The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Domante v. Dish Networks, L.L.C., has held that a business has a “legitimate business need” to pull a credit report any time it is responding directly to a consumer-initiated request – even if that consumer is not who he purports to be. The defendant was found to have a “legitimate business need” for obtaining a consumer report to verify the identity of a person applying for satellite TV services. The plaintiff and defendant have settled previous lawsuits stemming from the fraudulent use of the plaintiff’s identity to open an account with the defendant, and the satellite TV services company was instructed to preclude opening an account in plaintiff’s name. The court rejected the plaintiff’s argument in the most recent case due to its requirements under the settlement agreement to deny any future applications using the plaintiff’s information.
