Gilberg v. California Check Cashing Stores, LLC, 913 F.3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2019)

While applying for employment with CheckSmart Financial, LLC, Desiree Gilberg signed a “Disclosure Regarding Background Investigation,” which resulted in Gilberg’s filing a putative class action against CheckSmart, claiming it had violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and the California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (“ICRAA”). The district court granted CheckSmart’s summary judgment motion, but the Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that CheckSmart’s disclosure form: (1) violates FCRA’s “standalone document requirement” (because it contained “surplus language” involving applicants’ rights under the state law of various jurisdictions); and (2) was not “clear” (because the language was not understandable to a reasonable person) as required by the applicable statutes; the Court concluded that although the language in question was not “clear,” it was sufficiently “conspicuous.”