a debt "accruing" from his "pre-petition guaranty," which is in violation of his "order of discharge." He also alleges the defendant has "inaccurately reported" his former obligation "as opened in 2017 in knowing circumvention of the order of discharge." Buckman further claims that Experian and TransUnon incorrectly reports that he has a $34,175 obligation to Kohner that was opened in April 2017, without investigating the dispute, which has resulted in him being denied credit.
Buckman seeks monetary relief, trial by jury and all other proper relief. He is represented by Travis Cohron of Clark, Quinn, Moses, Scott & Grahn LLP in Indianapolis.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois East St. Louis Division case number 3:21-CV-00521