years from the date of the error to file suit??? The Ninth Circuit erred in ruling that the federal statute of limitations for claims alleging Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) violations begins to run when a consumer discovers the wrongdoing, not when the wrongdoing occurs, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. (TRW, Inc. v. Andrews, 122 S. Ct. 441 (2001).) "The court of appeals rested its decision on the premise that all federal statutes of limitation, regardless of context, incorporate a general discovery rule" that the statute starts running when a party learns of his or her injuries, wrote Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The unanimous Court disagreed: "The FCRA does not govern an area of the law that cries out for application of a discovery rule, nor is the statute 'silent on the issue' of when the statute of limitations begins to run." The act requires that litigation be brought within two years from the date on which the liability arises, unless the defendant willfully misrepresented information. Then, action may be brought within two years of the consumer's discovering the misrepresentation. The TRW case involved no misrepresentation. The decision has been described as a victory for credit bureaus. Consumers with so-called identity-theft cases--alleging that these agencies wrongly disclosed personal information to unauthorized parties--will be required to bring their claims sooner than the Ninth Circuit would have required. Trial, Feb 2002 v38 i2 p16(3)
