Samantha Delane Rajapakse v. Equifax Information, LLC

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 21-12569
Non-Argument Calendar
____________________
SAMANTHA DELANE RAJAPAKSE,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
EQUIFAX, LLC,
Defendant,
EQUIFAX INFORMATION, LLC,
Defendant-Appellee.
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2 Opinion of the Court 21-12569
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Georgia
D.C. Docket No. 1:20-cv-00080-TWT
____________________
Before L UCK , LAGOA , and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
PER C URIAM :
Samantha Rajapakse appeals the dismissal of her amended
complaint as frivolous. In the district court, she asserted claims un-
der the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Rajapakse alleged that she was
a class member in the Equifax data breach litigation and that
Equifax hadn’t complied with its obligations as part of the settle-
ment agreement by not taking extra measures to investigate and to
remove inaccurate information on her credit reports. Specifically,
Rajapakse alleged that Equifax maintained two credit accounts in
her name: one in her married name and one in her maiden name.
According to Rajapakse, Equifax failed to timely remove one of the
accounts and it failed to investigate disputes she had with two cred-
itors.
After Rajapakse moved for in forma pauperis status, the dis-
trict court screened the amended complaint under 28 U.S.C. sec-
tion 1915(e)(2)(B) and dismissed it as frivolous. The amended com-
plaint was frivolous, the district court explained, because, “[t]o the
extent that the [p]laintiff [was] claiming damages as a result of the
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21-12569 Opinion of the Court 3
2017 Equifax data breach, [she was] a member of the consumer
class and those claims have been settled.” As to any other allega-
tions, the district court concluded, they were “outlandish and in-
comprehensible.”
On appeal, Rajapakse argues that: the district court abused
its discretion because it dismissed the amended complaint after she
questioned the court’s “behavior”; she was entitled to relief as a
matter of law because Equifax “provided no defense”; the district
court violated her due process rights as a pro se litigant; and the
district court violated her “rights as a consumer” under the Fair
Credit Reporting Act. But we find no error.
First, the district court dismissed the amended complaint be-
cause Rajapakse’s “claims ha[d] already been settled” as part of the
Equifax class action—not because she questioned the court’s be-
havior. Second, under section 1915(e)(2)(B), the district court may
“dismiss the case at any time”—even before the defendant answers
the amended complaint—if the “action” “is frivolous,” or “fails to
state a claim,” as the district court found here. 28 U.S.C. §
1915(e)(2)(B)(i)–(ii). Third, dismissing the amended complaint un-
der the section 1915(e)(2)(B) screening procedures did not violate
Rajapakse’s due process rights.
See Vanderberg v. Donaldson, 259
F.3d 1321, 1324 (11th Cir. 2001) (concluding that the screening pro-
cedures in section 1915(e)(2)(B) “did not deny” the pro se plaintiff
“due process”). And fourth, the district court didn’t violate Ra-
japakse’s rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act because she
failed to state a claim for relief under the Act.
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4 Opinion of the Court 21-12569
Thus, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of the amended
complaint.
AFFIRMED.
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