Title: FCRA Liability Harmonization Act
Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector

Summary:
FCRA Liability Harmonization Act
This bill amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to limit the recovery amount available in a class action lawsuit to the lesser of $500,000 or 1% of the net worth of the defendant. The bill also eliminates the awarding of punitive damages.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2359 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2359

    To amend the civil liability requirements under the Fair Credit 
 Reporting Act to include requirements relating to class actions, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 4, 2017

  Mr. Loudermilk (for himself, Mr. Royce of California, Mr. Budd, Mr. 
King of New York, and Mrs. Wagner) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to 
    the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the civil liability requirements under the Fair Credit 
 Reporting Act to include requirements relating to class actions, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``FCRA Liability Harmonization Act''.

SEC. 2. MAINTAINING CONSISTENCY IN CIVIL LIABILITY UNDER THE FAIR 
              CREDIT REPORTING ACT FOR CLASS ACTIONS.

    (a) Willful Noncompliance.--Section 616 of the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681n) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking paragraph (2);
                    (B) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph 
                (2); and
                    (C) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ``and'' after 
                the semicolon;
            (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(d) Class Action Lawsuits.--With respect to a class action (as 
such term is defined in section 1711 of title 28, United States Code), 
or series of class actions arising out of the same failure to comply of 
a person, brought by consumers against a person who willfully fails to 
comply with any requirement imposed under this title, such person is 
liable to such consumers in such an amount as a court may determine, 
except that--
            ``(1) the court may not apply a minimum amount of damages 
        for each member of the class; and
            ``(2) the total recovery (excluding reasonable attorney's 
        fees as determined by the court) of the class shall not exceed 
        the lesser of--
                    ``(A) $500,000; or
                    ``(B) 1 percent of the net worth of such person.''.
    (b) Negligent Noncompliance.--Section 617 of the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681o7) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(c) Class Action Lawsuits.--With respect to a class action (as 
such term is defined in section 1711 of title 28, United States Code), 
or series of class actions arising out of the same failure to comply of 
a person, brought by consumers against a person who negligently fails 
to comply with any requirement imposed under this title, such person is 
liable to such consumers in an amount equal to the sum of any actual 
damages sustained by the consumers as a result of the failure, except 
that the total recovery (excluding reasonable attorney's fees as 
determined by the court) of the class shall not exceed the lesser of--
            ``(1) $500,000; or
            ``(2) 1 percent of the net worth of such person.''.
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