Two Consumers File Another Class Action Against Diamond Resorts International, This Time Over Alleged FCRA Violations [UPDATE]
Last Updated on October 20, 2021
Jocson et al v. Diamond Resorts International Club, Inc. et al
Filed: December 21, 2018 ◆§ 2:18cv10604
After filing a lawsuit last year against Diamond Resorts, two consumers allege the company and Experian have yet to remedy negative trade lines on their credit reports.
Case Updates
October 20, 2021 – Diamond Resorts Wins in Arbitration
A final award was issued in July 2020 in favor of Diamond Resorts by the arbitrator overseeing the plaintiffs’ case.
The claims detailed on this page were sent to arbitration in March 2019 after a judge ruled that three of the plaintiffs’ purchase agreements contained arbitration provisions.
One of the plaintiffs was party to a fourth purchase agreement in August 2017 and timely opted out of the arbitration provision, according to court documents. The plaintiff’s claims regarding the fourth purchase agreement were therefore stayed pending arbitration of the other claims. In a July 31, 2020 status report, Diamond argued, however, that the plaintiff’s remaining claim was barred given the arbitrator had decided in the defendant’s favor for the other claims.
Upon confirmation of the arbitration award, the judge dismissed with prejudice the claims against Diamond on August 13, 2020. The claims against Experian were dismissed with prejudice on September 18, 2020.
Two consumers have filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Diamond Resorts International Club, Inc., its collection arm, and Experian Information Solutions over alleged inaccuracies on their credit reports stemming from terminated timeshare accounts.
According to the lawsuit out of California’s Central District, the plaintiffs in November 2016 obtained a so-called membership with Diamond Resorts International with which they were told they could acquire timeshare points to be redeemed in exchange for the right to use accommodations at certain resorts. The plaintiffs familiarly charge that Diamond Resorts International, no stranger to class action litigation, used “deceptive sales practices and made numerous oral misrepresentations and false statements” during its sales presentations aimed to induce consumers into contracting with the company. The suit points out that the plaintiffs went so far as to file a proposed class action against Diamond Resorts International in November 2017 over this alleged conduct.
Following the lawsuit, Diamond Resorts International agreed to release the plaintiffs from their contracts pursuant to a settlement, which waived and canceled any and all remaining balances, the case continues. Despite the settlement and the plaintiffs’ balances being wiped clean, the defendants allegedly reported the individuals’ purportedly zero-balance accounts to the major credit bureaus, including Experian. The plaintiffs’ credit reports, the lawsuit says, inaccurately displayed their Diamond Resorts International accounts as “charge-offs.”
The plaintiffs mailed dispute letters concerning the supposedly inaccurate trade lines to the three major credit bureaus, the case goes on. TransUnion informed the couple that the disputed accounts were not on their TransUnion reports, while Experian reportedly removed the accounts completely as well. Despite what Experian told the plaintiffs, the company, according to the lawsuit, “merely ‘updated’ the accounts,” causing them to remain as negative trade lines.
As the suit tells it, Diamond Resorts International “permitted and caused the wrongful report to occur, despite its promise to delete the accounts and release the plaintiffs from any liability.”
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