Every Fair Credit Reporting Act case in federal court starts with the same threshold question: has the consumer suffered an injury the Constitution recognizes? The Supreme Court's decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 578 U.S. 330 (2016), is where that analysis begins.
The background
Spokeo operates a "people search" website. Thomas Robins alleged that his Spokeo profile was riddled with errors — it reportedly described him as married, employed, affluent, and holding a graduate degree, none of which was true. He sued under the FCRA, alleging Spokeo failed to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy.
What the Court held
The Ninth Circuit had allowed the case to proceed because Robins alleged a violation of his statutory rights. The Supreme Court vacated that ruling. Standing requires an injury in fact that is both particularized (it affects you specifically) and concrete (it is real, not abstract). A statutory violation alone does not automatically satisfy the concreteness requirement:
"Robins could not, for example, allege a bare procedural violation, divorced from any concrete harm, and satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement of Article III."
The Court offered a now-famous illustration of a harmless violation: "An example that comes readily to mind is an incorrect zip code."
Why this matters in Maryland
Spokeo is not a consumer-friendly or defense-friendly decision so much as a screening decision — it separates cases built on real harm from cases built on technicalities. If a credit reporting error cost you a mortgage, a job, a security clearance review, an apartment, or months of anxiety and wasted hours, you likely have precisely the kind of concrete injury Spokeo requires. Courts in the Fourth Circuit — which covers Maryland — have applied Spokeo rigorously (see our posts on Dreher v. Experian and Fernandez v. RentGrow), so how your complaint frames the harm matters enormously.
That is a pleading craft issue, and it is one reason FCRA cases benefit from counsel who litigate them regularly. If an error on your report has caused you real-world harm, we offer free consultations — and under the FCRA's fee-shifting provisions, the defendant can be made to pay the attorney's fees.