Data Sold by Firm Unfair to Tenants, Court Suit Alleges
A San Fernando Valley firm was accused in a lawsuit Monday of illegally selling landlords information about landlord-tenant disputes that frequently results in the blackballing of prospective renters.
The Los Angeles Superior Court suit, filed by a coalition of public-interest law firms and private attorneys, accuses Harvey Saltz, president of the U. D. Registry Inc., of violating state and federal law and engaging in unfair business practices.
The Van Nuys firm collects and sells data on more than 1 million Southland tenants who have been served with unlawful detainers, the legal term for an eviction.
The suit’s main contention, disputed by Saltz, is that the registry must by law remove from its computers the names of tenants who have won eviction suits against landlords.
The suit also alleges that the registry fails to take reasonable precautions against errors and refuses to allow tenants or their attorneys to see unedited records.
The lawsuit seeks to recover unspecified general, special and punitive damages on behalf of nine plaintiffs, tenants who, the suit alleges, were unfairly blacklisted by the registry.
“I don’t deny that some tenants are bad tenants, and I don’t object to a tenant credit reporting agency. What I don’t like is when a good tenant is unfairly blackballed,” said attorney David Pallack of the San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services Inc. in Pacoima, one of the legal service organizations bringing the lawsuit.
Saltz, a former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, denied the suit’s allegation that his firm engages in illegal practices.
“All untrue,” Saltz said. “That’s not our practice, and they know it.”
The suit accuses Saltz and his registry of violating the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act, the state Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act, the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Statutes and the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
“This is the first case where tenants are suing the U. D. Registry, and the outcome will affect tens of thousands of tenants in Los Angeles and perhaps throughout the state if we establish precedent,” Pallack said.
Saltz disputed Pallack’s interpretation of the laws.
“The Legal Aid people think if the case is settled or dismissed that that means the tenant prevailed” and the dispute cannot be reported, he said.
However, Saltz contended, the law does permit recording of such disputes. Even though a case is dismissed, a series of such cases may point to a potentially troublesome tenant, Saltz said.
The suit contends that the registry has unfairly harmed the reputations and impaired the credit records of some tenants. Some individuals, unable to obtain housing as a result of negative registry reports, have become homeless, the suit alleges.
