Class Action Claims National Tenant Network Screening Reports Include Inaccurate Eviction, Criminal Record Info

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims National Tenant Network, Inc. regularly provides landlords with inaccurate, outdated eviction and criminal record information about prospective tenants.

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According to the 16-page lawsuit, National Tenant Network (NTN) gathers and compiles information about consumers to create tenant screening reports, which it then sells to lessors and property managers to help them make rental decisions. Rather than procure consumer data directly from courthouses or government offices, however, the defendant buys “distilled, incomplete” information from third-party public records vendors, the case alleges.

Unlike publicly available court records—which are regularly updated and conclusively demonstrate that certain eviction cases have been dismissed, withdrawn, vacated, satisfied or resulted in judgments for tenants—the information NTN purchases from public records vendors often amounts to incomplete summaries of these filings, the suit contends.

“Defendant knows that its public records vendors make mistakes in the condensed, summary eviction information that it purchases for consumer reporting purposes and that the information routinely does not include the most up-to-date status of the actual cases,” the complaint says.

The lawsuit further argues that the company’s failure to consult official court documents has led it to regularly publish criminal records that did not result in a conviction and are older than seven years, information the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) prohibits consumer reporting agencies from furnishing. The case notes that NTN is also obligated under the FCRA to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of the consumer data it reports.

“Defendant’s practices not only violate the FCRA as a matter of law, they exact serious consequences on rental housing applicants and interstate commerce,” the suit says, claiming that consumers who are subject to NTN’s allegedly harmful, misleading and inaccurate tenant screening reports are at a disadvantage when trying lease housing.

The filing says that when the plaintiff, a Pennsylvania resident, submitted a rental application for a home in Philadelphia in December 2023, NTN prepared a tenant screening report about the woman and sent it to the property manager. Per the complaint, the report included an eviction filing from September 8, 2023 that indicated a disposition of more than $1,900. However, as of September 29, 2023, the actual disposition of the case was a $0 judgment, which was to be vacated and eventually withdrawn, the suit says.

What’s more, NTN’s report allegedly included criminal record information about the plaintiff from almost nine years ago that didn’t result in a conviction.

“As a result of Defendant’s inaccurate and defamatory reporting, [the property manager] denied Plaintiff’s application, and Plaintiff experienced harms including harm to her reputation and emotional distress,” the case reads.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States and its territories who, within the past five years, was the subject of a tenant screening report prepared by National Tenant Network that was delivered to any third party and contained eviction information but failed to state that the action had been resolved by agreement, withdrawn, dismissed, non-suited or resulted in a judgment for the tenant, according to court records dated at least 30 days prior to the date of the report.

The suit also seeks to cover anyone in the United States and its territories who, within the past five years, was the subject of a tenant screening report prepared by National Tenant Network that was delivered to any third party and contained information pertaining to a criminal record for which there was no conviction reported, and that criminal record was dated more than seven years prior to the date of the report.

The case lastly looks to represent anyone in the United States and its territories who, within the past five years, requested information from National Tenant Network and was sent a communication in response that did not identify the original and any intermediate vendor source(s) from which the company obtained the public record information referenced in the communication.

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