Manchester woman files suit to clear her name

Jun. 29—A Manchester woman has filed a lawsuit against a consumer-reporting agency, accusing it of reporting inaccurate information that caused her to be rejected for a job.

Jasmine Jessica Ann Jackson, 32, of Manchester, filed the lawsuit in federal court against Crimcheck.com Inc., which is based in Ohio.

Jackson is accusing the company of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires companies like Crimcheck to ensure they report information fairly and accurately.

Instead, in March when Jackson applied for a job, Crimcheck inaccurately reported that Jackson is a felon, causing her to be rejected for the position, according to the lawsuit.

"There is perhaps no greater error that a consumer reporting agency can make," the lawsuit says.

Crimcheck failed to follow procedures to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of its information, according to the lawsuit.

"Had it followed such procedures it would not have reported the inaccurate information," the lawsuit states.

Jackson's lawyer, Alexis Lehmann, of the firm Francis Mailman Soumilas in Philadelphia, said Monday that mistakes like this happen because consumer-reporting agencies sometimes use only a portion of consumers' names, instead of their whole names.

In Jackson's case, the inaccurate criminal information listed about her belongs to another person with the same first and last names, but a different middle name and age, Lehmann said.

In addition, the felony the company reported is from Texas, a state in which Jackson has never lived.

Jackson said she was shocked when the staffing agency told her what the background check reported.

"I was embarrassed," Jackson said Monday. "I didn't know what to do when they said that."

She said she was particularly embarrassed to tell her 14-year-old son, and didn't want him to worry, Jackson said.

According to Lehmann, filing a lawsuit is often the only way to make a consumer-reporting agency fix its mistakes. Her firm has handled cases like Jackson's for 20 years, and has had many clients who dispute the information on their own without success.

"A lot of the time, people just want their reports corrected," Lehmann said.

Most cases end with a settlement, but there are other times when the agencies take it to trial, she said. "It's not about the money for them, it's about clearing their name."

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