DUANE E. NORMAN, SR. v. TRANS UNION, LLC Settlement

A court ordered that a notice be provided because you have a right to know about the proposed Settlement of this class action lawsuit and its effect on you. The notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, and your legal rights.

Judge Gerald A. McHugh, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is overseeing this case, Norman v. Trans Union, LLC, Civil Action No. 2:18-cv-05225-GAM (E.D. Pa.).  The person who sued—Duane Norman, Sr.—is the Plaintiff.  Trans Union, LLC  (“Trans Union”) is the Defendant.

Plaintiff Duane Norman, Sr. has alleged that after he submitted a dispute to Trans Union that his credit report was obtained without a permissible purpose, Trans Union did not contact the company that requested the credit report, nor did it remove the notation (called a “hard inquiry”) that he disputed.  Instead, Trans Union mailed to Mr. Norman and the other class members, including you, a “502 Letter” that stated in part:

“The inquiries listed on your credit report are a record of the companies that obtained your credit information.  The identity of each company by trade name and contact information is provided.  All inquiries remain on your credit report for two years.  Credit information may be requested only for the following permissible purposes: credit transactions, employment consideration, review or collection of an existing account or other legitimate business need, insurance underwriting, government licensing, rental dwelling, or pursuant to a court order.  Your written authorization may not be required to constitute permissible purpose. If you believe that an inquiry on your credit report was made without a permissible purpose, then you may wish to contact the creditor directly, by phone or in writing, regarding its purpose.”

Plaintiff asserts that Trans Union’s actions violated sections 1681i(a)(i) and 1681i(a)(ii) of the FCRA.

You can review the complaint and other filed documents on this website.

In a class action lawsuit, one or more people called the “Class Representative,” in this case Duane E. Norman, Sr., sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims.  All of the people together are called a “Class” or “Class Members.” The consumer reporting agency he sued, Trans Union, is called the Defendant.  One court resolves the issues for everyone in the Class, except for those people who choose to exclude themselves from the Class.  The Court decided that this lawsuit can proceed as a class action and move towards a trial.

More information about why the Court is allowing this lawsuit to proceed as a class action is found in the Court’s Opinion and Order certifying the Class, which is available on this website.

The Court has not decided whether Trans Union has violated the law, nor how much money, if any, should be awarded to the class.  Instead, the two sides have agreed to a Settlement.  

Trans Union has denied and continues to deny Plaintiff and the Class’s allegations or that it that it has violated the FCRA or engaged in any wrongful acts.  Nevertheless, Trans Union agreed to settle the Litigation solely for the purpose of avoiding the further expense, inconvenience and distraction of burdensome and protracted litigation and to obtain the release, order and judgment contemplated by the Settlement.

If you received notice of the Settlement from a postcard or email addressed to you, then according to Trans Union’s records, you are a member of the Settlement Class: All consumers with an address in the United States and its territories to whom Trans Union sent its “502 Letter” in response to a written dispute of an inquiry from December 5, 2016 to January 31, 2025. 

There are approximately 485,000 members of the Settlement Class.

Practice Changes

As a result of the Settlement, Trans Union has agreed to implement changes to its practices for handling consumer disputes and/or challenges of hard inquiries, including monitoring the volume of consumer hard inquiry disputes and/or challenges for patterns, and triggering further action by Trans Union when it receives an excessive volume of such disputes and/or challenges related to a particular end user (or “subscriber”).  Further action may include requiring the subscriber to recredential, or terminating the subscriber’s contract with Trans Union.

Settlement Fund
Trans Union has agreed to establish a Settlement Fund of twenty-three million dollars ($23,000,000.00), which will be used to make payments to all Settlement Class Members, including higher payments to Settlement Class Members who submit a Claim Form attesting to damages.  The Settlement Fund will also cover the costs of administering the settlement, a $50,000.00 service award to Plaintiff Duane Norman, and up to $7,666,667.00 in attorneys’ fees and up to $300,000.00 in litigation expenses.

The amount of payments to Settlement Class Members will depend on how many Settlement Class Members make a claim for a higher payment.  All Settlement Class Members will receive a minimum payment of $20.00-$30.00, without the need to make a claim.    

If the Court approves the Settlement and it becomes final, then payments will automatically be sent by mail to the address maintained by Trans Union for each Settlement Class Member.  Settlement Class Members can update their mailing address on this website.  Settlement Class Members may also set up an electronic payment method through the website if preferred; otherwise, payment will be mailed via USPS as a paper check.

Payments will be sent only after the Court grants final approval to the Settlement and after any appeals are resolved (see “The Final Approval Hearing” below). If there are appeals, resolving them can take time.  Please be patient, and check this website for updates.

If the Settlement receives Final Approval from the Court, every Settlement Class Member agrees to release Trans Union and each of its members, owners, shareholders, unitholders, predecessors, successors (including, without limitation, acquirers of all or substantially all of Trans Union’s assets, stock, units or other ownership interests) and assigns; the past, present, and future, direct and indirect, parents (including, without limitation, holding companies), subsidiaries and affiliates of any of the above; and the past, present and future principals, trustees, partners, insurers, officers, directors, employees, advisors, attorneys, members, owners, shareholders, unitholders, predecessors, successors, assigns, representatives, heirs, executors, and administrators of any of the above (collectively, “Released Parties”), from any and all claims asserted in the Complaint under FCRA at 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681i(a)(1) and (2) relating to the dispute of an inquiry. Class members’ right to seek relief under the FCRA for other claims or not involving an inquiry will be preserved.

Section 12 of the Settlement Agreement, which can be found on this case website, describes the legal claims that you give up if you remain in the Settlement.

If you don’t want benefits from the Settlement, and you want to keep the right to sue Trans Union on your own about the claims in this case, then you must take steps to opt out of the Settlement.  This is called excluding yourself—or it is sometimes referred to as “opting out” of the Settlement. 

To exclude yourself from the Settlement, you must submit a statement to the Settlement Administrator with the following information:

·         Your full name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number; 

·         A statement that you want to be excluded from the Settlement in this Action;

·         The unique identifier included on the Notice you received via email or US Mail.

You must submit your exclusion request no later than JUNE 24, 2025 via email to [email protected] or via mail to:

Norman v Trans Union, LLC
c/o Settlement Administrator
PO Box 23489
Jacksonville, FL 32241

No. If you do not exclude yourself, you will give up the right to sue Trans Union for the claims that the Settlement resolves.  You must exclude yourself from the Settlement Class if you want to pursue your own lawsuit. 

No. You will not receive a payment if you exclude yourself from the Settlement. 

The Court has appointed counsel to represent you and others in the Settlement Class as “Class Counsel”:

Class Counsel will represent you and others in the Settlement Class. You will not be charged for these attorneys.  If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense.

The attorneys representing the Class have handled this case on a contingency basis.  To date, they have not been paid anything for their work since the case began in 2018.  Class Counsel will request that the Court award attorneys’ fees and expenses for the time and effort they have spent on this case.  

The amount that will be requested by Class Counsel will be $7,966,667.00 in attorneys’ fees, up to $300,000.00 in litigation expenses, and up to $50,000.00 for a service award to Duane Norman Sr. More information on these awards, including Class Counsel’s request for fees which will be available on June 10, 2025, is available on this case website. 

Any approved amount of attorneys’ fees and expenses or service award will be paid from the settlement fund, and no Class Member will owe or pay anything directly for the attorneys’ fees and expenses of Class Counsel.  

If you are a member of the Settlement Class, you can object to any part of the Settlement, the Settlement as a whole, and/or Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and expenses. To object, you must either submit your objection on the case docket using the CM/ECF electronic filing system, or submit a letter to the Court at the following address:

You must also send a copy of your objection to the Settlement Administrator at:

Norman v Trans Union, LLC
c/o Settlement Administrator
PO Box 23489
Jacksonville, FL 32241

Your objection must be submitted on or before JUNE 24, 2025, and must include:

• The name of this Action Norman v. Trans Union, LLC, Case No. 2:18-CV-05225
• Your full name, address, email address and telephone number;
• a detailed statement of each objection asserted, including the grounds for objection and reasons for appearing and being heard,
• any documents you wish to be considered in support of the objection;
• the identity of any lawyer representing you, including any former or current counsel who may be entitled to compensation for any reason related to the objection to the Settlement;
• any and all agreements that relate to the objection or the process of objecting—whether written or oral—between you or your counsel and any other person or entity;
• the identity of all counsel representing you who will appear at the Final Approval Hearing;
• All relief sought;
• The number of times you have objected to a class action settlement in the past five (5) years, including the caption of each case in which you made such objection;
• Whether you intend to appear and/or testify, or counsel representing you intends to appear, at the hearing that the Court has scheduled to determine whether to grant final approval of the Settlement and Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees (the “Final Approval Hearing”); and,
• Your signature.

The Court has scheduled a Final Approval Hearing on Monday, July 21, 2025, at 10 a.m., in Courtroom 9-B of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, U.S. Courthouse, 601 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA.  The hearing may be virtual or moved to a different date or time without additional notice, so it is a good idea to check this website for updates.  At this hearing, the Court will consider whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate.  The Court will also consider any requests by Class Counsel for attorneys’ fees and expenses.  If there are objections, the Court will consider them at the hearing. After the hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the Settlement, the request for attorneys’ fees and expenses.  We do not know how long these decisions will take.

No. Class Counsel will answer any questions the Court may have. But you may attend the hearing at your own expense.  If you send an objection, you don’t have to come to Court to talk about it. As long as you submit your written objection on time and it complies with the requirements set forth in FAQ 15 above and in Section 8 of the Settlement Agreement, the Court will consider it.  You may also pay your own lawyer to attend, but it is not necessary.

You may ask the Court for permission to speak at the Final Approval Hearing. To do so, you must submit an objection that complies with the requirements set forth in FAQ 15 above and send a letter saying that you intend to appear and wish to be heard. Your notice of intention to appear must include the following:

• Your full name, address, and telephone number;
• A statement that this is your “Notice of Intention to Appear” at the Final Approval Hearing for Settlement in Norman v. Trans Union, LLC, Case No. 2:18-CV-05225);
• The reasons you wish to be heard;
• Copies of any papers, exhibits, or other evidence or information that is to be presented to the Court at the Final Approval Hearing; and
• Your signature (an attorney’s signature is not sufficient).

You must submit your Notice of Intention to Appear so that it is received no later than JUNE 24, 2025, to the addresses in FAQ 15 above.

If you do nothing, you will receive the benefits to which you are entitled under this Settlement, which includes a payment of at least $20.00 as well as Trans Union’s agreement to make the changes to its business practices as explained in FAQ 6.

The notice summarizes the proposed Settlement.  More details are in the Settlement Agreement. You can obtain the complete Settlement Agreement from this website. You also may write with questions to the Settlement Administrator via email to [email protected] or via mail at:

Norman v Trans Union, LLC
c/o Settlement Administrator
PO Box 23489
Jacksonville, FL 32241

Please do not contact Trans Union or the Court for information.