Juneau: Credit Bureau of the South: Deposition: Yount

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David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Juneau: Credit Bureau of the South: Deposition: Yount

Post by David A. Szwak »


IN THE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT

IN AND FOR THE PARISH OF CADDO

STATE OF LOUISIANA





SAMUEL G. YOUNT, II .
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VERSUS . NO. 506,354 DIV.: A
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EXPERIAN INFORMATION .
SOLUTIONS, INC. and CREDIT .
BUREAU OF THE SOUTH, INC. .





















DEPOSITION OF GREGORY L. JUNEAU

April 25, 2007









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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1

2 APPEARANCES:

3 COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF:

4 MR. DAVID A. SZWAK
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
5 509 Market Street, Suite 1404
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
6

7 COUNSEL FOR EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS, INC.:

8 MS. CINDY W. ANDREW
Jones Day
9 2727 North Harwood Street
Dallas, Texas 75201-1515
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11 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT, CREDIT BUREAU OF THE SOUTH, INC.:

12 MR. DAVID G. MOORE
Attorney at Law
13 400 Travis Street, Suite 1404
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 S T I P U L A T I O N

2

3 The deposition of GREGORY L. JUNEAU, taken by

4 counsel for Plaintiff, Mr. David A. Szwak, pursuant to

5 Notice and agreement by and between counsel, for all

6 purposes as allowed by the Louisiana Code of Civil

7 Procedure, reported by Kay Moore, Certified Court

8 Reporter, at the offices of Mr. David Moore, Attorney at

9 Law, 400 Travis Street, Suite 1404, Shreveport, Louisiana.

10 Not having stipulated otherwise, the deposition

11 shall be conducted in accordance with the Louisiana Code

12 of Civil Procedure.

13 It being further stipulated that the reading and

14 signing of the deposition is waived by counsel and by

15 the witness.

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1 I N D E X

2

3 Page

4 Examination by Mr. Szwak 7

5 Examination by Ms. Andrew 117

6 Examination by Mr. Szwak 204

7 Examination by Ms. Andrew 224

8 Examination by Mr. Szwak 233

9 Examination by Ms. Andrew 238

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11

12 Exhibit Description Page

13

14 1 Notice of Deposition Duces Tecum 7

15 2 CBS fax 07/26/05 19

16 3 Gateway credit application 20

17 4 Gateway trade references 21

18 5 Gateway invoice 21

19 6 Inquiry 22

20 7 Client acknowledgement 23

21 8 LA Secretary of State record 23

22 9 Collector work screen 24

23 10 Account work history 28

24 11 Document 32

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1 Exhibit Description Page

2

3 12 Codes 51

4 13 Letter to Mr. Bullard 08/24/06 57

5 14 Gateway letter 08/29/06 64

6 15 Gateway fax 11/06/06 67

7 16 Gateway fax 09/05/06 67

8 17 Gateway letter 08/29/06 67

9 18 Yount letter 09/05/06 73

10 19 Experian report 07/14/06 74

11 20 24-Month payment history 09/04/06 78

12 21 24-Month payment history 08/03/06 79

13 22 Experian report 07/13/06 80

14 23 Experian report 09/04/06 82

15 24 Experian report 09/28/06 83

16 25 CBS fax 09/26/06 84

17 26 Accurint person search by name 87

18 27 Accurint person search by address 98

19 28 CBS fax 09/27/06 100

20 29 Accurint deep skip report 111

21 30 Requests for Production 112

22 31 Interrogatories 116

23 32 LA Secretary of State record 116

24 33 CSC report 07/28/06 124

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1 Exhibit Description Page

2

3 34 CBS fax 10/02/06 164

4 35 Experian profile maintenance 09/29/06 169

5 36 Experian profile maintenance fax 172

6 37 Experian letter 09/19/06 172

7 38 E-Oscar logs 221

8 39 Attachments to 09/19/06 letter 223

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11 Note: Exhibits 12, 38, and 39 have not been provided to

12 the court reporter as of the date of release of this

13 transcript. Should they be provided at a later date, the

14 court reporter will forward such information to all

15 parties.

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1 (Deposition commenced at 10:00 a.m.)

2 (Exhibit No. 1 marked for identification)

3 GREGORY L. JUNEAU

4 having first been duly sworn was examined and testified

5 as follows:

6 EXAMINATION

7 BY MR. SZWAK:

8 Q Greg, I appreciate getting to meet you this

9 morning, unfortunately, for a deposition. What I need to

10 do is to, first, run through a few things about a

11 deposition, and then I'm going to ask you some questions

12 today just as if you're in court.

13 You understand that you're under oath today?

14 A Yes, I do.

15 Q Have you ever given a deposition before?

16 A No, not -- I have been to them, but I don't

17 think I was ever the one being deposed.

18 Q All right. Well, the process is, basically,

19 where I will ask you questions, and then Ms. Andrew will

20 ask you questions and your attorney can ask you questions,

21 if he would like.

22 If at any point, you don't understand any of my

23 questions, if you will, just let me know that, and I will

24 try to reask them. If there is any document that I hand

25 you that you really don't know what it is, just tell me

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 that.

2 On the other hand, if you answer a question, I have

3 to assume that you understood it. Is that fair enough?

4 A Sure.

5 Q Also, if at any point in time, you need to take

6 a break or you need to go outside and talk to your

7 attorney, just let me know that, and we'll stop and you

8 can go and do that. Then we'll resume when you come back.

9 Okay?

10 A All right.

11 Q Now let me run through a few background

12 questions with you to begin with. What is your full name?

13 A Gregory, G-R-E-G-O-R-Y, L. for Lee, L-E-E,

14 Juneau, J-U-N-E-A-U.

15 Q Where do you live?

16 A I live on North Market, 5349 North Market.

17 Q Fifty three --

18 A -- forty-nine.

19 Q That's north of downtown?

20 A Correct, the south side of the city.

21 Q Where are you presently employed?

22 A Credit Bureau of the South.

23 Q Do you own the Credit Bureau of the South?

24 A Yes, I do.

25 Q How long have you owned it?

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1 A I have owned it for, I guess, about two years

2 now.

3 Q Did it exist before you were the owner?

4 A Yes.

5 Q Who did you acquire the business from?

6 A My mother, Virginia Juneau.

7 Q I take it that the company name has not changed,

8 but you took over ownership of a company that had

9 previously been fully owned by your mother?

10 A Correct.

11 Q Is your mother still working in the business?

12 A Yes.

13 Q Are there any other owners other than yourself?

14 A No.

15 Q Tell me, in your own words, what is the business

16 of Credit Bureau of the South?

17 A We are, primarily, a collection agency. We

18 accept accounts from our clients who are businesses that

19 are owed accounts receivables, and they place them with us

20 to recover their lost revenue for a percentage.

21 Q Are you also a subscriber to credit bureau

22 services?

23 A Yes, we are.

24 Q Do you both use and furnish information from the

25 credit bureaus, supply it to them?

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1 A Yes, we do.

2 Q How long have you been furnishing information to

3 the credit bureaus?

4 A Actually, the business has probably been doing

5 that for at least 20 years.

6 Q Do you know who you have subscriber contracts

7 with?

8 A Equifax, Experian. And you mean as far as us

9 being able to pull these reports to look at them?

10 Q Right.

11 A Right now Experian and Equifax.

12 Q To your knowledge, you don't have an ongoing

13 subscribership with TransUnion?

14 A We did. I'm not sure if it's still active. We

15 have not been pulling TransUnion reports lately. At one

16 time, we did have one in place, and it wouldn't take much

17 for us to be able to pull TransUnion reports.

18 Q I gather that in addition to pulling reports

19 from Equifax and Experian, you also supply them monthly

20 data?

21 A Correct.

22 Q How do you transmit that information to them?

23 A Those are called data contributions. We do

24 those through a third-party vendor now, whereas years ago,

25 we were submitting them directly to each individual one.

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1 It became easier and more practical to use this

2 third-party vendor, and they are called Inlet Data Systems

3 I-N-L-E-T, Data Systems.

4 A guy named Doug Spahr owns the company, and we

5 submit our files to him, and he dresses them up

6 accordingly to what the different repositories require.

7 Q So Doug Spahr's company, Inlet Data Systems,

8 basically takes your raw data and formats it into the

9 metro tape sequence?

10 A No. They are already in the metro two sequence.

11 The different ones require different headers. I also get

12 a report back showing, you know, if maybe a date doesn't

13 match up, it kicks it out, you know, doesn't accept it or

14 something like that.

15 Q He does some screening of your data?

16 A Yes, some.

17 Q When you reviewed the particular records

18 pertaining to my client, did you find that Inlet Data

19 Systems had altered any of his information?

20 A No.

21 Q You believe that whatever you would have

22 supplied Inlet Data for reformatting or dressing up to

23 transmit to the credit bureaus would have been what you

24 intended to have sent to the bureaus?

25 A Well, yes. It's what was provided to me by my

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1 client which was entered into my system, so yes.

2 Q I take it that when you receive collection

3 accounts such as South Gateway Tire, do you get those

4 manually or do you get them on a computer portfolio or how

5 does that work?

6 A This particular account was manual.

7 Q Do you have a contract with South Gateway Tire?

8 A You know, I don't know if we have a written

9 contract. Most of ours, on small accounts like this, are

10 verbal.

11 Q Do you have any idea about the volume of

12 accounts you have received from South Gateway Tire

13 historically?

14 A Not a lot. Not a lot at all. I mean I could

15 not, actually, honestly give you a good answer on that. A

16 few a year at the most.

17 Q Some retailers or collectors might have large

18 accounts with you where they send you maybe hundreds or

19 thousands of files a year?

20 A Yes.

21 Q And then there are some that are a lot smaller

22 such as South Gateway Tire?

23 A That's correct.

24 Q You believe that you would have taken in some

25 manual information from them in the form of paper?

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1 A Yes, and I have that to show you.

2 Q We will get to that in just one minute. Let me

3 ask you a couple more questions. As far as your company,

4 has it ever been involved in a lawsuit before?

5 A No.

6 Q This is the first time they have been sued?

7 A First time.

8 Q Well, let me then start with asking you some

9 questions about I had prepared and sent a Notice of

10 Deposition Duces Tecum to you requesting that someone from

11 the company appear to testify.

12 Do you feel like, after reviewing that notice, that

13 you are the appropriate person for the company to testify?

14 A Yes, I am.

15 Q Obviously, being the owner of the company, you

16 have the authority to appear and testify on behalf of the

17 company?

18 A Yes.

19 Q Now with regard to the different areas of

20 inquiry, were there any areas of inquiry that I sought

21 information from you that you felt like you may not know

22 the answers to any of those questions?

23 A Yes, there are.

24 Q Which ones were those?

25 A You are going to have to give me a minute.

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1 Well, we don't do credit extensions or evaluate -- it's

2 not part of our business -- including the application by

3 your client.

4 Q When you say no application, do you not have the

5 application or you --

6 A We have a copy of it, yes.

7 Q You have a copy.

8 A I'm assuming that's what they sent me. Yes, it

9 is a credit application, but of course, it is not by your

10 client. It is by his father, in this case. So I should

11 not say it's your client.

12 Okay. Fraud audits and volume of complaints

13 regarding fraud, we don't have any. It's never been an

14 issue. Okay. I don't think that the -- reprocesses, tell

15 me what that is David.

16 Q A CDV is a consumer dispute verification

17 document that you might receive from a credit reporting

18 agency, or an ACDV is an automated version of that which

19 ordinarily will come through some electronic means.

20 A We never got either on your client. From

21 glancing over this, I think that I have answered -- I may

22 have missed something, but you know, most of the stuff,

23 yes, I am going to be prepared to answer on.

24 Q In following up on something that you conveyed

25 to me, does your company receive communications from the

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1 credit reporting agency called CDV or ACDV?

2 A Yes. I think we've known them as being AUDs, or

3 I don't know. It's through a company called E-Oscar.

4 They used to come in in writing, and now thinking back, it

5 does seem like that terminology was on those written ones

6 years ago. But we receive those, electronically, through,

7 a company, E-Oscar.

8 Q E-Oscar is a software mechanism for transmitting

9 corrections to credit bureaus generally?

10 A Correct.

11 Q Now one such device for transmitting corrections

12 to the credit bureaus is what is called a universal data

13 form or an automated universal data form called an AUD or

14 AUDS or UDF.

15 A Okay. All right.

16 Q Do you understand that to be a device where the

17 creditor decides something needs to be changed and they

18 would send such a communication in the record?

19 A Yes. That's correct.

20 Q I would like to distinguish that from the CDV,

21 consumer dispute verification form or automated consumer

22 dispute verification form what we called the CDV and ACDV.

23 Those are actually communications generated by the

24 credit bureau to a subscriber, a furnisher of information,

25 asking them to respond to a consumer's dispute. Do you

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1 understand that, or do you not understand that?

2 A I'm not as familiar with that. Yes. I mean

3 rephrase, if you would.

4 Q What I am asking you is an automated universal

5 data form or universal data form is something that you

6 would generate independent of any communication from a

7 credit bureau. Right?

8 A Right.

9 Q But the CDV or ACDV would be something that you

10 would be responding to the credit bureau?

11 A Okay.

12 Q Do you understand the difference?

13 A Yes.

14 Q Does your company receive CDVs and ACDVs from

15 any credit bureau or does it go to Inlet Data System?

16 A The only thing that we receive is through

17 E-Oscar as far as dispute verification.

18 Q But you believe that you have some system in

19 place at your company to address communications coming in

20 from the credit bureau?

21 A Yes. That would be through the E-Oscar. It's

22 all done through E-Oscar.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 23 Q But if you wanted to generate a correction to

24 someone's credit file, you would also use E-Oscar and use

25 the universal data form or automated universal data

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1 communication?

2 A Right.

3 Q But your records and you tell me, did your

4 records show any E-Oscar files or information pertaining

5 to my client at all of any kind?

6 A It was this particular one. We were not -- our

7 official notification of this problem was when we received

8 the petition. That's when I became knowledgeable that

9 there was a problem. I was still not provided the

10 information that I needed without me going to research it

11 myself. Okay.

12 Q I understand.

13 A Well, it was done with a fax to or some sort of

14 a -- we did notify Experian to make the change in that

15 way.

16 Q Do you know when you communicated with Experian

17 by fax?

18 A Oh, actually, there is another way that we did

19 it. We did it electronically through our system. All of

20 our files, when they come in or they are paid, we submit

21 the data to Spahr. So we can submit a deletion through

22 Spahr.

23 So the first thing that we did was code the account

24 for deletion, and I have these when you are ready for

25 them. I will show you that.

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1 Q Okay. That may be a good way to run through

2 this. I will just get you to start in the beginning, and

3 we will sort of roll through your documents. Then I will

4 come back and ask you about what you have produced and

5 what you were able to locate.

6 Tell me when did you first come in contact with any

7 account by South Gateway Tire that pertained to someone

8 named Samuel Yount?

9 A Their form is dated 07/26 of '05 which they

10 faxed it to us that same day, July 25 of 2005.

11 Q Let me ask you, generally, what does your

12 company do when they receive such a telefax?

13 A We enter it into our system, key it in, and scan

14 the supporting documentation.

15 Q So initially, it would generate, in your

16 records, a new file for collection purposes?

17 A Correct.

18 Q Do you have a tracking software that you use?

19 A A tracking software?

20 Q Like a collection software package that you use

21 in order to create accounts and then track the collection

22 process on them?

23 A Yes, we do.

24 Q What is that called?

25 A It is called agency computer systems control.

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1 Q You have always used that software?

2 A Since 1988.

3 Q So in this case, you got the application

4 document in from your client, South Gateway Tire, asking

5 you to collect on this account, and they sent you some

6 supporting documentation. Is that correct?

7 A Correct.

8 (Exhibit No. 2 marked for identification)

9 MR. SZWAK: Let's, if we can, go ahead and

10 mark the application document where they are asking you to

11 collect on it.

12 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Do you have that document?

13 A Sure. There are your copies.

14 Q What I will show you is what I marked as Exhibit

15 2. It's the first page.

16 A Okay.

17 Q What is that particular document?

18 A That is our listing sheet that South Gateway

19 filled out to submit the account to us for collection.

20 Q It provided you certain information about who

21 you were going to collect on?

22 A Yes.

23 Q What is the name that was provided to you?

24 A This, along with the other supporting

25 documentation, that goes with it. We use this as well as

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1 the other items that they send to us.

2 Q I understand. We'll go through all the

3 additional records, and I will get you to tell me --

4 A Custom Contracting, Incorporated.

5 Q So it was a corporate collection matter?

6 A It was with a personal guarantee.

7 Q It addressed that on the first page, or is that

8 in the supporting documentation?

9 A Supporting documentation.

10 Q I gather that Peggy Willis took this account in

11 from your company?

12 A She sent it to us. She is South Gateway's

13 credit manager.

14 (Exhibit No. 3 marked for identification)

15 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let's look at the next page. I

16 will get you to tell me what this next document would be,

17 this that I have marked as Exhibit 3.

18 A Okay. This would be the credit application that

19 he filled out, that would be Mr. Yount filled out, by

20 South Gateway Tire. It looks like Mike Wright possibly

21 had him fill it out from South Gateway. I don't know him.

22 Q Now on this first page of the document, it

23 addresses who the owners or officers are of Custom

24 Contracting, incorporated?

25 A Yes.

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1 Q It shows him to be the owner and president.

2 Correct?

3 A That's correct.

4 Q It has a mailing address on Billie Lee Lane. Is

5 that correct?

6 A That's correct.

7 (Exhibit No. 4 marked for identification)

8 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let's look next at what I will

9 mark Exhibit 4. It's the next page in order. Can you

10 tell me what is that particular page?

11 A That is the second page of the application.

12 Q All three of these documents, 2, 3 and 4, were

13 all provided to you by South Gateway Tire?

14 A That's correct.

15 Q This particular document just shows some trade

16 references and a sign by someone signing it Sam Yount as

17 owner-president?

18 A That's correct. Actually, to the girl that

19 entered it, it looked like Yourt, Y-O-U-R-T.

20 So it was initially entered as Sam Yourt, and the

21 reason that we entered his name is because of the last

22 paragraph where it says, I personally guarantee all

23 indebtedness, so we had a personal guarantee from him.

24 (Exhibit No. 5 marked for identification)

25 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me next show you the next

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1 page which appears to be some purchase records, South

2 Gateway Tire.

3 A Correct.

4 Q That's what you would normally get in the form

5 of like a receipt from South Gateway for purchases?

6 A You know, I honestly can't answer that because I

7 don't work for South Gateway Tire, but it appears that

8 way.

9 Q For your purposes, it was a copy of a receipt

10 and supporting documentation?

11 A It looks like an invoice or -- yes, an invoice.

12 Not a receipt. I wouldn't call it a receipt. I would

13 call it an invoice.

14 Q Okay. On this particular invoice, it shows the

15 person sold to as Custom Contracting, Incorporated.

16 Correct?

17 A That's correct.

18 (Exhibit No. 6 marked for identification)

19 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me next show you Exhibit

20 Number 6. If you could tell me, where did that document

21 come from?

22 A That also came from South Gateway Tire.

23 Q Do you know what that particular document is?

24 A This would be what we call an itemized statement

25 of charges and credits or a ledger basically.

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1 (Exhibit No. 7 marked for identification)

2 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me show you Exhibit 7. If

3 you could tell me, is that a document that they sent you

4 or something that you generated?

5 A This is something that we generated. Once we

6 have the account entered, we mail this back to South

7 Gateway Tire.

8 Q It's an acknowledgment, and at that point in

9 time, someone had entered the name as Samuel Yourt,

10 Y-O-U-R-T, in your system?

11 A Right. Yes. That's correct.

12 Q The Custom Contracting is misspelled, also, as

13 the primary obligor?

14 A Yeah. Sure is, isn't it?

15 (Exhibit No. 8 marked for identification)

16 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Would Exhibits 2 through 6 be

17 what you initially received from South Gateway Tire, or is

18 Exhibit 8 part of what you received from South Gateway

19 Tire?

20 A No. That is not -- Exhibit 8 is not.

21 Q So Exhibit 8 would be something that you all

22 pulled from the Secretary of State site?

23 A That's correct. So we said 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 came

24 from South Gateway Tire. Six came from us. I'm sorry.

25 Wait. You have this as -- okay, yeah. You have it.

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1 What did you label the acknowledgment? Did you label

2 the acknowledgement?

3 Q Right here.

4 A Okay, 7.

5 (Exhibit No. 7 marked for identification)

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Seven is a document that you

7 generated?

8 A That's correct.

9 Q Two through six are what you were provided by

10 South Gateway Tire?

11 A Correct.

12 Q And 8 is a Secretary of State record that your

13 company would have pulled up on the Internet and printed?

14 A Correct.

15 (Exhibit No. 9 marked for identification)

16 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let's next look at Exhibit 9.

17 Let me ask you what is Exhibit 9?

18 A That is our work screen that the collectors look

19 at to work the account, to make contact with the debtor

20 and make collection efforts. It's just a computer screen

21 printout.

22 Q This particular screen shows the name Sam Yount,

23 correctly spelled Y-O-U-N-T, correct --

24 A Correct.

25 Q -- with the address on Billie Lee Lane in

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1 Shreveport?

2 A Right.

3 Q When you reviewed this particular screen, there

4 is an indication of certain results under there.

5 A Uh-huh.

6 Q Can you decode that information, and show me

7 what that refers to?

8 A Yes. August 2 of 2005, the initial letter was

9 generated to go to Mr. Yount at 7006 Billie Lee Lane, and

10 it is a letter that states the requirements under the Fair

11 Declaration Act.

12 Communication was from the debt collector, and it

13 just shows that he owes this amount of money to the client

14 or he is alleged to owe that amount, you know. We are

15 asking him to respond.

16 Q Is there any other information that can be

17 gleaned from the information?

18 A Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. Let me keep going.

19 August 5, it looks like a collector attempted to call

20 Mr. Yount and left word at his residence. He did that

21 again on August 17 of '05.

22 Q Is it fair to say that LR is the reference to

23 leaving message?

24 A Left number at residence, correct. On September

25 1 of '05 is when the information was initially submitted

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1 to the repositories through Inlet Data Systems.

2 Q September 8, a second letter was sent to

3 Mr. Yount, basically, letting him know that we still

4 needed him to clear this up.

5 Again, another letter on October 10, and then another

6 letter, October 26. August 17, someone spoke to him. It

7 does not say what happened in that conversation.

8 Would that be 08/17 of '05?

9 A '05 -- no. I'm sorry. Hold on.

10 Q Sequentially, it should be an '06 contact.

11 A Right. I don't know why that's stuck in there.

12 That's, again, my software.

13 MS. ANDREW: Which one are you referring

14 to? The second results line.

15 THE WITNESS: 08/17.

16 MR. SZWAK: It ends with a TT notation.

17 THE WITNESS: Yeah, right in the middle

18 there.

19 A That does seem out of sequence, and I can't

20 explain why that's in there. That would be my software

21 person's, you know.

22 It actually looks like it probably should be down

23 here with the other August 17 where we left word. It

24 could be a call back. I would assume that's going to be

25 '05. It's just out of sequence.

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1 Q (By Mr. Szwak) As I understand reading these,

2 for example your initial contact letter, the number 08 is

3 a form letter?

4 A No. Eight is actually the last letter sent, but

5 pound zero is the initial letter.

6 Q Right. That's what I meant. The pound 08 is a

7 reference to a form letter.

8 A No. The pound zero is -- the eight is an

9 independent character that just means that is the last

10 letter sent. So if you look over at October 26, pound

11 eight, that is the last letter sent. That's what that

12 indicator is.

13 Q So when we look at October 10 of '05 and

14 October 26 of '05, the pound two and pound eight reference

15 there, what do those mean?

16 A Those are letter numbers.

17 Q Are they form letter numbers?

18 A Yes.

19 Q So it appears that, taking us all the way up to

20 this reference to 08/17 of '06 for the phone call, it

21 appears you had written four letters over the span of

22 August 2 of '05 to August 26 of '05?

23 A Correct.

24 Q Those would have been directed to Sam Yount on

25 Billie Lee Lane?

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 A Correct, along with Custom Contracting and Sam

2 Yount. It's addressed to both of them.

3 Q Okay. Now your reference to 08/17 TT is a

4 reference to a telephone contact?

5 A Correct.

6 Q We'll look at, in a moment, Exhibit 10.

7 A Yeah, the next page.

8 (Exhibit No. 10 marked for identification)

9 Q (By Mr. Szwak) If this is helpful, I have

10 already premarked Exhibit 10 which is a two-page phone log

11 and contact list, I believe.

12 If we read further, it says 11/07 LR. That's another

13 telephone attempt?

14 A Left word again, right. Still, obviously, no

15 payment or we would keep trying to contact him.

16 Q 11/23, another phone contact attempt?

17 A That's correct.

18 Q On 11/30, it says IS. What does that indicate?

19 A He wanted an itemized statement. So that was

20 sent to him, which would be the document that we received

21 from South Gateway Tire, which would be Exhibit --

22 probably we sent Exhibit --

23 Q Six?

24 A And the invoice. So it would be Exhibit 5 and

25 6.

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1 Q Five and six?

2 A Yes, sir.

3 Q So you would have sent those to the address on

4 Billie Lee Lane?

5 A Correct.

6 Q At no point in time did you ever change the

7 address from Billie Lee Lane. Is that true?

8 A It does not appear that we did.

9 Q The next contact appears to be December 1 which

10 would be the very next day. It says 12/01 PB. What does

11 that mean?

12 A That means he promised to pay the balance. He

13 received the statement and made a promise to pay it.

14 Q Then the next entry is 01/02 which should be

15 '06.

16 A January 1st. That's correct.

17 Q It says PA. What does that mean?

18 A That means it was paid, and we reported it paid.

19 Q Do you know, where is the copy of the evidence

20 of payment? If you receive a check, you would keep a copy

21 of it in your records.

22 A Uh-huh.

23 Q Do you know if you have a copy of it?

24 A We don't keep a copy of the checks, no, sir. We

25 do have encoded on the second page of what you have marked

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 as exhibit -- which one?

2 Where is the -- it's actually says work history at

3 the top, and then the second page of that. I think you

4 already marked them as exhibits. Wait. I'm sorry. I

5 have them over here. Here they are.

6 Q Okay. Exhibit 10?

7 A Yeah. If you want to use -- if you want to

8 staple those together, or actually the second page would

9 be Exhibit 11.

10 Q Okay. I'm sorry. I treated these two documents

11 as kind of a run-on from the first, if that's okay.

12 A They are. That's correct.

13 Q We'll just call them Exhibit 10, Page 1 and 2.

14 A So yeah, the payment history is going to be on

15 the last part of Exhibit 10 which shows where the payments

16 were posted on December 12 -- December 2, actually.

17 Q You say December 2 is when the payment came in?

18 A Correct, of '05. My birthday.

19 Q December 2 of '05, he paid the account, and then

20 it says January 2 of 2006 is when you reported the payment

21 to the credit bureaus?

22 A That's correct because this reported -- yes,

23 that's the way it's reported.

24 Q So as of January of 2006, however it ended up

25 being reported, it should have been shown to be a paid

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 account at that point?

2 A Correct.

3 Q Now on December 2, looking one line up on the

4 results, it says 12/02 PB. What does that mean?

5 A Again, that one is out of sequence. That should

6 be over next to the 12/01. It looks like the next day,

7 either he called us or we called him, and that may be

8 depicted in the exhibit of the phone conversations.

9 Apparently, the next day, they talked to him again

10 about the payment. I think the issue was then that he was

11 trying to get the amount reduced, and we had to

12 communicate with South Gateway Tire. So we had to

13 recommunicate with him to let him know what they decided.

14 Q Now there are two references in a row of

15 08/01 UC and then 09/01 UC. What do those references

16 mean?

17 A Those are where we are sending in the code to

18 delete the account.

19 Q So is it fair to say that on August 1 of 2006

20 and again on September 1 of 2006, you reported to the

21 credit bureaus to delete that account?

22 A That is correct.

23 Q Do you know what identifiers you sent along to

24 the credit reporting agency requesting deletion from what

25 credit report? I'm sorry. That's probably a bad

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 question. I apologize.

2 A Well, I can answer it though. I understand what

3 you are trying to ask me. The record that we initially

4 submitted on Custom Contracting, Sam Yount, is the one

5 that we were deleting. We were trying to delete this

6 record from the repositories.

7 Q When you reported this information to the credit

8 bureaus, can you tell me what indicative information was

9 used, identifiers or personal identifiers, were used to

10 report it?

11 A Okay. I have an exhibit. Let's see. Did you

12 mark this one? It's the next one that you have there.

13 (Exhibit No. 11 marked for identification)

14 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Yes, sir. I marked it as 11.

15 A Eleven. That would be -- this would be three of

16 the records. Actually, I think there should have been

17 four. So, apparently, one of them wasn't copied and

18 pasted, but this is the metro two format, of course,

19 wrapped to where we can put it on an eight-and-a-half by

20 eleven page.

21 Now I am not as a familiar with the metro two format.

22 I mean I can't tell you I'm an expert on every one of

23 these indicators because I didn't write the program to do

24 this. I can identify some of these fields, of course, as

25 well as you could, but you know, there is a certain record

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 layout of this data.

2 Some of them are dates. Some of them are client's

3 accounts numbers. I believe that the indicators showing

4 to delete or to enter the account or delete it are the

5 ones that I have circled on Exhibit 11 of 09/03/04.

6 There should have been one submitted January of '06

7 showing it paid because of that indicator that we saw on

8 the work screen, but that apparently was omitted off of

9 this.

10 Q Let me go back and sort of rephrase my question

11 for you. I need to know what personal identifiers were

12 reported to the credit bureaus. Obviously, the name

13 Custom Contracting, Incorporated?

14 A Okay. I guess I don't need that. I mean that

15 would be the proof right there, but --

16 Q I'm going to want to talk to you about that

17 Exhibit 11 in just a moment.

18 A I can look at this work screen and tell you. It

19 would have been Custom Contracting, Incorporated, Sam

20 Yount, 7006, actually it's Billie Lee Lane, Shreveport,

21 Louisiana 71107.

22 So initially, it was reported as Sam Yourt because

23 that's the way it was entered, and like you said,

24 Contracting was misspelled. So there were several errors

25 initially reporting the account to go onto the credit

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 record.

2 Q Was any Social Security number attached?

3 A No, never. Never a Social, which of course, was

4 the problem.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 5 Q You say the problem. What do you mean?

6 A Well, while you are here and you are

7 interrogating me, had we have had the Social Security

8 Numbers to begin with -- and you don't have to have a

9 Social Security Number to collect an account because

10 sometimes our clients don't have it.

11 So we still are going to try to recover the money for

12 them, but it is a good piece of information to have to

13 make sure that it does -- that we do identify the debtor.

14 We were never provided his Social Security Number

15 until we were served the petition, I mean as far as your

16 client. So we really had a problem trying to figure out

17 which was correct because of the way that it was disputed.

18 It was not properly disputed by your client.

19 Q It was not properly disputed by Mr. Yount, the

20 plaintiff?

21 A As far as I can see. I mean that is my personal

22 interpretation.

23 THE WITNESS: Should I give my personal

24 interpretation?

25 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Well, what I am trying to figure

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 out is, first, how the information got into the credit

2 bureau record.

3 A Yes, sir.

4 Q I gather it came in in the company name and it

5 came in with the name Sam Yount, Y-O-U-N-T, initially

6 reported as Yourt, Y-O-U-R-T --

7 A Right.

8 Q -- on Billie Lee Lane in Shreveport? No Social

9 Security Number. Correct?

10 A Correct.

11 Q No date of birth. Correct?

12 A Correct.

13 Q No other identifiers, to your knowledge, that

14 were supplied to you or reported by you to the credit

15 bureaus?

16 A No, sir. Not personal identifiers, no, sir.

17 Q You would agree with me that a Social Security

18 Number is somewhat of a fixed personal identifier.

19 Normally, two people don't have the same Social and don't

20 change that Social?

21 A Not normally. That's correct.

22 Q Date of birth, of course, never changes for any

23 of us. Right?

24 A Let's hope not.

25 Q But other identifiers can be somewhat fluid and

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 can change over time, correct, to some degree?

2 A Yes. To some degree, yes. Addresses.

3 Q When the information was reported into the

4 credit bureau and you started making collection calls and

5 sending letters to Billie Lee Lane, there was someone who

6 subsequently contacted you back about the debt. Correct?

7 A Correct.

8 Q And he ultimately paid on that debt. Is that

9 true?

10 A Yes. Eventually, he paid on it, correct.

11 Q Was there a dispute between the debtor and the

12 person who had sent you the collection account?

13 A Yes. Mr. Yount did have some disputes, one

14 trying to say that it was another company altogether, not

15 even his company that owed the money, you know.

16 He was just trying to do anything he could to, I

17 think, either get out of it or reduce it or whatever, you

18 know.

19 So if we do go to the memo on the work history, then

20 it just starts depicting what some of these conversations

21 were that were notated on the work screen.

22 Q Let's do that. Let's look at Exhibit 10, what I

23 have marked. If you can tell me, just on August 5, what

24 do your records reflect occurred on that date?

25 A We telephoned residence, and it's got slash

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 cell. So apparently, they assumed that a number that they

2 were calling was a cell phone. I don't know really where

3 they obtained that or how they obtained it, but they left

4 a message on it.

5 They pulled the Secretary of State's record and saw

6 that there was also a mailing address of Post Office Box

7 18934 for the corporation, 71138.

8 Also, Sam Yount -- it looks like maybe our

9 skip-tracer was doing this, because this account needed

10 some sort of work to attempt to contact the debtor.

11 Anyway, yeah, off of Search Guard is where she got

12 that number. So she left word and changed the number in

13 the screen. It looks like the cell phone number was put

14 in there. Okay. That's on August 5.

15 Q On August 17, it appears that you left a message

16 on an answering machine and someone called you back about

17 an hour later?

18 A Yes. His wife called back.

19 Q His wife called back and said, Client damaged

20 wheel, said Mike at Client knows situation.

21 A Correct.

22 Q Is that a reference to Mike at your client,

23 South Gateway Tire?

24 A At South Gateway Tire, and I'm thinking -- did

25 we see Mike Wright as a salesman? And that would be an

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 assumption that she is talking about that Mike.

2 Q So the first phone call between your company and

3 someone at the Yount household was with Ms. Yount.

4 Correct?

5 A That is correct.

6 Q She didn't at all disclaim that there was an

7 account. She said, Mike knows about this situation. They

8 damaged the wheel. Right?

9 A That's correct.

10 Q On November 23 of 2005, you called the

11 residence, and it says, Spoke to son, left message.

12 A That's correct.

13 Q Do you know who that is?

14 A All we knew is that he was the son. I don't

15 know if they identified the name, probably not, just that

16 we usually try to find out what relation to the debtor

17 they are.

18 Q He gave you his father's cell phone number which

19 is one digit off of the number that you all had logged in

20 on August 5. Right?

21 A Correct. And then it looks like that was

22 corrected. I don't know which is the right cell phone

23 number.

24 Q It looks like a minute later, you all logged in

25 notations that you called the wife's cell number perhaps,

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 the 4485 number. What does BF mean?

2 A Possibly one is his and one is hers. BS is --

3 Q No. BF.

4 A BF. That's the collector's initials or

5 skip-tracer, whichever.

6 Q So they were trying to get ahold of the Younts

7 on November 23 of 2005. Correct?

8 A Yes. That's correct.

9 Q Up to that point, all you knew about the account

10 was that there was some dispute involving damage to the

11 tire and someone named Mike at South Gateway Tire was

12 aware of the matter?

13 A That's correct.

14 Q Does it show any contact between you and South

15 Gateway Tire?

16 A No. There is not on here. I am positive that

17 there was some sort of phone conversation or something,

18 but that's not always notated on this.

19 Q Seven days later -- this is right after

20 Thanksgiving in 2005 -- there is a note. It says, Gave to

21 Theresa to look at because Sam is advised this is for

22 tires that was purchased by Custom Built, not Custom

23 Contracting.

24 A Right.

25 Q Now what exactly does that mean?

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 A Well, that means that it was given to the

2 collection manager to make contact with our client to

3 verify what the debtor is saying, to verify the accuracy,

4 and you know, if it is accurate, then we need to make a

5 correction.

6 If it's not accurate, then we need to go back and

7 tell the debtor that they say, no, that's not accurate,

8 which was the case. They informed us that he was not

9 telling the truth.

10 Q Who owns Custom Built?

11 A That Custom Built -- the only Custom Built that

12 I know about is the big Custom Built that sells concrete

13 and building materials on Marshall Street. I didn't find

14 where Mr. Yount owned Custom Built.

15 Q Now who is BF who made these notations?

16 A BF?

17 Q B as in boy. F as in Frank.

18 A I'm trying to think. Brandy Foshee probably.

19 Q Does she still work for your company?

20 A No, sir.

21 Q What about Rob who had keyed in the first set of

22 information?

23 A That's going to be Robin who is no longer there

24 as well.

25 Q What is her last name?

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 A We obviously have a turnover. Ratliff or

2 Ratcliff, one.

3 Q On December 1, the very next day, it says TJ

4 spoke to Peggy Willis at South Gateway Tires.

5 A That's going to be Theresa.

6 Q They advised us that they are willing to settle

7 for $1,200, but Sam is not going to settle for that. He

8 will settle for $1,100. Am I reading that right?

9 A Yeah. It looks like that's kind of notes that

10 were typed in and ran together. It looks like two

11 different things.

12 Peggy Willis is the credit manager. They spoke to

13 him, and she basically said, Look, let's just get this

14 behind us and settle it for $1,200.

15 They talked to Sam Yount, and he said he is not going

16 to pay $1,200; he will pay $1,100. So we said, Okay. He

17 is either going to bring me the check himself, or he wants

18 me to call him around the time --

19 Q Some particular time?

20 A Yeah.

21 Q So it looks like whatever confusion there was

22 about whoever's invoice it was on the 30th, on December 1,

23 you are negotiating with him to pay at least some portion

24 of this disputed debt. Right?

25 A Correct.

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 Q I mean we know it's somewhat disputed from the

2 first communication with his wife, and then there are some

3 notes about confusion about whether he owes the bill. But

4 the very next day, there is some discussion about settling

5 it. Right?

6 A Correct. So let's see, initially, yeah. That's

7 correct. 11:30.

8 Q It looks like --

9 A It looks like by the time he disputed it and the

10 time he paid it, it was just -- the only thing we needed

11 to do was submit it as paid.

12 Q So it appears that he paid you promptly. It

13 looks like that same day or the next day, you got $1,100

14 check?

15 A Uh-huh, correct.

16 Q And there was an agreement that there would be a

17 payoff and settlement amount and such. Now what I want to

18 do now is to look down at the notes on July 13 of '06.

19 A Right.

20 Q Your notes indicate that on July 13 of '06,

21 sometime around noon, Sam Yount, II called and said that

22 this is on his credit and that this is his father's

23 account?

24 A That's correct.

25 Q Who made these notes because there are no

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 initials next to them or any star with any initials next

2 to them?

3 A I can't answer it. I don't know.

4 Q But on every other set of notes, there is

5 someone's name and initials?

6 A Yeah. That could be -- I don't know. It can

7 be -- see, they are actually putting those initials out

8 there on these. Whoever did that one didn't put the

9 initials out there, but ...

10 Q So presently, do you have any idea who spoke to

11 my client on that day?

12 A Probably Theresa.

13 Q Theresa at your company?

14 A Yes, sir.

15 Q Is that the same Theresa who used to work at

16 South Gateway?

17 A No, sir.

18 Q A different lady?

19 A Yeah. I don't know of a Theresa that worked

20 there.

21 Q I'm sorry. I thought we were reading some notes

22 and there was a Theresa, but you have a Theresa working

23 for you?

24 A Yeah. The Theresa is my Theresa. All of the

25 Theresas that we have referenced so far is Theresa that

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 works for us.

2 Q You, as owner of the company, when you read some

3 notes like that, you have some understanding about what he

4 is calling about. Right?

5 A Oh, yes.

6 Q Have you seen this happen before?

7 A Yeah. It's happened, I'm sure, before with a

8 Jr. and a Sr. It's happened.

9 Q You all are in the business of skip-tracing

10 people. Right?

11 A Correct.

12 Q Historically, have you had occasions where you

13 were skip-tracing a father or a son, and ultimately, you

14 came into possession of information about the other one?

15 A Yes.

16 Q Those are, generally, what we sometimes term

17 mixed-credit files where the credit file is, to some

18 degree, merged together or appended or mixed?

19 A Well, you know, of course, our goal is to keep

20 it separated, you know. We do not want to mix credit

21 information. That is our primary objective is to keep it

22 separate.

23 Q But in this case, your company didn't report

24 anything to the credit bureaus that would have indicated

25 that my client owed this debt. Right?

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 A No, sir. That's correct.

2 Q You never reported a generational designator of

3 Samuel Yount, II. Right?

4 A Right. We didn't even know about Samuel Yount,

5 II until he called us.

6 Q If you could tell me, because these notes end on

7 that date, what happened as a result of his phone contact

8 with you? Because it looks like there is another entry

9 that might be missing right below here. Do you see where

10 there is another line that there is nothing written on it?

11 A That could just be at the end of the thing. I

12 think that the program maybe created a blank line there.

13 It could be a blank line.

14 Q But you are telling me nothing was masked over

15 that. Right?

16 A No, sir.

17 Q So the little copy burns on there would not be

18 where there was anything laid over the top of it. Right?

19 A Copy burns?

20 Q Yes. I'm referring to these little marks in the

21 copy, and I'm just asking. I don't know, but it appears

22 to me that there are copy burns where perhaps something

23 was laid over the top of that area when it was copied. To

24 your knowledge, there were no other notes on that account.

25 Right?

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 A To my knowledge, no, sir, there was not.

2 Q Does your company have any other records

3 pertaining to --

4 A And may I add, we are not going to hide

5 anything. Okay?

6 Q Okay. I have no reason to doubt you. I'm just

7 asking --

8 A Yes, sir.

9 Q -- if you know of any other notes pertaining to

10 this particular account and the handling of it?

11 A Okay.

12 Q Do you know of any others?

13 A No.

14 Q Okay. Now a moment ago, you and I were talking

15 about how the information had been reported by your

16 company to the credit bureaus.

17 I take it that when Mr. Yount called in and these

18 notes were made in his file, regardless of whether it was

19 Theresa or someone else, do you know who in your company

20 normally handles these type of credit reporting issues

21 where there is obviously a problem, something needs to be

22 done?

23 A Theresa does sometimes. I do sometimes.

24 Someone in a management position tries to make sure that

25 it is taken care of, you know. Of course, we don't want

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 there to be an error, you know. We absolutely don't want

2 that.

3 Q It appears from the metro tape sequences that

4 you provided me in Exhibit 11 -- I'm looking at this

5 document -- that initially, you all did report it as Sam

6 Yourt, Y-O-U-R-T --

7 A Yes, sir.

8 Q -- with the address on Billie Lee Lane; that in

9 August of 2006 which would appear to be shortly after

10 Mr. Yount, my client Mr. Yount, contacted your company,

11 that there was an updated reporting sent to the credit

12 reporting agencies that appears to take the name Sam Yourt

13 off of the account altogether and replace it with Custom,

14 Contracting -- Custom as a first name, Contracting,

15 Inc. -- as the debtor name. Is that true?

16 A It appears that in the field where Sam Yourt was

17 is Custom Contracting. That is correct. That is the name

18 field. Of course, all of the other indicators are the

19 same. I mean all of the other information is the same

20 including our account number and everything.

21 Q Well, let me ask you about this, because as I

22 understand, this is the account number field. It begins

23 2781634893?

24 A Right.

25 Q In the normal sequence, it would come as your

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 subscriber code and then second would be the account

2 number?

3 A Correct.

4 Q Am I reading that right?

5 A Yes, sir.

6 Q That account number changes in the second and

7 third instance, and it's the same on both of those. Do

8 you see the references under eight of those six? That

9 account number reference changes, and it becomes

10 consistently the same in 08/06 and 09/06.

11 A No, sir. That is not the account number out

12 there. The account number, if you flip back to either of

13 the exhibits, our work screen or the work history, is the

14 account number that we associate with it which is 278163.

15 It's a six-character number, and that would also be

16 indicated on the other.

17 Now the 50074075 is South Gateway Tire's account

18 number.

19 Q So that first column number is the South Gateway

20 Tire account number?

21 A No. No. The first column. Where are you

22 talking about a column?

23 Q It's okay. Let me walk through it a little

24 simpler. The very first number, of course, under each of

25 the dates begins 0306CBSI.

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 A Okay.

2 Q Do you believe that's your subscriber account

3 number?

4 A That is some sort of an identifier for our

5 company, yes, sir.

6 Q Because CBSI would be Credit Bureau of the

7 South, Incorporated?

8 A Correct. That is correct.

9 Q The second set of numbers that begin 278 in each

10 of the respective fields as you go down in each of the

11 formats, what does that designate?

12 A Okay. Those first six characters are Credit

13 Bureau of the South's file number -- account numbers.

14 Q So that's how you would identify the account?

15 A That's correct.

16 Q The remaining two digits would be what?

17 A I'm not sure what 48 is. Yeah. I'm not even

18 going to venture to guess what the 48 means at this point.

19 I would have to research that.

20 I'm also venturing to guess that the 93 is an

21 indicator that says new account. It's a new collection

22 account, and then on the 08/26, the 04, I believe, is a

23 delete code, but again, I would really need to research

24 that and possibly --

25 Q You don't know that to be a fact, do you?

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 A No, sir. I really don't.

2 Q I don't want you to guess. If you don't know,

3 tell me you don't know.

4 A I don't know.

5 MS. ANDREW: If you would wait for him to

6 finish his response and vice-versa, I think it will

7 probably come out cleaner.

8 MR. SZWAK: Okay.

9 A I could research it with someone like Doug Spahr

10 at Inlet Data Systems to get the record layout of this.

11 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Did you prepare this record

12 layout or did Mr. Spahr?

13 A This is not really a record layout. This is

14 just the records that were submitted. I'm thinking that

15 he may have sent those to me when we were notified, or I

16 may have gone back -- because I try to keep a record of

17 each file as well that we keep -- and pulled them out of

18 our records.

19 I think, David, that there is one more record showing

20 where we reported it paid. Now I don't know if that was

21 in name of Sam Yourt, or it was probably -- yeah. I just

22 don't know.

23 Q Let me ask you this. Do you have a manual or

24 book or set of papers that explains these different codes,

25 how to code the particular account number if you are going

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 to report it as paid or a new account or something?

2 A Yes, we do.

3 Q What would that document be called?

4 A That would be our software manual.

5 (Exhibit No. 12 marked for identification)

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) If you could, if you don't mind,

7 after the deposition -- we'll mark it as Exhibit 12 in the

8 record just so we have got an exhibit number -- I would

9 like to get you to send to the court reporter a copy of

10 the page with those codes on it so that we can look at

11 those codes.

12 A Sure will.

13 Q All right. That will take us up to -- I guess

14 before we move beyond Exhibit 10 and 11 together, I would

15 like to know of any other contacts that your company had

16 with my client or with his father or after July 13 of

17 2006.

18 A I am not aware of them at the present time. Now

19 I'm not saying that there weren't any, but I do not have a

20 record of them.

21 Q You believe that within a couple of weeks of him

22 contacting you, that there should have been the

23 transmission of information to all of the credit bureaus

24 to whom you subscribe indicating to them to remove the

25 name Sam Yount or Sam Yourt off of that particular

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1 reporting altogether. Is that true?

2 A I think we have 30 days according to the Fair

3 Credit Reporting Act. So yes, we want to try to do that

4 within that 30 days definitely, you know.

5 When we looked at our records though, we did not

6 submit -- okay. We could not delete it off of your

7 client's credit record without the adequate information

8 such as Social Security Number.

9 I think if you will look at the Fair Credit Reporting

10 Act, you know, their obligation is to submit enough

11 information for us to make a correction, and if he did not

12 do that, then we are on our own trying to research it and

13 figure out how to fix it, you know, whose credit report is

14 this on and how do we fix it.

15 Q Let me ask you, on July 13, we obviously can

16 agree that my client contacted your company. Right?

17 A Yes, sir.

18 Q He told you that your account was on his credit

19 report. Right?

20 A That's correct.

21 Q What information did you ask for him to supply

22 you that day on the phone to help you in taking it off of

23 his credit file?

24 A I don't have a record of what was asked and what

25 was submitted and how we were notified.

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 Q Do you have any notes anywhere in any of your

2 records that you asked him for any personal identification

3 information?

4 A I feel pretty sure that we were asking him, you

5 know. All I can do is assume, David, because I was not --

6 I have never spoken to Sam Yount, Jr. personally.

7 Q Do you have any reason to believe that a

8 consumer calling you and saying that, One of your accounts

9 is on my credit report, I need it taken off, would not be

10 cooperative if you asked him to, Give me your Social

11 Security Number so that I can report this and get it off

12 your file?

13 A Yes, sir, I do, because there are some people

14 that do not want to give that information. They feel

15 like, no, if I give it to you, then it's going to harm me

16 more, you know.

17 Q You don't have any proof that my client refused

18 to give you his Social Security Number. Right?

19 A That's right. I don't have any proof of that.

20 Q You don't have any proof that you-all even asked

21 him for that. Right?

22 A No, sir. I don't have any have proof, but that

23 is normal procedure.

24 Q Where is that procedure memorialized?

25 A It's not on what you have there.

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1 Q Do you have that in writing anywhere?

2 A No, sir. That's just going to be kind of a

3 policy of our managers. It's just a common sense

4 basically.

5 Q But there is nothing memorialized suggesting

6 that my client wasn't cooperative when he called you on

7 July 13 of '06. Right? I mean he called you all.

8 A He called us, but you know, from what I

9 understand, he was not a very cooperative individual. He

10 was just demanding that we fix it, and you know, there is

11 not enough notation about what happened.

12 It could be that he even hung up on us. I don't

13 know. I mean we don't know what really happened, but from

14 the notes, I can --

15 Q You're ad-libbing some facts in here, and I'm

16 trying to figure out where they derived from. Did you

17 speak to someone about their communication with my client?

18 A Yes. Oh, yes.

19 Q Who is that?

20 A Theresa.

21 Q What is her last name?

22 A Juneau.

23 Q She is your wife?

24 A That's correct.

25 Q Okay. And she was involved in talking to my

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 client, to your knowledge?

2 A Yes. I believe she did speak to him directly.

3 I'm not sure of that, David, or if the collector actually

4 did.

5 Q There are no notes of that. Right?

6 A No, sir. There are no notes of her speaking to

7 him. So I don't know if she did or not honestly. I can

8 find that out for sure and then report that back to you if

9 she actually spoke directly to him.

10 Q To your knowledge, after Mr. Yount contacted you

11 and complained about this being on his credit report, you

12 have indicated to me that you changed, by way of Exhibit

13 11, what you have got recorded here, you changed the name

14 on the account to be Custom Contracting, Incorporated.

15 Right?

16 A Yes, sir. One of my employees did.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 17 Q Did you report that to the credit bureau in a

18 manner which would have updated and changed the name on

19 the reporting?

20 A We are attempting to delete the record.

21 Q Tell me, in your own words, what is it about

22 this mechanism in Exhibit 11 that would result in the

23 retraction of information from my client's credit report,

24 or for that matter, his father's credit report and then

25 subsequently begin to report anew under only the name

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1 Custom Contracting, Incorporated?

2 A Well, you are asking me to give you my educated

3 guess on that. Right? That would be our company

4 identifier and our account number. Now I'm not for sure

5 what other information is used by the repositories to

6 delete it in this case.

7 Q Who in your company actually works with the

8 credit reporting machinery, the E-Oscar software, in order

9 to make corrections?

10 A That would be Theresa.

11 Q And I take it, you and your wife both work there

12 40 hours a week?

13 A At least.

14 Q After you sent in this correction in August of

15 2006, did the credit bureaus respond back indicating that

16 they had made these updates? Did you get an audit report

17 or --

18 A No. No, we did not.

19 Q What about in September of 2006? It looks

20 like -- you have indicated to me there was another change

21 requested.

22 A It was, basically, the same thing. It was done

23 again in an attempt because we were notified that it was

24 still on there. So we did it again electronically.

25 Q Do you know -- where are your notes reflecting

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1 that you learned that it was still on there?

2 A If we keep going to the communication, now your

3 client communicated with South Gateway Tire. So I think I

4 may have just answered the question we were unsure of.

5 Theresa's communication with your client was through

6 South Gateway Tire. I guess I wasn't prepared for that

7 question.

8 (Exhibit No. 13 marked for identification)

9 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Now I have left that gap between

10 Exhibit 11 and 13 so that you can supply the court

11 reporter those codes. Let me show you 13 and ask you is

12 that the document that you had in your records?

13 A Yes, sir, it is.

14 Q Do you know how and when you received that

15 document?

16 A We received that from South Gateway Tire, it

17 looks like, November 6 of '06. They faxed it to us.

18 Q So November 6 of '06 was the first time that

19 they sent you that document?

20 A Yes, sir.

21 Q To your knowledge, you didn't have that document

22 before November 6 of '06?

23 A No, sir. This is not even addressed to us.

24 It's addressed to, I'm assuming, Carl Bullard. He must be

25 at South Gateway. I don't know who he is actually.

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1 Apparently, he went and retained an attorney because he

2 sent a copy to John D'Anna or whoever that is.

3 Q D'Anna.

4 A D'Anna. Pretty quickly. I mean he like

5 disputed it and got him an attorney right away. We never

6 got anything from this attorney, and this document that we

7 did finally receive still does not show that there is -- I

8 mean we don't have a Social Security Number or anything on

9 him.

10 Q Let me take a look at it.

11 MS. ANDREW: Did I miss 12?

12 MR. SZWAK: No. Twelve is going to be

13 inserted. That's the codes.

14 Q (By Mr. Szwak) When you received this Exhibit

15 13, did you contact Mr. Yount at the phone number that he

16 supplied?

17 A No, sir. We just did everything that we could

18 to remove this account. I mean we just --

19 Q I understand what you are telling me, but I'm

20 asking you, if you felt like you needed more personal

21 information from him, did you pick up the phone and call

22 him?

23 A No, sir, we didn't.

24 Q I take it that John D'Anna being a local

25 attorney around here for the last 40 years, you-all didn't

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1 pick up the phone and call him out of the phone book.

2 Right?

3 A No, sir.

4 Q What about calling the people at South Gateway

5 Tire and demanding from them additional identifying

6 information?

7 A They did not have it.

8 Q But you didn't call them?

9 A Yes, sir. We communicated with them, yes, sir.

10 They didn't have a Sam Yount, Jr.'s Social Security

11 Number.

12 Q Who did you talk to at South Gateway Tire?

13 A Peggy Willis.

14 Q You called Peggy Willis and you asked her to

15 supply additional identifier information, and she said, I

16 just don't have it.

17 A Well, again, you know, you are getting that

18 information third-party. I did not speak to her. As the

19 letter says, Theresa spoke to her. I don't think it would

20 be right for me to answer on that.

21 Q All right. There are some handwritten notes on

22 Exhibit 13. Do you know whose handwriting that is?

23 A It looks like probably Peggy Willis's, I'm

24 assuming, because that's not on there.

25 Q You say it's not on there. It's not on --

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1 A Well, the signature, the name. Whoever signed

2 it was left off of it.

3 Q Was that information she wrote to your company?

4 A It looks like it, yes, sir.

5 Q Could you tell me, what is she saying on that

6 note to your company?

7 A Well, she is saying that she wrote him a letter,

8 which also, he should be able to take to the repositories

9 to show -- or not the repositories. I'm sorry. The

10 lenders to show that this is not my account. This is my

11 father's account, and South Gateway Tire says so.

12 So I think the purpose of these letters that she is

13 saying she wrote him here, I did write a letter that

14 Mr. Yount, II did not have an account with us. They

15 called again this morning threatening us with a lawsuit.

16 Because see, when they are calling, threatening with

17 a lawsuit, they are probably being belligerent and not

18 very cooperative, to be honest with you, David.

19 Q Well, let me ask you this. You certainly

20 wouldn't want something reported as a collection on your

21 credit report. Right?

22 A Absolutely not.

23 Q That's not a good thing. Right?

24 A Of course not, no.

25 Q I mean, in fact, on a scale of zero to nine, the

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 sliding scale of negativity in the credit world, that's a

2 nine. Right?

3 A Now repeat that.

4 Q Well, you have that sliding scale from zero to

5 nine if you use the rating credit account. The collection

6 account is a nine, the very worst rating that could be

7 attributed to an account. Right?

8 A I'm not familiar with that.

9 Q So you are not familiar with the rating system

10 that goes on with credit accounts?

11 A Not the one through ten thing that you are

12 referring to.

13 Q You have never heard of like zero being a new

14 account, too new to rate, a one being paid as agreed, two

15 being 30-plus days delinquent?

16 A You are talking about on the trade line. I'm

17 somewhat familiar with what you are referring to.

18 Q My question is this. A collection account is a

19 nine. It doesn't get any worse than a collection account.

20 Right?

21 A Okay.

22 Q You would agree with that statement?

23 A Yes, sir. I guess so.

24 Q I mean when someone marks your credit report

25 with a collection, the intention is to get you to pay?

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1 A Right. That's the whole purpose.

2 Q Of course, credit reporting is the most

3 economical method of collection in terms of getting the

4 word out there, getting it on their credit report with the

5 intention of having that consumer pay. Right?

6 A It is -- I guess you would say, it's not a very

7 expensive way to do it. We spend a lot of money in other

8 ways to try to collect an account, but to answer your

9 question, is it an economical way to attempt to collect a

10 debt, I would say, yes, it is.

11 Q It looks like in the collection of this debt,

12 other than the time that your company spent, you all sent

13 four, maybe five letters in the process and made some

14 phone calls?

15 A Correct.

16 Q In this particular letter, Mr. Yount, in Exhibit

17 13 -- this letter is written to Mr. Carl Bullard. Do you

18 know who Mr. Bullard is?

19 A No, sir, I do not.

20 Q Well, he has addressed this letter and then this

21 letter was subsequently transmitted to your company by

22 someone at South Gateway. Right?

23 A Yes, sir.

24 Q In the letter, Mr. Yount tells Mr. Bullard who

25 he is and indicates that there is a reporting of this

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1 account on his credit report. Right?

2 A Correct.

3 Q He also supplies his address, a P.O. Box in

4 Blanchard, Louisiana where he can be contacted. Correct?

5 A Yes. That's correct.

6 Q He also indicates his cellular telephone number.

7 Right?

8 A Yes.

9 Q He indicates that he has never done any business

10 with South Gateway Tire, and he is asking that they

11 resolve this matter or he intends to file a suit to make

12 them take it off his report.

13 A Okay.

14 Q Is that fair enough?

15 A Yes. That's what it says.

16 Q I mean would you file a lawsuit to get something

17 off your credit report if it wasn't yours?

18 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

19 Q (By Mr. Szwak) That's okay. You can answer.

20 A Well, would I file a suit if something was on my

21 credit record? Actually, I would probably make every

22 effort to get it corrected without filing suit.

23 I think filing suit is a very premature way of trying

24 to handle something. I think communication, verbal

25 communication, is a very good way to handle it initially

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1 and then write a letter or two, you know.

2 I can't say I have never had an error on my credit

3 record, but I never filed a suit to try to resolve it. I

4 think that's an attempt to gain money.

5 (Exhibit No. 14 marked for identification)

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Exhibit 14. This was a document

7 that South Gateway copied you on?

8 A Yes.

9 Q When did you receive that particular letter?

10 A November 6, 2006 was the date.

11 Q I'm trying to reconcile the handwritten note by

12 the person at South Gateway saying, This is a letter I got

13 last week. The letter is dated August 24 of 2006. The

14 note to your company says they got it last week, but the

15 telefax ledger at the top is almost three months later.

16 A No. Okay. This is dated August 24. So

17 apparently, she got it sometime after August 24 from

18 Mr. Yount.

19 August 29 would be -- I mean I don't know if that was

20 like on a Wednesday or Thursday of a week and then maybe

21 the 29th could have been on a Monday. I'm not sure.

22 I don't have a calendar, but you know, I think all

23 she is saying is that I have got this letter from him last

24 week and I responded by sending him a letter stating that,

25 you know, we are trying to fix it for you.

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1 Q I understand. This is my question. Exhibit 13

2 was a document, a copy of a document, with Post-It note,

3 it looks like, that was sent to your company. Right?

4 A Yes.

5 Q It indicates that she received a letter last

6 week?

7 A Uh-huh, this letter.

8 Q Surely, a letter written in August of 2006 was

9 received long before November 6, 2006?

10 A Yes.

11 Q Do you know if this fax ledger at the top is an

12 accurate date or not?

13 A Well, do I know for a fact? It could -- maybe

14 we did -- I mean I don't know. I honestly can't answer

15 that. I don't think that I can --

16 Q Do you know when your company received Exhibit

17 14 and Exhibit 13, one or the other, or did you get them

18 together?

19 A I know -- well, yes. To answer your question, I

20 know we received it on November 6 of 2006.

21 MR. MOORE: This actually could have been a

22 Post-It note from Ms. Willis to Mr. Bullard. It could

23 have been an interoffice communication, not a

24 communication with a credit bureau.

25 MR. SZWAK: I don't know --

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1 MR. MOORE: I don't think you are in a

2 position to know that.

3 THE WITNESS: That's correct.

4 Q (By Mr. Szwak) You are telling me all you know

5 is you got both of these documents on November 6, 2006?

6 A That's correct.

7 Q Peggy Willis at South Gateway Tire wrote this To

8 Whom It May Concern letter, and in there, she says, We are

9 sorry about the inconvenience to my client but they have

10 taken steps to get this error off of his credit report.

11 A Right.

12 Q Is that when you believe there were steps taken

13 to report to the credit bureaus to remove the name Sam

14 Yount altogether off of the account?

15 A I think that it was a telephone conversation

16 before this with us.

17 Q So you think there was a phone conversation

18 between South Gateway and your company?

19 A That's right. Yes, sir.

20 Q Do you know what time period that took place?

21 It's not in Exhibit 10. So I don't know where the notes

22 would be about that.

23 A I'm believing, you know, we started with this

24 July 13 of '06 when he told us that there was a problem,

25 and then you see where we attempted to delete it in August

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1 of '06. So those are way prior to this.

2 Q Do you think that the first effort to get it

3 removed off of his report failed? It didn't work

4 correctly, or do you know?

5 A Well, that's what they were saying. So we made

6 a second attempt.

7 (Exhibit No. 15 marked for identification)

8 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Then you saw the letter that

9 Ms. Willis wrote, but you didn't get this until it came in

10 by way of a fax cover with attachments which I will mark

11 as Exhibit 15, the fax cover page. Is that when you

12 believe you received Exhibits 13 and 14 with that Exhibit

13 15?

14 A Yes. Wasn't this just right before that?

15 Q They are dated the same date. I'm not trying to

16 trick you. I mean they both have fax ledgers, November 6,

17 but my question is it doesn't necessarily indicate whether

18 they all came together or not?

19 A Yeah. They all came together because they are

20 all in -- yeah, they came together.

21 Q So at least according to what you have got,

22 South Gateway Tire had faxed you. It says, Copy of fax

23 done 09/05/06?

24 A The day before the fax was done.

25 (Exhibit Nos. 16 & 17 marked for identification)

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1 MR. SZWAK: This would be a good idea. Let

2 me mark these as 16 and 17. I'm going to mark these

3 documents.

4 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I am going to hand you documents

5 13 through 17. I'm going to ask you, if you can, show me

6 in what sequence those records would have been received by

7 your company, and I think you have 17. I may have said

8 17.

9 A Okay. It looks like 15, 16, 13, 17, and 14

10 would be the order that we received this fax. Let's see.

11 Now the first fax is dated November 6 of '06. Hold on.

12 That one is September 5.

13 Q It seems to indicate November 5.

14 A November 5, okay. Let me retract. November 5,

15 she must have sent this to Theresa.

16 MS. ANDREW: September.

17 Q (By Mr. Szwak) September 5.

18 A I'm sorry. September 5.

19 Q So she sent you one fax on September 5?

20 A According to her fax, yes, her fax cover sheet.

21 She sent Theresa a request to check into it.

22 MS. ANDREW: David, can we take a small

23 break?

24 MR. SZWAK: Well, why don't we finish with

25 this and then we can do that?

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1 MS. ANDREW: Because I think if you -- off

2 the record. Do you mind?

3 MR. SZWAK: Well, I really do. I want him

4 to tell me the story. I need to know what order those

5 faxes came in so that we have an understanding about what

6 your company received and in what order.

7 A This particular fax that we have came in this

8 order. I mean it's got Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4,

9 and Page 5. So this particular fax came to us November 6

10 in that order.

11 Q (By Mr. Szwak) But you had received a prior

12 telefax from them that they were recopying you on?

13 A That is what Peggy Willis is indicating here

14 with this fax to Theresa.

15 Q And she is saying, We faxed you back in

16 beginning of September. Right?

17 A Yes. That's what she is stating.

18 Q What did she send you at the beginning of

19 September, and do you have a copy of it?

20 A I'm sure that what she is saying that she sent

21 us is in this. So hold on just a minute. No. I mean I

22 do not have a copy of that fax separately. I think it's

23 all combined in this one fax or this one set of copies

24 that I have here.

25 Q Do you know whether you received the

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1 September 5, 2006 fax or not?

2 MR. MOORE: September --

3 THE WITNESS: September 5 or 6.

4 A No, David. I cannot swear, at this time, that

5 we received it. The only thing that I can testify to is

6 that we got it November 6. I mean I'm not saying that we

7 didn't. We may have, but we may not have. I don't know.

8 MR. SZWAK: Okay. Well, let's go ahead and

9 take a break.

10 (Recess from 11:23 a.m. to 11:36 a.m.)

11 THE WITNESS: I think I do need to clarify

12 something because I just thought of what's the

13 misconception of these communications, these written

14 communications from South Gateway Tire. It appears to me

15 like the one dated 09/05/06 is an independent page by

16 itself.

17 I don't think that there was anything

18 attached to it. It makes no reference in here to Sam

19 Yount, II or Jr. or anything. It just says Sam Yount to

20 remove it, you know, and so we are trying to delete this

21 account. I mean that's what our efforts were to try to

22 delete it on that one.

23 Do you have anything, any exhibits, that

24 would help me maybe give you better answers that you could

25 supply me at this time?

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1 MR. SZWAK: I don't know that I would have

2 any documents that you wouldn't already have access to.

3 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me ask you this. You

4 indicated to me when you all got this telefax, Exhibit 6,

5 this is the September 5, 2006 cover sheet, you believe

6 that it would have only been the cover sheet and nothing

7 else?

8 A Yes. That's what it appears to be, yeah.

9 Q But we don't have that original fax because the

10 fax ledger doesn't that match the date of the

11 communication. Right?

12 A No. I mean if we do, I use this copy because,

13 you know, that says the same thing. It may have been --

14 Q If there is another copy, if you could, produce

15 it, please.

16 A Okay.

17 Q Do you know if you have it?

18 A I don't know.

19 Q When you got the telefax on September 5 of 2006,

20 did you know which account this communication referenced?

21 A Did I know?

22 Q Well, did the company know? It says Custom

23 Contracting, Inc. and Samuel Yount.

24 A Yeah.

25 Q I mean you-all, obviously --

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1 A The only account that we had in existence, in

2 our records, was this account, 278163. So if this account

3 affected your client's credit record, well, our efforts

4 would be to delete this particular account to try to

5 correct it.

6 Q So when you got this telefax on September 5,

7 your records already indicated he had made contact with

8 you.

9 MR. MOORE: Who is he?

10 MR. SZWAK: He being my client.

11 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Exhibit 10. July 13 of '06 is

12 the notations.

13 A Yes. He communicated with us, correct.

14 Q But my point is when you got Exhibit 16, you

15 obviously connected it with the fact that this was still

16 on my client's credit report. Right?

17 A Well, what we connect it with is the only record

18 that we have existing of this account, period. I mean we

19 have one account that was placed with us. There is one

20 record in our system with that account number on it,

21 278163.

22 So the only thing that we can do is to try to delete

23 that particular record because that's the one that we are

24 dealing with.

25 Q My question is this. Exhibit 16, when your

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1 company received it, you had in your records, at that time

2 already, notations showing that my client had contacted

3 you and said it was on his credit report?

4 A In July, correct. I think it's July. Let me go

5 back and look at that. Yes, it's July.

6 Q Do you know of any records that exist in your

7 company's possession between July 13, 2006 and November 5

8 of 2006?

9 A Uh-huh. These electronic-submitted deletions.

10 Q Now subsequently, you received Exhibit 15 that

11 also had a copy of Exhibit 16 with it, these two, as well

12 as these three letters. Correct?

13 A Sixteen is the second one, and which is 17?

14 Q Twelve, 13, 14. I mean -- sorry -- 13, 14, and

15 17.

16 A This one is 13. This one is 17, and this one is

17 14. Okay. I'm sorry. Repeat your question.

18 Q My question is when you received Exhibit 15, it

19 had attached it to Exhibit 16, another copy of the

20 September 5 fax as well as Exhibit 13, 14, and 17, the

21 three letters that are here. Is that correct?

22 A Okay. We received those on November 6

23 altogether, correct. Not in that order, but yes, we did.

24 (Exhibit No. 18 marked for identification)

25 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Now let me show you Exhibit 18.

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1 Can you identify that document?

2 A No, sir. I have never seen this before.

3 Q You have neither seen it signed nor unsigned.

4 Correct?

5 A No, sir. I have not seen that document at all.

6 MS. ANDREW: David, do you have a copy of

7 that?

8 MR. SZWAK: Yes. It's been produced. It's

9 Bates Label 1.

10 THE WITNESS: Do I get a copy of that?

11 MR. MOORE: I don't know that we get a copy

12 of this.

13 MR. SZWAK: We produced that as the

14 Bates-labeled production of documents.

15 MR. MOORE: What do you mean?

16 MR. SZWAK: When we produced evidence.

17 MR. MOORE: In the evidence, okay.

18 (Exhibit No. 19 marked for identification)

19 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me a show you what I have

20 marked as Exhibit 19 and ask you if you can identify the

21 account reporting that is on that particular credit report

22 on the second page? Does that appear to be the account

23 that you reported to Experian?

24 A Yes, that's it.

25 MS. ANDREW: Can you, please, list off the

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1 Bates numbers for me since I don't have a copy?

2 MR. SZWAK: Sure. This is Exhibit 19. It

3 is Bates-labeled Number 6 and 7.

4 MS. ANDREW: Of Plaintiff's production?

5 MR. SZWAK: Yes.

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) This particular report, Exhibit

7 19, is dated July 14. I would submit to you that Experian

8 generated this document and sent it to my client, and it

9 says Credit Bureau of the South updated. Do you see that

10 updated reference?

11 A No, sir.

12 Q Do you see on the front page where it says

13 updated?

14 A Okay.

15 Q When did Credit Bureau of the South update the

16 reporting to be in the fashion as reflected on Page 2?

17 A July '06. I'm not sure. Let me tell you -- let

18 me add something to this though. This says Samuel Yount.

19 We probably were not notified, at this time, if it was

20 Yount, Jr., or Sr. until the 13th.

21 This was generated on the 14th of July, and our first

22 indication there was a problem with it being the wrong

23 person was not until the same time, I mean.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »


24 Q My question is this. Did your company have any

25 contact with Experian on July 13 of 2006?

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1 A You know, I can't answer that. I don't know.

2 Q You don't know that you did, according to your

3 own records. Right?

4 A No, sir. I really don't. Now it could have

5 come as an E-Oscar, you know, and maybe we did get one

6 without -- I mean, I don't know. We can get the E-Oscar

7 log.

8 Q Let me ask you about this notation. Experian is

9 reporting back, This item was verified and updated on

10 July of 2006. Does your company have any records of

11 verifying this debt as related to my client?

12 A I do not have any record of that. I'm not

13 denying it, but I don't have a record of it.

14 Q Where would those records be kept, if you did

15 have copies of them?

16 A We may not have a copy. It would be in the

17 E-Oscar log.

18 Q Let me next address this same account, and ask

19 you if you can tell me anywhere on that reporting that it

20 shows it to be a paid account or whether there is a

21 balance allegedly owing on that account?

22 A It says the balance is still owing.

23 Q You told me earlier that your company would have

24 reported it as paid right after it was paid. Right?

25 A Right.

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1 Q You indicated to me, through your records, that

2 my client communicated with you on July 13 of '06.

3 Correct?

4 A Correct.

5 Q Then on the 14th, Experian has generated a

6 document showing the account in delinquent status with an

7 outstanding balance attributed to my client.

8 A This is like the next day. Don't we have 30

9 days to do anything?

10 Q I'm sorry. I'm asking you some questions. It

11 would be easier for us if we stick to my format.

12 A All right.

13 Q Isn't it true that the very next day, July 14,

14 Experian is reporting your account with an outstanding

15 balance and attributed it to my client?

16 A Saying it was updated, yeah. I mean, David, I

17 cannot tell you that we did that without -- I mean we can

18 look at the E-Oscar log. That may incriminate us, you

19 know, if we look at the log, but I can't say that we did

20 that because I don't have the --

21 Q But part of what you told me earlier does not

22 bear out in the way this account appears. In essence,

23 even if we're just talking about it being a paid item or

24 you reported it paid, this reporting does not reflect

25 that. True?

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1 A I agree, yes.

2 Q It also reflects, at least in Experian's

3 writing, that it was verified, the account was verified in

4 July of 2006. Right?

5 A Correct. So yeah, I mean that would indicate

6 that there was some sort of -- I mean that is stating that

7 there was something before that that was submitted and

8 then verified.

9 Q You understand what the word verified means?

10 A Sure. I understand.

11 Q Verification, as I understand it in industry

12 jargon, means you all have verified that, in fact, the

13 debt belongs to my client to Experian. Is that what your

14 understanding is?

15 A Well, no, sir. We are not necessarily verifying

16 that it belongs to your client because your client is II

17 and he has the same name as his father, you know. So we

18 had no Social Security Number. We had no way to actually

19 verify it, I mean to actually say that it wasn't.

20 Q At least as of Exhibit 19, the item is still

21 appearing on a my client's credit report. Is that true?

22 A Yes. That's correct.

23 (Exhibit No. 20 marked for identification)

24 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let's next look at Exhibit Number

25 20, and what I have done is I have actually marked a page

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1 from within the report just so we can have it on the first

2 page to make it a little easier for you to note. Then I

3 will I represent to you that's a copy of my client's

4 credit report.

5 Let me read the Bates labels. It begins on 26

6 through 31 Plaintiff's Bates label. I have marked it as

7 Exhibit 20. That very first page is one page out of the

8 report that lists an account. Can you identify that as

9 being the account that your company reported?

10 A Yes.

11 Q Does that appear to be the same account number

12 and in the same manner and format that you had seen on the

13 prior report?

14 A It begins with the same two digits, yeah, the

15 account number, and that's the same amount that was placed

16 with us originally.

17 Q Let me show you the second page of Exhibit 19

18 just so you can compare them.

19 A Yeah.

20 Q Does it appear to be the same information being

21 conveyed in both of those reportings, in essence there has

22 been no change of balance, status, remarks as to the

23 account. Is that true?

24 A Yes. It does appear that way.

25 (Exhibit No. 21 marked for identification)

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1 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me -- I know that you are not

2 going to have independent knowledge, but I'm just going to

3 read from the printer down here the date it was printed,

4 September 4, 2006. I will represent to you that it's my

5 client's credit report. I will testify about that. That

6 is Exhibit 20.

7 I'm next going to show you what is actually an

8 interim credit report between those two dates, and it is

9 Bates-labeled 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42.

10 As with the prior exhibit, I pulled a page out of

11 order as Exhibit 21, top page, and I would ask you if you

12 see that same account present on that particular document?

13 A Yes, sir, on the Experian.

14 Q I will show you again the second page of

15 Exhibit 19 for comparative purposes so you can look at

16 them side by side. Does it appear to have the same

17 exact contact listed?

18 A It does appear to.

19 MR. SZWAK: Just for the record, I will go

20 ahead and read in the date. My client will testify about

21 pulling his credit report on August 3 of 2006.

22 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Are you familiar with reading

23 credit reports?

24 A I'm not an expert, but yes, sir, I am.

25 (Exhibit No. 22 marked for identification)

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1 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I'm going to show you an Experian

2 credit report that I will mark as Exhibit 22.

3 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

4 MR. SZWAK: I'm sorry?

5 MS. ANDREW: I was objecting to the

6 question.

7 MR. SZWAK: I'm sorry. I've used that term

8 loosely today and I apologize.

9 Q (By Mr. Szwak) This is a disclosure credit

10 report that Experian sent to my client at his request.

11 What I would like to do is to get you to take a look at

12 Exhibit Number 22, and tell me, if you can, what is the

13 name and address listed on that document?

14 A It's Samuel Yount, P.O. Box 915, Blanchard,

15 Louisiana 71009.

16 Q Now you never reported or even had possession of

17 that address in terms of your computerized records.

18 Correct?

19 A No, sir.

20 Q If you could, tell me what is the only negative

21 account that appears on that credit report?

22 A Let me repeat that. Not until the date that

23 your petition was filed. Okay?

24 Q Okay.

25 A Now the question --

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1 Q If you can tell me, what is the only negative

2 that appears on that credit file?

3 A That it would be the South Gateway Tire.

4 Q When you review that account, do you see any

5 other reference to any negative credit on that credit

6 report?

7 A I only see three other items on the report.

8 Q Are those with any negative status whatsoever?

9 A $400. It looks like he paid that and was never

10 late. The $200 is still open, never late, and the $300

11 shows that it was paid and never late.

12 Q So my client has not had any reported negative

13 credit on that credit report file that you have there in

14 front of you. Right?

15 A Not that I can see.

16 Q The only negative and derogatory -- the only

17 derogatory item on his credit file is the account that is

18 reporting from your company. Is that true?

19 A That is the account that I noticed to be

20 derogatory, yes, is a collection item.

21 Q Do you notice anything else negative about his

22 credit report from your review?

23 A No, sir. I just answered that. I do not.

24 (Exhibit No. 23 marked for identification)

25 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I'm sorry. I apologize if I

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1 misunderstood. Okay. Let me show you real quick what I

2 will mark as Exhibit 23 which is a September 4, 2006

3 disclosure document that Experian sent to my client, and

4 ask you if you could tell me if you see any negative

5 information contained in that credit file?

6 A The same account still exists.

7 Q But do you see any other derogatory credit?

8 A No. I do not see any derogatory. Is his Social

9 Security Number on this thing?

10 Q I'm sorry?

11 A I'm just looking for personal identification on

12 him. I have his name and P.O. Box.

13 Q The disclosures do not contain a Social Security

14 Number. They are masked.

15 MR. SZWAK: Let's go ahead and attach

16 Exhibit 23.

17 MS. ANDREW: What is Bates number on that?

18 MR. SZWAK: Your Bates label 25 to 32.

19 A That was your client's credit report for sure?

20 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Absolutely. This is just FYI.

21 This is a production from Experian.

22 A Okay.

23 (Exhibit No. 24 marked for identification)

24 Q (By Mr. Szwak) This is not a document we

25 produced, or we may have produced it. It's just not the

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1 one I showed you. It should be the same though whether we

2 produced it or they did. It's the same disclosure

3 document.

4 I will next show you Experian Bates label 41 to 48.

5 So that means it's a document they produced. I've marked

6 it as Exhibit Number 24, and I will represent to you it's

7 my client's credit report from dated in September. Is

8 that September 28?

9 A The 28th of '06, uh-huh.

10 Q Now I'm going to ask you the same question. Can

11 you find any negative credit item appearing in that file?

12 A The same item is still there.

13 Q Are there any other negative, derogatory pieces

14 of information?

15 A Not that I see.

16 (Exhibit No. 25 marked for identification)

17 MR. SZWAK: Thank you. We'll attach it,

18 too. Now let me show you what is an Experian document,

19 Bates-labeled numbered 49. Let me show your attorney real

20 quick. I marked it as Exhibit 25.

21 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me ask you did your file

22 contain Exhibit 25?

23 A My file?

24 Q Yes, sir.

25 A No, sir. I'm sure that this is attainable.

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1 Yes, sir. Wait a minute. Let me look. It was not

2 attached to what I gave you?

3 Q No. We have gone through all of the documents

4 that you've handed me.

5 A Yes, sir. That would be the final thing that I

6 sent to delete it.

7 Q You say it would be the final thing?

8 A Yes, sir, I have a copy of this. This is not

9 anything that I intended to withhold from you.

10 Q But you don't have this document in the records

11 before you today. Is that true?

12 A It should be.

13 Q I don't mean to meddle in your papers --

14 A Well, actually, I thought that was in there.

15 Q -- that you brought papers with you. Do you

16 have this document with you today?

17 A No, sir, I do not.

18 Q Exhibit Number 25 is a letter that was

19 addressed by -- it actually bears your signature. Is that

20 true?

21 A Yes.

22 Q September 26, 2006 to Experian. I presume this

23 is to the bull's eye department. Do you know what the

24 bull's eye department is?

25 A No. Bull's eye, I think, is a service that they

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1 offer that I would -- does it say bull's eye department?

2 Q Historically, referencing bull's eye department

3 or professional maintenance. You addressed it

4 professional maintenance.

5 A Professional maintenance, okay.

6 Q You have asked that you need a rush and

7 confirmation that litigation is pending.

8 A Uh-huh.

9 Q Did you write that?

10 A Yes.

11 Q You said regarding Sam Yount, and you gave a

12 particular Social Security Number. Do you remember

13 writing that?

14 A Yes. And let me tell you, too, that what I was

15 required to do it before I did this was to scramble around

16 and try to figure out which account was Yount because it

17 was not provided to me.

18 So I do have some records of Accurint, you know,

19 which is not necessarily a -- but I guess it should

20 probably support this -- of my attempts to try to figure

21 out which Sam Yount was, you know if there even -- or why

22 it's on the other guy's account.

23 Q I'm sorry. I don't know what you are

24 referencing now.

25 A Okay. What I am looking at is LexisNexis

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1 Accurint.

2 Q Let's go ahead and mark it, please.

3 A Okay.

4 (Exhibit No. 26 marked for identification)

5 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Exhibit Number 26 is a document

6 that you just handed me. What is Exhibit 26?

7 A That is a printout of what LexisNexis Accurint

8 has for Sam Yount in their database. I don't know where

9 they get their data. It's not public records or anything

10 like that.

11 It's not part of his credit record. It's only a tool

12 that we use to try to figure out certain personal

13 identifiers and things like that.

14 So it's just a tool that we use. That one is for the

15 address of Billie Lee Lane.

16 MS. ANDREW: Do we only have one copy?

17 MR. MOORE: I can make some.

18 MS. ANDREW: I think it would probably

19 help.

20 MR. SZWAK: I will go ahead and mark them

21 so we can get copies before we leave.

22 MS. ANDREW: No. As we go along, I need to

23 follow this.

24 It would probably be helpful that if you

25 have any other documents, we go ahead and copy them.

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1 MR. SZWAK: Cindy, why don't do this before

2 we take a break.

3 Q (By Mr. Szwak) While we are sitting here, I have

4 marked everything that you have given me today. Do you

5 have any other documents pertaining to this case that are

6 not attorney-client privileged?

7 A No, sir. I think you have everything else that

8 I have at my disposal.

9 Q No more letters of any kind? Because I have

10 another one marked here next that is penned by you. So I

11 need to know if you have got any more letters.

12 A I don't have anything with me. If I -- no.

13 That's all I have with me. Those communications to

14 Experian as a final attempt to get the account resolved, I

15 mentioned earlier that I faxed it over, in the deposition.

16 Do you recall me saying that you were asking how I

17 did it electronically and I mentioned that there were some

18 faxes to delete? That's the fax that you are talking

19 about.

20 Q Let's do this. This may be helpful. I have got

21 25, 26, 27, 28. What other papers do you have here that,

22 perhaps, we haven't looked at that Ms. Andrew and I can go

23 through and be sure that we have a copy of everything?

24 A The only thing that I have -- well, this is an

25 older one. It's the same thing that you have got there.

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1 It's just got some scribbling on it.

2 Q If we can, let me take a look at it, please.

3 MR. SZWAK: A note to you?

4 MR. MOORE: Yes.

5 A Yeah, that's the same thing.

6 MR. SZWAK: I wouldn't do that to you,

7 Dave.

8 MR. MOORE: No. This is just telling him

9 that we've got a deposition date set.

10 A And this is just another company -- actually,

11 no. This is another company by Sam Yount. It's really

12 irrelevant to this case.

13 Q (By Mr. Szwak) It's a company --

14 A It's a Secretary of State printout on a

15 corporation.

16 Q It may not be, but I'm going to take a look at

17 it. This looks like something, perhaps, somebody pulled

18 up in the course of -- no. Actually, this is dated very

19 different from the others. We'll mark it anyway. I think

20 that's the best way to handle it.

21 Do you believe, with this additional information,

22 that we have everything that you have?

23 A No, sir. I think there is actually a third fax,

24 the final, corrected fax because I --

25 Q What is the date of it?

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1 A It's going to be like either --

2 MR. SZWAK: Are those documents your

3 documents?

4 MR. MOORE: That's what she sent me.

5 MS. ANDREW: Those are --

6 MR. SZWAK: What you sent?

7 MS. ANDREW: -- from me.

8 MR. SZWAK: Okay.

9 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I want to make sure that we have

10 got it. Is this the additional fax that you are referring

11 to?

12 A How many of these do you have? I think there

13 are three of these altogether which is the communication

14 with Experian.

15 Q I have only got two.

16 A There is a third one. I do not have it with me.

17 MR. MOORE: What I have is two. There are

18 two in here. One is September 26, and the other one is

19 September 27.

20 MR. SZWAK: Let's do this. Let's take a

21 break real quick.

22 (Recess from 12:03 p.m. to 12:13 p.m.)

23 THE WITNESS: David, let me tell you, too,

24 these documents that I did not supply you with a copy of

25 were not anything that I -- because these were my final

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1 attempts to correct this account with Experian.

2 I mean I believe I accomplished it with

3 these faxes. The first two are in error, and I think

4 that's all you have.

5 It looks like the first two -- I think that

6 the third one or one of them, finally, I got the

7 information correct and sent it to -- I think his record

8 is, ultimately, corrected from this right here.

9 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Okay. I'm a little confused.

10 You started communicating with Experian when? Tell me

11 when was the first time that you communicated with them by

12 telephone or letter or fax as opposed to using the

13 software to try to make corrections?

14 A I think, well, you know, when we got served the

15 petition. What is the petition date? What is date of

16 service on it?

17 Q It was filed September 22 of 2006. You probably

18 received it by sheriff's service sometime within several

19 weeks after that.

20 A Yeah.

21 THE WITNESS: When was it filed, you said?

22 MR. MOORE: September 22.

23 Q (By Mr. Szwak) September 22.

24 A Yeah. So probably the 26th is when I received

25 it and started working on that. That's what really

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1 notified me is that this is Jr., and this is his

2 information.

3 Here is the Sr., and this is where your account is.

4 Your attempts to delete it have failed, you know, is what

5 all this told me by getting the petition. I don't think

6 the petition was necessary to get me to it.

7 You may think it is, but that's -- normally, someone

8 communicates by letter or something to me like an attorney

9 would write a letter saying, look, here is a problem, my

10 client has this issue, please resolve it. That alone

11 would have had me do these same steps, perform these same

12 steps.

13 The first one --

14 Q Well, let me ask you this. You've said several

15 times during the deposition today that you felt like

16 Mr. Yount's response was unreasonable.

17 On July 13 of 2006, he contacted your company, and

18 you had complete access to him to get whatever you needed

19 from him to make the corrections. Right?

20 A We had the phone number. Did we get the

21 cooperation that we needed from him to resolve the

22 problem? No, I can't say we had it.

23 Q Let me ask you who is going to come to trial to

24 say that my client was anything less than fully

25 cooperative? I need a name and address of where I can

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1 depose them.

2 A Okay. Let me research that.

3 Q Well, do you not have that information today?

4 A I do not have it today, but I will --

5 Q Okay. Today, several times, you have suggested

6 that my client has been something other than cooperative,

7 and I would like to know the name of the witness and where

8 you got the information from.

9 A Okay.

10 Q If it exists, can you tell me now?

11 A No. I would rather supply that information to

12 you at a later date. I may not be able to produce that

13 witness, but there is a strong possibility that I can.

14 Q But you don't know who their identify is as you

15 sit here today?

16 A Not without some research, David. I would have

17 to find out who all was involved and who spoke with him.

18 Did South Gateway Tire? What conversation did they have

19 with him? How cooperative was he with them, with Theresa,

20 her knowledge of his corporation? So I need some time to

21 research that.

22 Q But today, you have affirmatively testified that

23 you believe that he was less than cooperative. If you

24 don't have any knowledge of that, tell me that you don't

25 have any knowledge. If you have some knowledge of

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1 something, tell me who said it.

2 A I have some vague knowledge of it. I do need to

3 research it.

4 Q Okay. Fair enough. Now on September 26 of

5 2006, you wrote Experian Exhibit 25. True?

6 A That's true.

7 Q You telefaxed it to them?

8 A Correct.

9 Q And in there, you list Sam Yount with a

10 particular Social Security Number. Is that true?

11 A Okay. That is true, and then again, let's use

12 the Accurint LexisNexis database, because this is all I

13 had to do my research. I mean it was not provided to me.

14 I had to go find it out on my on.

15 Q It was not provided to you by whom?

16 A By your client. I mean he --

17 Q Well, we are kind of back to the chicken or the

18 egg thing again.

19 A Right. I understand what you are saying.

20 Q At what point did you call my client?

21 A At what point did I call your client?

22 Q Did you ever personally call my client?

23 A No. I did not personally ever call your client.

24 Q So in this case, you indicate you went to

25 Accurint. What day did you communicate with Accurint?

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1 A September 26 or somewhere around that time.

2 Q Well, I have got one Accurint report that has a

3 date on it of April 24 of 2007. I have got one Accurint

4 report --

5 A Yeah. That's the new one.

6 Q This is the new one. You are calling Exhibit 26

7 a new search?

8 A Well, I printed it, yeah, just the other day to

9 show you. I mean, I didn't -- I printed it yesterday.

10 What date is it?

11 Q Today is the 25th.

12 A I printed that yesterday to bring to show you

13 that that was the tool that I used to research it.

14 Q Which exhibit did you use to research it?

15 Exhibit 26 or Exhibit 29?

16 A Exhibit 29.

17 Q Okay. Exhibit 29 was the copy that you printed

18 on September 26?

19 A Yeah.

20 Q I'm sorry. Let me take a look at what you have

21 got on -- I don't have the first page.

22 A No. The first page is actually just the address

23 typed in. I did that yesterday and typed in the Billie

24 Lee address to see who all came up at that address.

25 Q So Exhibit 29 was the document that you used on

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1 September 29, 2006 to locate information to place into

2 this request to Experian. True?

3 A That's correct to try to rectify the problem.

4 Q I'm trying to figure out were these your notes

5 on Exhibit 29? Is this your handwriting?

6 A Yeah. Yes, it is.

7 Q That's your handwriting. Correct?

8 A Correct.

9 Q Okay. On the very first page, there is a

10 reference to some language that appears to track what is

11 actually in Exhibit 25: Please rush, need confirmation,

12 litigation pending.

13 A Right.

14 Q There is an Experian Plano fax number on here,

15 972.

16 A Is that this number?

17 Q Well, I can tell you, off the top of my head, I

18 know that's their fax number.

19 A Okay. That's their fax number.

20 Q Right.

21 A What is this?

22 Q I don't know where that other number came from.

23 You wrote this one down. This may be a phone number.

24 This appears to be the correct fax number.

25 A Okay. That may be who I talked to to get a fax

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1 number.

2 Q They provided you the fax number that's written

3 up here. Correct?

4 A Okay.

5 Q Okay. Now on this Accurint report that you

6 received, there appear to be a series of names, dates of

7 birth, addresses, Social Security Numbers. Is that true?

8 A That's true.

9 Q I take it that you have a subscribership with

10 LexisNexis in order to receive this information?

11 A That's correct.

12 Q On the second page, there is a reference to a

13 Social Security Number of ABC-DE-6321. Do you see that

14 reference?

15 A Yes, I do.

16 Q You have got it -- there is a notation out to

17 the side that says Jr. Do you see that reference?

18 A Yes.

19 Q What is the discussion in writing under here,

20 Warrant, contempt of court, $100 bond?

21 A I mean, I don't know where that actually came

22 from. I don't know if it was Jr. or Sr.

23 Q Does that have anything to do with my client?

24 A No, sir. It's irrelevant.

25 Q But you may have just been making some other

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1 marks on the page --

2 A Right.

3 Q -- or do you know?

4 A True.

5 Q Obviously, in this Accurint document, it shows

6 multiple people with different addresses and Social

7 Security Numbers and dates of birth here in Shreveport.

8 Right?

9 A Yes.

10 Q It shows people who may have, historically,

11 lived at the same address with my clients' parents?

12 A Which one are you looking at?

13 Q I'm looking at Exhibit 29.

14 A At 29, yes. These are the names that came up

15 associated with that address. You can see that the

16 inquiry here was for the Billie Lee Lane address.

17 Q But as of September 26, as of more than two

18 months after my client had called your company, your

19 company didn't pick up the phone and call him on that

20 date. Instead you pulled an Accurint report. Is that

21 true?

22 A True. Yeah, because I am trying to find out the

23 facts of what is what because I was not given the facts.

24 (Exhibit No. 27 marked for identification)

25 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me show you Exhibit 27. What

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1 is that document?

2 A Well, this is the one that -- this is an inquiry

3 of the same address and the people that came up. This was

4 basically the same report.

5 Q Was that done the same day as Exhibit Number 29

6 or a different day?

7 A A different day.

8 Q What is the date that this particular inquiry

9 was done?

10 A Yesterday.

11 Q What was the purpose of that particular inquiry?

12 A Just to bring -- to show that these are the

13 people that have access to do the research at that

14 address. I mean why not?

15 I don't have anything to hide. I'm only trying to

16 show that we made every effort to fix this problem.

17 Q Was an Accurint report accessed in the beginning

18 of this collection account for the purpose of getting the

19 cellular telephone numbers for Mr. and Ms. Yount who are

20 my clients' parents?

21 A That's very possible because we were trying to

22 get in contact with them.

23 Q Do you know where that Accurint report is

24 located?

25 A No, sir. We don't always print it out. It's

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1 just displayed on the screen. In fact, I'm going to say

2 we seldom print it. I printed these to bring to show you.

3 Q On July 13 of 2006 when my client contacted you

4 about this issue, did you all pull an Accurint report that

5 day?

6 A I can't say. I don't know.

7 (Exhibit No. 28 marked for identification)

8 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me next show you Exhibit 28,

9 and ask you about that particular item, please. Is that a

10 document that you produced?

11 A Yes, sir.

12 Q What was the purpose of that communication?

13 A Well, let's see. Let me read it. The purpose

14 of it is to fix the item in error on the credit records,

15 both Sam Yount and on the other one. I mean either way,

16 we just want to make it correct.

17 So you know, Elizabeth McCormick must be the number

18 of the one that you saw that I spoke to about it. It may

19 be the number that you said that you recognized as an

20 Experian number. Apparently, Elizabeth McCormick is the

21 one that I spoke to.

22 Okay. So my first knowledge of the account was that

23 it was showing that it wasn't paid on the Experian file,

24 and I don't know how I was informed of that. I'm not

25 trying to withhold anything, but it looks like I saw that

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1 the account needed to be paid, needed to be updated to a

2 paid status.

3 So I said don't delete it. I went on to say -- and

4 yeah, the name was changed which you mentioned earlier,

5 but it needs to be updated to a paid status.

6 Also, we had a personal guarantee. Now it needed to

7 stay on Sam Yount's file.

8 So you are telling me that ABC-DE-6321 is your

9 client's Social Security Number?

10 Q I'm sorry. I didn't say that at all. I was

11 just asking you about this letter.

12 A Well, is it? Can you answer that? Can I ask

13 that? 6321, is that --
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »


14 Q I don't know that I have that right here in

15 front of me. I'm not quite sure where I can put my

16 fingers on it just yet.

17 But when you wrote this letter to profile maintenance

18 at Experian, Exhibit Number 28, you wrote it in reference

19 to Sam Yount with a particular Social Security Number,

20 correct --

21 A That's correct.

22 Q -- and referenced an address on Billie Lee Lane

23 where my client's parents live?

24 A And I believe that your client lived there at

25 one time as well, which I'm sure is where the mix-up came

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1 from as putting it on his credit record.

2 Q Do you have some knowledge of that, or are you

3 ad-libbing facts? Do you have some knowledge of that?

4 A Did he live there? I think he admitted it.

5 THE WITNESS: Didn't he?

6 A Yeah, he admitted it.

7 Q (By Mr. Szwak) He lived there years ago. Right?

8 A Yes.

9 Q You don't have any knowledge that he lives there

10 now --

11 A No, sir, I don't.

12 Q -- or since well before 2005. Right?

13 A No, sir, not without some verification. I may

14 be able to research it.

15 Q Your telefax to Experian on September 27 said --

16 now this is, apparently, a second conversation that you

17 had with Ms. Elizabeth McCormick, or did you only have

18 one?

19 A No. I only had one. What you are seeing there

20 is, you know -- I am rushing to try to get this fixed.

21 The subsequent faxes that you are seeing there are

22 attempts to update it, you know, keep attempting to fix

23 the file as information -- as I obtain information to

24 correct it.

25 Q Exhibit 25, you wrote on September 26 of 2006.

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1 MR. SZWAK: Do you need to stop and visit

2 with your attorney?

3 MR. MOORE: Yes, just for a minute.

4 A Yeah. They gave us the cell phone number that

5 you were asking about earlier.

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Who did?

7 A The son, okay. One of our -- that would be

8 Brandy Foshee from our office, who is no longer there,

9 spoke to Sam Yount, apparently Sam Yount, Jr.

10 We did not know that at the time that he was Sam

11 Yount, Jr. but the son, we are assuming, is Sam Yount, Jr.

12 who gave us the cell phone number that you were asking

13 about. I don't know that we obtained them, but it looks

14 like they were given to us.

15 Q On September 26, you sent a letter to Experian

16 confirming a phone conversation with them and asking them

17 to delete your credit reporting from Sam Yount's credit

18 report and you list him as Sam Yount with a Social

19 Security Number of ABC-DE-6321. Is that true?

20 A That is true, and again, let me add --

21 Q Let me finish asking you the question.

22 A All right.

23 Q I'm trying to keep this deposition shorter.

24 A I'm with you.

25 Q You further say that, We submitted through Spahr

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1 Systems an item for Sam Yourt, Y-O-U-R-T, on September 1,

2 2005 at the Billie Lee Lane address. True?

3 A True.

4 Q We went over that earlier, and that appears to

5 be correct.

6 A Yeah. That's what the fax says.

7 Q It says, The record was revised to Custom

8 Contracting, Incorporated at the same address, same record

9 number and coded for deletion on August 1 of 2006. Right?

10 A Right. And again on September 12.

11 Q So what you did on August 1, 2006, you changed

12 the name to Custom Contracting, Incorporated, and you

13 coded it to have it deleted off of Sam Yourt's or Sam

14 Yount's credit report. Right?

15 A Right.

16 Q And then you did the same thing again on

17 September 1 of 2006. It says you did it again. Right?

18 A Yes. My company did it again.

19 Q Your final says, however, apparently, the name

20 change prevented the deletion from occurring. Let me ask

21 you: Is what you are trying to say to Experian the fact

22 that you changed it from being Samuel Yourt, Y-O-U-R-T, to

23 Custom Contracting, you believe that somehow prevented

24 their ability to remove that information?

25 A It could have, and that would be -- I mean if my

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1 company is at fault in any way, that would be it, that we

2 buried that deletion code; however, I think that was a

3 tri-merge report that you were looking at earlier that had

4 the Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion information.

5 Right. It's only showing up on Experian. So

6 apparently, my deletions worked with the other ones.

7 Right.

8 Q Do you know of any other explanation for how it

9 could have been removed from those other systems?

10 A By my company. What do you call it? A memory

11 number or however they reference my company and the

12 account number that I have associated with it.

13 Q Is it possible that, number one, it wasn't

14 reported on TransUnion at all because you didn't subscribe

15 to them? Is that true?

16 A No. That's not true.

17 Q You were reporting to TransUnion?

18 A Yes. Sure, report to all three.

19 Q I'm sorry. I understood your testimony earlier

20 today to be that you only subscribed to Equifax and

21 Experian.

22 A You are saying subscribe, not data --

23 subscribing is pulling the reports. We pull Experian. We

24 pull Equifax, and we pull TransUnion in an effort to make

25 collection attempts. So we are subscribing to all three

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1 of them.

2 Q Are you reporting data to TransUnion?

3 A The data contribution, actually, there are four

4 that our data is contributed to.

5 Q You are reporting to them, too. Right?

6 A That's correct. It's all done through Inlet

7 Data Systems.

8 Q You are reporting to all four systems. Right?

9 A That is correct.

10 Q You don't know anything about my client's

11 contacts with CSC Credit Services or with TransUnion or

12 with anybody else with regard to this account?

13 A No, sir.

14 Q You don't know anything about the handling

15 through their independent systems?

16 A No.

17 Q So if my client had complained to CSC and they

18 took his word and took it off of his credit report

19 immediately, you wouldn't know about that now?

20 A No. If they deem that's appropriate to do that,

21 that's fine apparently.

22 Q Exhibit 28 was written the very next day after

23 Exhibit 25, and this time, it references Sam Yount listing

24 the same Social Security Number, but this time, listing

25 the Billie Lee Lane, Shreveport address underneath it. Is

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1 that correct?

2 A Exhibit 28?

3 Q Right.

4 A It looks like the same text almost. Maybe there

5 is something here. Yeah, the Billie Lee Lane.

6 Q Do you see the addition of the address in

7 connection with a name and Social on this transmission?

8 A You mean as opposed to the September 26 one?

9 Q Right, the one from the day before.

10 A They both have the same address. Right?

11 Q You don't list the address under the captioning

12 at all. You just have Samuel Yount and his Social.

13 A Yes. Right.

14 Q This time, you've added the Billie Lee Lane in

15 association with those identifiers. Correct?

16 A Well, I don't necessarily call it identifiers.

17 Some of the text is the fax. I mean I didn't relate that

18 to be an identifier necessarily because it's under how I'm

19 referencing --

20 Q In Exhibit 28, you ask Experian to ignore your

21 telefax from the day before. Is that true?

22 A That's correct.

23 Q Now in this telefax, you say, as per your

24 telephone conversation with Elizabeth McCormick that day,

25 but that was actually the conversation from the day

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1 before, is that true, or did you have a new conversation?

2 A You know, David, honestly, this says that I had

3 another conversation with her, and I probably did. I

4 don't think I would have put --

5 Q Well, it looks like you may have used the same

6 letter because it's got the same exact verbiage.

7 A But it looks like I was in close communication

8 with her trying to get this thing fixed.

9 Q But in the second document, Exhibit 28, you're

10 now not asking for deletion. You are asking for it to be

11 reported and updated to a paid status?

12 A Right.

13 Q And you, specifically, say don't delete it?

14 A Right.

15 Q And it says, Resubmitted through Spahr systems,

16 an item for Sam Yourt on 09/01/2005 at the Billie Lee Lane

17 address.

18 You sort of restate what you said the day before with

19 regard to having reported it inaccurately as Yourt on

20 Billie Lee Lane, and the record was revised to Custom

21 Contracting at the same address and coded for deletion,

22 the same sentence as the day before.

23 Then you finish the paragraph by saying, However,

24 apparently the name change the prevented the deletion from

25 occurring, but now you've added some new text to this fax.

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1 You say, We do not need to delete the account, but we do

2 need to update it to a paid status. We have a personal

3 guarantee on file. True?

4 A Yeah. My intentions were to leave it on Sam

5 Yourt's credit record.

6 Q Yourt or Yount?

7 A Yount. I'm sorry.

8 Q That's okay.

9 A The father's. Now if I have the son's Social

10 Security Number on this one, I probably learned that

11 eventually and corrected it with another fax.

12 I believe that what we are driving at here is this

13 must be Jr.'s Social Security Number here?

14 Q Well, what I am trying to figure out is what

15 your intention in this letter was.

16 A My intention --

17 MR. SZWAK: Cindy, I understand that your

18 client has no more telefaxes other than these. Right?

19 MS. ANDREW: Those are the only two that we

20 have.

21 Q (By Mr. Szwak) If you have another telefax, have

22 you seen such a telefax and do you know where it's at?

23 A Well, if I created it, I have seen it. I

24 believe I had it and I intended to bring it, but I have no

25 reason not to.

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1 Q My point is this. You just asked me what I am

2 driving at. When I read the succession of communications

3 in this case and then I read Exhibits 25 and 28 side by

4 side, it appears to create complete confusion as to what

5 is to be done with this particular account. If I were at

6 Experian, I would be completely confounded.

7 A It shouldn't, David, because it says, Please

8 disregard the previous fax. So throw that 25 aside.

9 Q Then let's go with just what's in 28?

10 A There we go. Now there is still another one

11 after that though, and I will provide that to you as soon

12 as I can get my hands on it. But it is the third one. I

13 should have --

14 MR. SZWAK: David, do you have a copy of

15 such a fax?

16 MR. MOORE: No.

17 MR. SZWAK: Cindy doesn't have it, and I

18 don't have it. So I mean --

19 MS. ANDREW: Well, if you're in this

20 building, you could go get it.

21 THE WITNESS: No, I'm not in this building.

22 I'm down the street.

23 MR. SZWAK: But my point is I know you want

24 to ask him questions about it if such a document exists.

25 THE WITNESS: David, I have got a stack of

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1 stuff that I have been bombarded with. I made copies of

2 stuff to bring today to this deposition. These should

3 have been part of what I brought.

4 Apparently I left these out, but anyway,

5 the final one corrected it. I believe if your client

6 pulls his credit record now, it's not to going to be

7 there. It's not going to exist. If that is the case, how

8 would that happen?

9 (Exhibit No. 29 marked for identification)

10 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I'm going to show you Exhibit 29.

11 On February 8 of this year, I propounded Requests For

12 Production of Documents to you. Have you ever reviewed

13 any of those requests and tried to compile information

14 since February 8?

15 A Yes.

16 Q So when you looked through those documents, did

17 you understand what I was looking for to get from you?

18 A Uh-huh. That's why -- yeah.

19 Q How long do you think it would take for you to

20 be able to produce some documents to me after going

21 through those thoroughly? Is a couple more weeks enough

22 time? If I ask you within a couple of weeks, do you think

23 you could answer those for me and just tell me, Look,

24 David, I already gave you everything I have got or tell me

25 what else you have got that would be responsive to it?

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1 If you need longer than two weeks, tell me. Say,

2 Give me three weeks, give me a month.

3 A Give me 30 days. That would be good.

4 Q Well, no. I don't want to limit you to three

5 days.

6 A Thirty days.

7 Q Okay, thirty days. If you could get me answers

8 to those, I would greatly appreciate it.

9 A Okay.

10 Q I also have with me some interrogatories where I

11 asked for information --

12 A Right.

13 Q -- such as a listing of witnesses and other

14 things.

15 A Yes.

16 Q I would ask you: Do you think within 30 days,

17 you would be able to get me those answers, too?

18 A We should be able to within 30 days; however,

19 you know that those things are very, very thorough, I

20 should say. You have quite a few answers for me to give

21 you.

22 (Exhibit No. 30 marked for identification)

23 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I will mark as Exhibit 30 -- do

24 you think that would be fair enough to get those from you

25 in 30 days?

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1 A Yes.

2 Q Because I propounded those back in January. I'm

3 not trying to pressure you. I'm pretty easygoing about

4 stuff, but I do need to know who the witnesses are.

5 (Off the record)

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) As you sit here today, do you

7 know what my client's Social Security Number is? Do you

8 personally know which one it is?

9 A Well, I'm thinking I do, but I mean, no, I can't

10 tell you off the top of my head, but if I had the third

11 fax, I believe it would depict it.

12 Q Well, what about Exhibits 25 and 28, the two

13 faxes that you sent to Experian that we know about? Do

14 you know whether that's my client's Social Security Number

15 or not?

16 A No, sir, I do not. I mean, at the time, I was

17 trying to scramble around and do the best that I could do

18 to find it and correct it.

19 Q Let me ask you. You are in the collection

20 business. When this matter came up and my client is

21 complaining that something that belonged to his dad is on

22 his credit report, you knew that there was a mixed-file

23 department at Experian. Right? You knew that they deal

24 with mixed-credit files, and they have a department.

25 Right?

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1 A Actually, no. I mean I am not that familiar

2 with Experian's, but I would assume, yeah, they probably

3 have something like this --

4 Q Well, what is a mixed-credit file?

5 A That would probably be mostly Jr.'s and Sr.'s

6 getting their credit mixed up.

7 Q Or III's or II's?

8 A Or even somebody that's not even related.

9 Q What about people with common names? Do they

10 have mixed-credit file problems?

11 A Right.

12 Q What about people with Social Security Numbers

13 that are only seven to nine digits and have a partial

14 match on the first name?

15 A I don't know. Probably.

16 Q My point is this was not like some problem from

17 outer space that landed in your lap on July 13. Right? I

18 mean this was understandable, what Mr. Yount, my client,

19 was complaining about?

20 A I think, initially, because Sam Yount, Sr. did

21 not tell us the truth a couple of times that we don't --

22 we may have, you know, thought that he was wanting it off

23 of his credit record.

24 Our initial thoughts would be that it needed to stay

25 on his credit record because we have a personal guarantee.

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1 It needed to be updated to a paid status. So ...

2 Q Well, you have indicated to me that Mr. Yount,

3 the father, yet you have kind of told me that you believe

4 that he was untruthful. The wife told you that there was

5 a dispute about the account and that there was a guy over

6 at the South Gateway Tire who knew about it. Right?

7 A Uh-huh.

8 Q On the 30th, there are some notes in your

9 records that say that the father, the person who runs this

10 company that was the debtor and who you say has a personal

11 guarantee on the account, that he said, you know, I don't

12 think this bill is mine. I think it belongs to a

13 different Custom Built Company that conceivably may have

14 an account with South Gateway Tire, but the very next day,

15 the man pays you for it. So I'm having trouble

16 understanding the deception that is being portrayed.

17 A Well, let me restate that sentence. Actually,

18 not necessarily, Mr. Sam Yount, Sam Yount. I do not know

19 him personally, but historically, debtors don't always

20 tell the truth, David. I mean it's something that's,

21 unfortunately, part of our industry, that we don't always

22 get the truth out of our debtors.

23 So we don't always take someone's word for a claim,

24 you know a statement, unless we verify it. We have to

25 verify it.

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1 So that is our objective is to get the information

2 verified, and so we are talking about from when we

3 initially learned it verbally that he wanted it off of his

4 credit record.

5 Now we don't have necessarily have Jr. identified and

6 distinguished from Sr. at that time, but from the time the

7 petition was filed -- when were we sued on this again?

8 MR. MOORE: September 22 was the filing

9 date.

10 A So we are talking about like 60 days, we were

11 sued. So I almost feel like that is kind of jumping on

12 trying to litigate something instead of getting it

13 resolved -- what is the word -- amicably.

14 (Exhibit No. 31 marked for identification)

15 MR. SZWAK: I need to correct a couple of

16 exhibits. We had two 29s. So I am going to have to

17 remark, and I didn't use the one I had premarked as 30.

18 I am going to mark the Request For Production as

19 Exhibit 30, the Interrogatories as 31, and Exhibit 29 is

20 the Accurint report, the original Accurint report that we

21 have identified.

22 So there is no problem in numbering with it, I guess

23 I could go ahead and mark it. We will just mark it as 32,

24 and I will have you identify it since you produced it.

25 (Exhibit No. 32 marked for identification)

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1 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I'm going to mark 32 as a

2 Secretary of State document that you printed on September

3 27 of '06 for Custom Transportation --

4 A Yeah.

5 Q -- which is not an entity --

6 A Well, and I understand what you are driving at

7 is possibly he said that the tires were for Custom

8 Transportation and not Custom Contracting or whatever it

9 was. Custom Built is what was written in my notes, you

10 know.

11 Q I'm sorry. All I'm driving at is that on

12 September 27 of 2006, you were rooting around in the

13 commercial division corporation's database on a record

14 pertaining to the Younts which has nothing to do with --

15 A As you probably know, you can type in a name of

16 an individual and it shows the corporations associated

17 with that individual.

18 Q Why was that important on September 27 of 2006?

19 A It wasn't important. It's just additional

20 information.

21 MR. SZWAK: All right. I have completed my

22 examination. Exhibits 1 to 32 submitted.

23 (Lunch Recess from 12:47 p.m. to 1:42 p.m.)

24 EXAMINATION

25 BY MS. ANDREW:

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1 Q Mr. Juneau, my name is Cindy Andrew. We are

2 back on the record. You do realize you are still under

3 oath?

4 A Yes.

5 Q I don't think that I have very many questions

6 for you. There are a couple of things that I wanted to

7 make sure I understood when you testified earlier.

8 The first one is you talked about a system or a

9 service that you used called the Inlet Data Service?

10 A Correct.

11 Q You use that particular service to report your

12 data to the various credit reporting agencies?

13 A That's correct.

14 Q You provide them the data in some format, and

15 then they put it together in a different format and then

16 transmit it on?

17 A Actually, yes. That is correct. Now I submit

18 it in the metro two format. So he has to change it

19 somewhat to submit it to the three, but yes, that is

20 correct. To answer your question, that is correct.

21 Q Now you mentioned he. Who is "he" that you are

22 referring to?

23 A Doug Spahr is the owner, and I believe he spells

24 it S-P-A-H-R. Doug Spahr.

25 Q When you said that you transmit it in the metro

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1 two format, does that mean that you transmit it

2 electronically?

3 A Yes.

4 Q And do you provide him any data manually?

5 A No.

6 Q Is Doug Spahr here in the Shreveport area?

7 A No. Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, or

8 somewhere like that.

9 Q Has Inlet or Doug Spahr informed you that you

10 have a consistent problem or CBS has a consistent problem

11 with transmitting your data to Spahr or to Inlet?

12 A It reports that the dates are incorrect or if

13 there is no date of service, which you know, we know that.

14 It rejects those because he is just letting us know

15 that those don't go in the file. Yes. We do get a report

16 from him that shows problems that we could clean up and

17 resubmit to him.

18 Q When you say "problems," what is your

19 understanding of when you use the term problems?

20 A Well, only accounts that are rejected because of

21 one thing or the other.

22 Q Because of a clerical mistake?

23 A Yes. It could be clerical.

24 Q Have you ever been informed by Inlet that the

25 data that you attempting to report is in violation of the

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1 FCRA, the Federal Credit Reporting Act?

2 A I don't know if I have or not by Doug Spahr or

3 Inlet Data Systems. We probably signed an agreement. Of

4 course, we don't intentionally submit data in error.

5 Q I just want to make sure that I got an answer to

6 my question. As you sit here today, you are not aware of

7 any systemic problems that CBS would have in reporting its

8 data to Inlet?

9 A Okay. Well, to answer your question properly, I

10 would say the main problem would be that there are going

11 to be records that don't have a date of service on it that

12 are going to be submitted and they are going to be

13 rejected.

14 So to my knowledge, sitting here today, I feel quite

15 sure that those are still being submitted to them on a

16 monthly basis, but they supposedly don't go on credit

17 records. They are rejects.

18 Q When you say date of service, what do you mean?

19 A That would be the -- I don't know what Experian

20 calls them. We also cause incur dates or the date the

21 bill was incurred, and it's the date where the seven-year

22 clock starting ticking.

23 Q A date of first delinquency?

24 A Yeah. Well, is that the field? Is that what

25 you call that field?

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1 Q No. I'm asking is that your understanding? You

2 were looking for a term, and I was wondering if that was

3 the term you were looking for?

4 A I don't know. I don't know if that's it or not.

5 Q What about Experian? Has Experian ever informed

6 CBS that Experian has a problem with CBS's data?

7 A No. They inform me when they don't receive my

8 file which I think they did the other day. I didn't get

9 it to them for some reason. They have a system set up to

10 say we didn't get your file. That's the only

11 communication we get from them.

12 Q When you were testifying, you mentioned a system

13 that you use, Agency Computer System?

14 A Uh-huh.

15 Q Is that a yes?

16 A Yes. That's true. Agency Computer System wrote

17 our software, or we have -- our system was written by that

18 company.

19 Q Do you refer to your system as Agency Computer

20 System?

21 A No. I mean do I refer to it? That depends on

22 what I am talking about. Our software that we use on a

23 daily basis is written by a man named John Thompson in

24 Memphis, Tennessee that calls his company Agency Computer

25 System, and he has the word Control on this software

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1 package. That's what facilitates our daily operation.

2 Q I just want to make sure that when we talk, we

3 are talking about the same thing. What do you refer to

4 your system as?

5 A Usually AS-400.

6 Q When you transmit data to Inlet, you use AS-400?

7 A No.

8 Q Okay.

9 A When I transmit to him, I call it the credit

10 bureau file.

11 Q Okay. Is the credit bureau file a term that was

12 set up by the metro two or CDIA, if you are aware?

13 A No. I think they -- I don't know what they call

14 it. Data contribution is another term, I guess, that we

15 call that contribution, that file that goes to Doug to

16 Inlet Data Systems, and it's called a data contribution.

17 Q Have you ever been made aware that your data

18 contribution was somehow flawed or needed to be

19 overhauled?

20 A That's the same question that I answered just a

21 few minutes ago about that file that does not have a date

22 on it. Then he sends it back with a report saying these

23 are rejected because of that.

24 Q Earlier you talked about the agency that you

25 report data to, and you mentioned that you report data to

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1 Experian.

2 A Uh-huh.

3 Q Is that a yes?

4 A That is a yes.

5 Q What other credit reporting agencies are you

6 certain that you report data to?

7 A Equifax, TransUnion, and Enovis.

8 Q Do you report data to Equifax and TransUnion and

9 Enovis --

10 A Enovis.

11 Q Enovis. Do you report to them on all of your

12 accounts that come to you, or is there a certain segment

13 of your accounts that you report to, certain credit

14 reporting agencies?

15 A To my knowledge, all of them. There may be an

16 exception or two. Okay. Well, if an account is paid, in

17 the early stages of placement, those don't go, of course.

18 If they have a zero balance, then they don't go. I

19 mean they sit in-house for at least 30 days before they

20 are transmitted.

21 Did that answer your question?

22 Q I believe so, but I am going to --

23 A Those are the only ones really left out as far

24 as -- unless a client calls and cancels one as well, says

25 we placed this account in error, of course, those are kept

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1 out of the repositories.

2 Q But what I want to get at is you are sure, as

3 you sit here today, that the South Gateway account was

4 reported to Equifax?

5 A Yes.

6 Q How do you know that?

7 A That would actually be Inlet Data Systems. They

8 would have to really testify to that because I submitted

9 it to them with the understanding that it is ...

10 Q Then I'm going to reask my question, and I want

11 you to focus on what I am saying because I am asking not

12 for what you believe or what you know. As you sit here

13 today, do you know whether the South Gateway account was

14 reported to Equifax?

15 A Okay. No. I don't know as of today. I would

16 have to investigate.

17 (Exhibit No. 33 marked for identification)
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »


18 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Mr. Juneau, I am going to show

19 you what has been premarked as Exhibit Number 33. Are you

20 aware of the relationship between Equifax and CSC?

21 A Yes.

22 Q What is your understanding?

23 A CSC is an affiliate that is actually like the

24 sales for an area. I don't really have a total

25 understanding. I just know they are an affiliate of

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1 Equifax.

2 Q Are you aware that CSC handles the disputes for

3 Equifax?

4 A Yes.

5 Q So what I have just --

6 A No. Let me say I am not absolutely aware of

7 that.

8 Q Sir, what I just handed to you is Exhibit

9 Number 33. It is a CSC credit service disclosure to the

10 plaintiff, Mr. Samuel Yount, dated July 28, 2006.

11 A Okay.

12 Q In the portion of it after the salutation to

13 Mr. Yount -- do you see that, sir, on the first page?

14 A Yes.

15 Q -- it says, Below are the results of your

16 request for a CSC credit service reinvestigation. Do you

17 see that, sir?

18 A Uh-huh. This says that we don't report to them.

19 Q Yes, sir. Do you have any knowledge, as you sit

20 here today, whether or not as of July 28, the Credit

21 Bureau of the South was reporting to Equifax?

22 A I only assumed that we were. It could -- I mean

23 we are supposed to be. I have a data contribution number,

24 and it's supposed to be going to them, but no, as I sit

25 here today, I can't swear to that.

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1 Q And in fact, Exhibit Number 33 suggests that you

2 were not reporting to Equifax?

3 MR. SZWAK: Objection to that question.

4 That's not what 33 says.

5 Q (By Ms. Andrew) You can answer it, sir, your

6 understanding as you read the first page.

7 A Well, this first page says that we are not

8 reporting to them.

9 MR. SZWAK: I'm sorry. That's also not --

10 I am going to object that. That's not what that says.

11 MS. ANDREW: You can -- when I finish, you

12 can ask additional questions, but I'm going to ask that

13 you not interrupt me.

14 MR. SZWAK: I'm going to make my objection.

15 MS. ANDREW: That's fine, but not a

16 speaking one.

17 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Okay, sir.

18 A Well, this says results are -- okay. The

19 results are that particular record is not currently

20 reporting, okay.

21 So okay, we are concentrating on this particular

22 record as far as this dispute. I'm sorry. That was not a

23 generic statement. I misstated that.

24 I mean this is not a statement saying that Credit

25 Bureau of the South is not reporting to them. We are

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1 talking about this specific item. They are not showing

2 that we reported it to them.

3 Q And that's my question to you. Is the Credit

4 Bureau of the South, this particular account on Mr. Yount,

5 were you reporting it to Equifax?

6 A I believe we were. I don't -- I mean I can say

7 I believe we were.

8 Q But you are not sure?

9 A Not without further investigation.

10 Q Okay, sir. I also would like to ask you

11 about --

12 MR. MOORE: Just one second.

13 (Discussion off the record)

14 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Sir, I would also like to ask

15 you about the information that you do report.

16 A Should I --

17 THE WITNESS: Well, let me --

18 MS. ANDREW: Sir, if your attorney wants to

19 ask you questions, he will have that opportunity.

20 THE WITNESS: Okay.

21 Q (By Ms. Andrew) I want to go through how you

22 reported your information with regard to this specific

23 account. When you testified earlier, you talked about

24 that you had Exhibit Number 2 and Number 3, and I believe,

25 Exhibit Number 4.

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1 A You mean how are we creating the record? Is

2 that what you are asking me?

3 Q Yes, sir. When you are reporting it to Inlet, I

4 want to talk about the information that you had available

5 to you that you reported to Inlet.

6 A Okay. I'm sorry. I don't have my pages marked.

7 This is Exhibit 1.

8 Q Exhibit 2.

9 A Okay. There is 2. Now you are asking me did I

10 use Exhibits 2 through 6 to create the record?

11 Q Yes. Well, I am asking what data did you use to

12 create the record?

13 A Two through 6.

14 Q Two through 6. Now I think you testified that

15 you didn't have certain information in 2 through 6. For

16 one, in particular, you didn't have a Social Security

17 Number?

18 A Correct.

19 Q Do you know whether someone in your office

20 performed some type of research to find a Social Security

21 Number?

22 A No. Because it's not on the record. We never

23 submitted a Social Security Number.

24 Q How do you know that, sir?

25 A Well, the other exhibit which is 11 is the data

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1 that we submitted, and the Social Security Number is

2 absent.

3 Q Is this the only document that you are referring

4 to?

5 A That would be the data out of our system that we

6 used to transmit it, the communication to Inlet Data

7 Systems regarding the plaintiff -- or not the plaintiff.

8 But that would be what, apparently, we were -- it was

9 intended for the plaintiff's father.

10 Q You mentioned earlier, too, about Exhibit

11 Number 11, that there was an entry that was missing?

12 A Yes. I think the one where it's updating to a

13 paid status should be in there. That should be January of

14 '06.

15 Q Now, sir --

16 A It would --

17 Q Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to

18 interrupt.

19 A It would be the first of January. It would be

20 January of '06, and that record is not on there.

21 Q Now what are these records? There are three

22 entries on Number 11. I know it's in the in metro two

23 format, but what are they?

24 A The first one, I believe, is where we submitted

25 the information to be placed onto Mr. Sam Yount at 7006

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1 Billie Lee, to be entered as a collection item on that

2 profile. Yeah, that's September of '05.

3 The August of '06 were our attempts to delete it, and

4 then September of '06.

5 Q Does this suggest to you that you only reported

6 the account or that you only made an attempt to change the

7 account three times?

8 A In this fashion. The other attempts were like

9 the faxes that you've got. We need to look at the E-Oscar

10 log to see if there was anything submitted through

11 E-Oscar.

12 Q Then what would this be in? If you didn't

13 transmit it in the E-Oscar format, how was this

14 transmitted?

15 A This was transmitted to Inlet Data Systems, the

16 third-party vender that distributes it to the three

17 repositories -- four repositories.

18 Q As a part of the monthly reporting?

19 A Yes.

20 Q So instead of reporting the account, I guess, as

21 60-days delinquent or whatever in days delinquent, the

22 first one would have shown what we have here at the top?

23 That's the first reporting. Is that right?

24 A Yes. It should have the date that the -- let's

25 see what date would we have used on there? Yes, that's

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1 correct. The date that the bill became delinquent would

2 be the date of the charges or the date -- you know, I

3 don't know.

4 I don't need to try to elaborate on that because I'm

5 not as familiar with that metro two format with the data

6 that has been submitted.

7 MS. ANDREW: Would you like to tell him

8 something?

9 MR. MOORE: No.

10 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Would it be fair to say then

11 that this very first, top one would have continued to

12 report in the very same manner? We're looking at Exhibit

13 Number 11. The very first entry would have reported that

14 way up until August 2006?

15 A Up until August of 2006? Yeah. The

16 identifiers -- you know. I think we almost need an expert

17 witness on this.

18 We need someone like Doug Spahr and get his testimony

19 as to how this information is received and how it is

20 interpreted, because again, I'm not as familiar with the

21 record layout and what each individual character in these

22 fields are.

23 I would -- I mean my thoughts would be that the

24 identifier of our company, which is at the header shows

25 that the record belongs to us, and then the account number

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1 and some other information that I'm not sure could be the

2 name of the company.

3 I suspect that just reporting the name Sam Yourt the

4 first time and then making the updates in the name of

5 Custom Contracting, you know, could have had an effect on

6 Experian not picking it up.

7 MS. ANDREW: I'm going to object to the

8 non-responsive portions.

9 Q (By Ms. Andrew) I don't really need an expert.

10 I just really want to know what your understanding is.

11 A That was my understanding.

12 Q But my question is: Is it your understanding

13 that this very first entry on Exhibit Number 11, that's

14 how it was reported initially?

15 A Uh-huh.

16 Q Is that a yes?

17 A Yes.

18 Q Then it continues to be reported that way until

19 we get to this second entry which it indicates occurred in

20 August 2006.

21 MR. SZWAK: Objection to form.

22 A I really wish that the entry of where we

23 reported it paid was on here which should have updated it

24 to paid status at least on the credit report.

25 So I mean, I can't say that, yes, it should have been

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1 reported; however, I mean, all we do is the best that we

2 can as far as keeping the record the same.

3 I mean our total intentions are to hit the correct

4 file. I mean that's what we intend to do. If we made an

5 error in some way, it sure wasn't intentional.

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I understand, sir, and I don't

7 think anyone is suggesting that you did anything

8 intentionally. I'm not. I just want to get an

9 understanding of this document, and I'm having a hard time

10 figuring out --

11 A Yeah.

12 Q -- what your --

13 A And I'm going to have a hard time explaining it

14 to you.

15 Q How about this? Did you get this document from

16 your system?

17 A Yes. This document is our discovery of the

18 records submitted to Inlet Data Systems, from our system

19 to Inlet Data Systems. These are three that we searched

20 and found and picked up and copied them and pasted them

21 directly to this document.

22 Q Okay. Who did the search?

23 A Me.

24 Q When did you do the search?

25 A I don't know. Probably sometime after the

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1 petition was filed, shortly after.

2 Q Did the search occur of the agency computer

3 system database or the software?

4 A No. The agency computer system platform is an

5 Episodic platform. This has to go into an ASCII platform

6 to be transmitted. So these were searched through files

7 that resided in my records.

8 Q Your personal records, you mean?

9 A Well, on a server, a PC server, maybe, or you

10 know, wherever they are stored at. I can't tell you where

11 they are stored at, but those files are saved each month

12 as much as possible. Of course, we are depending on Inlet

13 Data Systems, as well, storing these.

14 Q I think I've got it. You queried Inlet Data?

15 A No. I queried ours. I didn't go to Inlet

16 Data's. We should. Maybe we should get him to submit to

17 us what he shows.

18 I believe that he could probably search each file for

19 that particular account number in our folder or wherever

20 he stores our information and see how many hits he gets

21 out of that, copy those out and paste them into a document

22 similar to this one. So we could get him to do that.

23 This comes from mine and what I could find.

24 Q So as you sit here today, you are not sure if

25 these are all of the variations of reporting to Inlet?

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1 A I'm going to sit here today and tell you I feel

2 certain one is left out of there which would be the second

3 record instructing the account to be updated to a paid

4 status.

5 Q Do you know if there are any more besides that

6 one?

7 A Not of these. I don't think so.

8 Q And you believe that the second one that is

9 missing would have occurred between the first reporting,

10 which was September 2005, and the entry that is on here,

11 Exhibit Number 11, the second entry which is August of

12 2006?

13 A It would have been January of 2006.

14 Q Do you know what personal identifiers you were

15 listing on the reporting of January of 2006?

16 A It would be one of the two of these. More than

17 likely, the top one on this exhibit. It should have been

18 identical to that except that it's showing that it's paid

19 out and there is a zero balance; however, that is coded in

20 that metro format.

21 Q Mr. Juneau, in looking at the very first entry

22 on Exhibit Number 11, I see Sam Yourt, but I do not see

23 the company, Custom Contracting.

24 A On the first record?

25 Q Yes, sir.

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1 A That's correct. It was entered that way in our

2 system, but I don't know why it didn't come out on that

3 file. I'm not knowledgeable enough because seeing the

4 acknowledgement, the initial thing that we sent back to

5 our client did have both names on there. Why it was not

6 on this --

7 Q This being Exhibit Number 11?

8 A Exhibit 7 is when we initially entered this

9 account and set it up. It looked like this on Exhibit 7,

10 basically. It's not in the metro format, but that's an

11 acknowledgement to our client.

12 So we entered this information in. Therefore, Custom

13 Contracting is not on this first record, and Sam Yourt is

14 not on the second and third record.

15 I really can't explain why that is. It could be some

16 fields were changed or something in our system. That

17 would be something that I didn't really intend or

18 anything, you know.

19 It was just -- I mean you are looking at me trying to

20 get me to say something extra on this, but --

21 Q No.

22 A -- it's not something that we --

23 Q I really just want to understand what was

24 reported.

25 A It looks to me like the first item is what was

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1 reported initially. The second item was reported, I

2 think, third actually, and then the third one was reported

3 fourth.

4 The one that is missing is the one we're reporting to

5 be updated as a paid status. Forgive me for leaving out

6 things, you know. I mean, honestly, there would be no

7 reason for me to omit that other than it wasn't available

8 to me at the time. I couldn't find it, but I will have to

9 get my hands on that particular reporting where we

10 reported it to a paid status.

11 Q Mr. Juneau, have you ever had occasion to

12 collect when there is just a company involved and not

13 someone who is a personal guarantor of the company?

14 A Wait. Repeat that question. Is there --

15 Q Well, I want to understand your business. Have

16 you ever set up an account where there are no personal

17 guarantors, and it's just company-involved?

18 A Uh-huh. There are, uh-huh.

19 Q Is that a yes?

20 A That's a, yes, there are.

21 Q Do you report those accounts to the various

22 credit reporting agencies?

23 A I think the only ones that pick that up is

24 Experian business reports or companies without a personal

25 guarantee. Of course, a personal guarantee makes the

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1 individual liable.

2 So, you know, it would be his debt. Right? You

3 don't want to answer my question?

4 Q Well, I think that's a legal question, and I

5 don't have the answer to that. I just want to understand

6 your business.

7 A Well, that's our policy, and that's the way we

8 try to treat it, you know. Yeah, if it's a company, then

9 it's a corporate debt, and there is no individual report.

10 Q Is there any difference in how you report when

11 it's just a company involved as opposed to a company that

12 has a personal guarantor involved?

13 A Yes, there is.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 14 Q What is the difference?

15 A Well, the company has the company name on it

16 only and no personal name in that case.

17 Q And you report that to Inlet?

18 A Yes.

19 Q Do you inform Inlet only send this to Experian

20 business?

21 A I think that was an original part of the

22 business. We are talking about several years ago and

23 whether we discussed the setup of this, I can't honestly

24 answer that question without further research. I'm sorry.

25 I don't know everything.

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1 Q I don't mean for you to have to know everything.

2 I just want to make sure that I understand.

3 A Okay.

4 Q Do you have, currently, any companies that you

5 are collecting from where there is not a personal

6 guarantor?

7 A I'm sure we do, yes.

8 Q If the reporting to various credit reporting

9 agencies is different, then is there something that your

10 team knows what to do in reporting that information?

11 A Yes. Somewhere in between not necessarily us

12 but I think the data is submitted similar to that when we

13 report it to Spahr. I'm not sure if there is something

14 that he does to screen those out or if there are things in

15 place in Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion's software of

16 accepting the data, you know.

17 At one time, with Experian, it was set up to where

18 those files were rejected by Experian. Now we are talking

19 about several years back. They went to Experian's

20 business report.

21 That was the answer, I think, you are kind of looking

22 for, but yes, I mean we are talking about 15 years ago.

23 Okay. So I'm just kind of going off of what I do

24 remember.

25 I remember someone's name with the Experian business

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 department or whatever that I communicated with. We don't

2 drop into Dun and Bradstreet. So companies, businesses,

3 as far as I know only go to Experian business reporting as

4 a separate business.

5 Q Is there someone at your company who would know

6 more about that particular reporting?

7 A No.

8 Q When you get an account where there is an

9 individual involved and you don't have a Social, what

10 steps does your company take to make sure that you collect

11 or report that the account is in collections?

12 A The only thing that we can use is what our

13 clients provide us. Of course, there are things in place

14 where if there is an error, then they look at the credit

15 report.

16 They submit a dispute through the credit reporting

17 agency that we end up seeing through E-Oscar or whatever

18 method. So we depend on that, but there is absolutely no

19 way that we can submit perfect information.

20 Q But there is some basic information that, I'm

21 assuming, your company requires in order to report?

22 A Well, there is basic information that we require

23 to even set up an account up for collection. That would

24 be, of course, name, address, as much demographic

25 information or personal identifiers, as you all call it,

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1 on the debtor, and then the accounting information which

2 primarily would be the total amount due and the date that

3 the bill was incurred or the date of service, we call it,

4 incurred. That's really what we require to set the

5 account up for collection.

6 Q You mentioned the demographics as much as

7 possible. What kind of demographics?

8 A As much as possible. Name, address, phone

9 numbers, employment, employment phone numbers, Social

10 Security Numbers, even relatives' phone numbers or other

11 contacts, you know, just whatever we can use to contact

12 the debtor.

13 Q In looking at Exhibit Number 9, do you know if

14 this screen contains the information that it would have

15 contained in 2005, in July?

16 A This is the way it should have looked in 2005.

17 I mean this is the correct way to -- honestly, no, I

18 can't -- let me look. Let me use another thing to answer

19 your question.

20 Normally, changes are recorded in this results thing

21 in Exhibit 10. The only change I see to it is where

22 someone made a notation of the P.O. Box. That doesn't

23 mean that their address was changed.

24 I mean this is not saying the address on this screen

25 that you are referring to was changed. It was always 7006

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1 Billie Lee Lane and Sam Yount. I think that it could be

2 that the two fields here may have been changed, and I

3 would have no record.

4 Q When you say "here," could you, please, state

5 for the record what --

6 A Okay. Where it says G-U-A-R, guarantor, and

7 then debtor. Guarantor and debtor are kind of one in the

8 same. The debtor is a guarantor. Sometimes the debtor

9 may be a patient. It could be a minor child, something

10 like that.

11 Q Actually, let's look at Exhibit 10. I think

12 that probably will tell us what information was added.

13 You mentioned that there was a P.O. Box. So the P.O. Box

14 18934 was added after the account was set up. Is that

15 correct?

16 A It was only added into these notes. This is the

17 only place that I've seen that change in these notes right

18 here, and I believe that was obtained off of this

19 Secretary of State record.

20 Q So you don't know -- let me ask the question.

21 You are not saying that you were reporting the P.O.

22 Box 18934?

23 A That's correct.

24 Q But what you are saying is that, at some point

25 after the account was set up, you did find out about an

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1 additional address and that's the P.O. Box 18934?

2 A I shouldn't say Exhibit 8. Oh, for the company.

3 Okay, yes, for the company. Custom Contracting, okay.

4 The Secretary of State record is not for Sam Yount.

5 It's for Custom Contracting. The Secretary of State's

6 office shows this P.O. Box 18934 to be Custom

7 Contracting's address. We wanted to contact Sam Yount

8 personally. See, the company --

9 Q Sir, let me ask the question, and I think we'll

10 probably get through this a lot faster.

11 A I'm trying to answer your questions.

12 Q The next thing that I see here is 08/05/05.

13 It's says, Sam Yount, and then there appears to be a

14 telephone number, 929-4806. Do you see that?

15 A Okay. I'm looking --

16 Q I'm looking at Exhibit Number 10.

17 A Yes. Okay. 929-4806.

18 Q It says Search --

19 A Bug. That's a service. It's just a site that

20 we go to to look for skip-tracing information or contact

21 information.

22 Q What kind of contact information could you find

23 off of Search Bug?

24 A Phone number.

25 Q Anything else?

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1 A That's probably -- there may be an address on

2 there.

3 Q I'm not asking about this particular account.

4 That's my fault. Generally, what kind of information can

5 you find off of Search Bug?

6 A That's about it. It's a free site. It's not

7 just -- it's only an attempt to contact the debtor or

8 something that we could probably get his phone number and

9 address off of.

10 It could be old. In fact, probably nine times out of

11 ten, they are old, but it's just an effort that a

12 collector uses that is cost-effective to try to reach the

13 debtor.

14 Q The next entry that we have on here, it has the

15 same date. A little bit after, it says, Change numbers in

16 screen. Does that suggest to you that they were changing

17 the phone number?

18 A Yes. Now this where it says ACHG, that is what

19 our system -- when one is changed on the screen, it

20 automatically records the change in our software.

21 So this number was changed from -- it was 393-4485,

22 and it was changed to 929-4806 because what it is doing is

23 recording the change in this telephone field up here.

24 Q As we go down to 11/23/05 at 15:08, it says

25 that, I think, Theresa --

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1 A Uh-huh.

2 Q -- spoke to son, left message. He gave me Sam's

3 cell number --

4 A Right.

5 Q -- the 393-4465?

6 A Let me see here.

7 Q Gave to Theresa.

8 A Before I say yes or no, repeat that to me.

9 Q It appears that someone at Mr. Yount's number

10 gave Theresa a new cell number for Mr. Yount.

11 A No.

12 Q Is that not right?

13 A No.

14 Q Can you, please, decipher that for me?

15 A Okay. Yeah. It looks like the collector, who

16 was Robin Ratcliff, was working the account. She is the

17 one that made the telephone attempt and spoke to the son.

18 The person that she spoke to identified himself as Sam

19 Yount's son.

20 She left a message, and that son gave her Sam's cell

21 phone number, 393-4465. Then another person -- let me

22 see. Okay. I'm sorry. It wasn't Robin. It was BF,

23 Brandy Foshee.

24 So then she tried to call the wife at 393-4485.

25 Apparently, maybe the husband and the wife have very

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1 similar cell phone numbers which I think is common.

2 So it looks like she tried to call the wife here, but

3 anyway, then -- well, that's on the 23rd. That's what

4 happened on the 23rd. I'm going to stop there.

5 Q When you talked earlier about the ACHG, I

6 thought what you said is that number was the number that

7 was being changed to 393-4465.

8 A That is the number that was in our field up here

9 on the work screen. If you look at Exhibit 9 where it

10 says telephone, there is a blank where it says the area

11 code and then there is 929-4806.

12 When that collector put 929-4806 in that field and

13 pressed the control button to update it, it put the old

14 number that was there and recorded it in this notes field.

15 Q But it didn't remove that number, I'm guessing?

16 A No. It keeps a log of what was in that field

17 before, and I think the main reason for that is when we go

18 look on Search Bug, we know, well, we already tried this

19 number and it's no good, you know. There is no sense in

20 making a second attempt in trying this number that's not

21 effective.

22 Q When an Accurint account has been paid off, does

23 it normally close? Do you have a closing procedure?

24 A Yes. It goes to our closed file. It updates

25 the account to a paid status. It makes the little entry.

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1 In fact, that would be the one that is not there, but it

2 does -- it creates a record to submit to say, okay, this

3 account is paid, update it to a paid status. Then it goes

4 over to kind of a dormant file.

5 Q But does it continue to report after it has been

6 closed?

7 A No.

8 Q You wouldn't continue to show that the customer

9 or the consumer had a collection account but they paid it

10 off?

11 A No. We only do that one time, and that was

12 Experian that does that. They maintain the record or

13 whatever they have programmed. I don't know.

14 I know that an account can stay on there seven years

15 if it's an open account, but I'm thinking a paid account

16 stays on there less. I'm not sure. That would be an

17 Experian question.

18 Q So as you sit here today, you don't know how

19 long your accounts that you closed after they have been

20 paid stay on with a credit reporting agency?

21 A No. That would be the repository policy.

22 Q You mentioned earlier, too, about using

23 LexisNexis for some information. Do you know whether or

24 not LexisNexis was used when you first got the account

25 from South Gateway?

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1 A I don't know. It could have been. It's

2 something that we try not to use because of cost, you

3 know. We try to keep our costs down. So if they felt

4 like they needed to use it, then they would have pulled it

5 up and maybe taken the information.

6 Like I was telling Mr. Szwak, we don't hardly ever

7 print that out. We access it, take the information and

8 use it.

9 I cannot tell you, sitting here today, if we did that

10 on this account until -- we had the problem of it being on

11 the wrong credit record. During our investigation, I

12 know, for a fact, we used it then.

13 Q You also mentioned the skip-tracing. Is Search

14 Bug the only skip-tracing product that you use, or do you

15 use other skip-tracing products?

16 A No. We use White Pages.com.

17 Q Any others?

18 A Presently, no. Accurint was one that we were

19 using. I can't say Accurint is the most accurate. It's

20 not the most cost-effective.

21 So we are actually constantly looking for new ones,

22 but presently, to answer your question, Search Bug is the

23 one, obviously, we used on this one. Accurint is another

24 one that was accessible.

25 Q And then White Pages?

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1 A And then White Pages.

2 Q What information could you get off of White

3 Pages?

4 A About the same as Search Bug. Well, actually, I

5 think you can do a reverse look up. I don't know whether

6 we did that or not, but this is a generic question. You

7 asked me what can we do with it. We can do a reverse

8 phone.

9 I can't tell you -- there are actually several little

10 tabs on their website. You can look for a name with an

11 address. I mean I have used it to get a zip code for an

12 address before. There are several things that you can do

13 with it. It's a free service.

14 Q Do you know if you used White Pages.com in

15 connection with the South Gateway account?

16 A No, I don't.

17 Q Do you have a procedure at CBS where you attempt

18 to locate or to identify a Social Security Number when

19 you're not supplied one by your client?

20 A Accurint would be that source.

21 Q In what situations do you decide to use Accurint

22 when you don't have a Social?

23 A We have -- I don't know how many people that

24 have access that use Accurint. It's all in trying to

25 locate the debtor. You know we may want to pull a full

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1 credit report on the debtor, and we may need his Social

2 Security Number then.

3 Q So one situation would be if you want to pull a

4 full credit report?

5 A Yes.

6 Q Any others?

7 A I don't think that's a required field to pull a

8 full credit report. We don't have to use that. We can

9 use a name and address.

10 We just have to have permissible purpose. Just

11 skip-tracing efforts is all I can really tell you,

12 generically speaking, about why we would use Accurint. We

13 are trying to obtain more information on a debtor to

14 contact them to collect the account.

15 MS. ANDREW: Did you need to take a break?

16 We can take a break.

17 (Recess from 2:31 p.m. to 2:35 p.m.)

18 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Mr. Juneau, let's talk about how

19 often you report or CBS reports the data to Inlet. Do you

20 know how often you report?

21 A Monthly.

22 Q On all of your data?

23 A Yes. Yes, in this format. That's a monthly

24 transmittal.

25 Q Do you know how often Inlet then reports to the

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1 credit reporting agency itself?

2 A Monthly. At least that is the agreement.

3 Q Your understanding of how often Inlet reports to

4 the credit reporting agencies is once a month?

5 A Correct.

6 Q Mr. Juneau, could you please turn to Exhibit

7 Number 9? It's the screen that we were just talking

8 about.

9 A Yes.

10 Q On the right-hand side right above the dotted

11 line --

12 A Okay.

13 Q -- there is something there that I am not sure

14 exactly what this means. I'm hoping that you can help me

15 with it. Where it says status, there is an asterisk.

16 What does that mean?

17 A That means an active account, or well, it was

18 active until it was paid in this case.

19 We have a few different statuses. B for bankruptcy,

20 if it's a Chapter 7. I think a dollar sign is a Chapter

21 13. C if it's skipped, unable to locate. And these go to

22 an inactive file. They are just kind of like the

23 collector has exhausted their efforts, if suit is not

24 feasible.

25 If it's not something that we can let David review or

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1 something that we don't want to waste his time with, then

2 it goes away. It gets it out of the way.

3 The field that you are probably looking at right

4 under the time -- see the time?

5 Q No. What I am looking at is the status of an

6 asterisk.

7 A Okay.

8 Q So my question was: What does that asterisk

9 mean? I think you said it means active.

10 A Normally, it means active. Right.

11 Q What is the date of this screen?

12 A There is not a date that this screen was

13 printed. Let me tell you, too, that the asterisk, even

14 when the account, if it's got a zero balance, it's going

15 to move over to the closed file. It's going to still have

16 that asterisk. It's still going to be there. That has

17 nothing to do with credit reporting or our actions or

18 anything like that.

19 Q Can you tell me when this screen was printed or

20 when it was generated?

21 A Just recently. Just the other day. The same

22 time. I mean I would say within the last week.

23 Q Underneath the asterisk, there is a term

24 R-E-A-C-T-V. What does that mean?

25 A Reactivated. That was the last time it was

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1 reactivated. Let's go up to the top. See where it says

2 closed up there?

3 Q Yes, sir.

4 A So this screen was pulled up in our closed

5 file. At one time -- or it was reactivated on August 28

6 of '06, and that was done to submit this last delete code,

7 09/01 UC, down in the results.

8 That's why it was reactivated. It was closed, but in

9 an effort to fix the problem, we reactivated it so we

10 could submit the delete code.

11 Q Well, what is the last date of entry under

12 results?

13 A It's out of sequence. The one that you see here

14 is 07/13 TT.

15 Q Yes, sir.

16 A It should actually be somewhere else. I don't

17 know why it's not -- the same as the one that's 08/17 TT

18 is out of sequence with the date. That's something we

19 would have to ask our programmer as to why that occurs,

20 why it mixes up the sequence of these result codes.

21 The last result codes on this account was 09/01 with

22 UC which is the date that it submitted the delete code

23 again. So that's the last thing that this is showing.

24 Q What does the UC stand for?

25 A Delete. Well, actually it put in a CU. That

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1 means to delete. When it is deleted, then it changes that

2 to UC and puts UC down in the results code.

3 Q You said when someone enters it into the

4 computer, it comes up --

5 A It's going to be --

6 Q In order for this to work, I'm going to have to

7 ask you first and then you respond.

8 When someone enters it in the computer, they enter in

9 as CU. Is that correct?

10 A Correct.

11 Q Then once it is actually deleted, then the

12 system will update to show UC. Is that correct?

13 A Yes. I was about to tell you which field that I

14 was mentioning. You don't care which field, okay.

15 Q I want to finish this line of questioning so I

16 can make sure I understand. How does your system know

17 that the account has actually been deleted to show a UC?

18 A That's down in the result code.

19 Q The 09/01 UC, you mean?

20 A That's correct. That's the second one. The

21 first one is 08/01.

22 Q You said that someone enters in a CU. Correct?

23 A Correct.

24 Q When was the CU entered? What date?

25 A It would have been sometime in July because this

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1 code goes on there when that credit bureau file is created

2 which was August 1st.

3 Q What are you looking at to show August 1st?

4 A The result code here, the third one to the

5 right, 08/01 UC.

6 Q Then you said, when I asked you when would it

7 have been notified to be deleted by someone at your

8 company, you said sometime in July. Is that right, sir?

9 A July 13. I would say that code was entered onto

10 this account. When the process was run at the end of that

11 month, which was a couple of weeks later, that's when it

12 generated the result code down here in the bottom.

13 We don't have any way of changing these down here.

14 These are -- we don't have access to change these.

15 Q You said July 13, it was entered. What are you

16 looking at to determine it was entered on July 13?

17 A The notes and the memo down here where all that

18 took place, that conversation took place that there was --

19 but it says on his credit record, Sam Yount, II. It says

20 it's on his credit record. So we pull it up and say,

21 Well, it's a paid account anyway. Let's just delete it.

22 Q What exhibit number are you looking at, sir?

23 A Ten. The second page of 10.

24 Q So when Mr. Yount called you on July 13, 2006,

25 that's when your person entered into the computer to

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1 delete the account?

2 A Correct.

3 Q Then you said you do not have access to change

4 the results code?

5 A After they are done down here on this screen,

6 no.

7 Q Who does the entering or how is it calculated on

8 this result?

9 A Anyone can do it. Anyone that has access to a

10 work screen can code an account for deletion. If it is

11 done, of course -- the field right under the time, which

12 is what I was about to tell you earlier, right under the

13 time, that is where they would enter CU.

14 It sits there until the procedure is run to create

15 that file. Of course, that file was created. It puts a

16 result down here in the result code and changes it to UC

17 here.

18 Q That's what I am trying to get to is how that

19 file is created.

20 A Uh-huh.

21 Q Can you help me with that? How is that file

22 created? Now I understand that on July 13, someone

23 entered it into the computer to delete.

24 A Oh, okay. How is the file created? We have an

25 end-of-the-month procedure that runs a lot of different

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1 programs, and that is one of them where it creates a file.

2 Q What is that procedure called?

3 A End-of-the-month.

4 Q Is that done separately from your monthly

5 reporting to --

6 A No. That's where the file is created.

7 Q I'm sorry. I was --

8 A That's where the file is created. That's when

9 that file is created during the end-of-the-month

10 procedure.

11 It takes all of those codes in our system, thousands

12 of codes, and it processes them into a file like this, of

13 course, with a bunch of different people. Then it's

14 transmitted to Spahr who then disperses it to the

15 repositories.

16 Q Do you know if it is transmitted at the same

17 time that you do your monthly reporting to Inlet?

18 A It's pretty close. I mean it's going to be the

19 same day or maybe a day after.

20 Q Well, what I am trying to get at and I'm not

21 doing a very artful job of it is if it's contained in the

22 same transmission. You have a transmission that you give

23 Inlet Data. Correct?

24 A No. We create a file on our system at the end

25 of the month, and that is to update all of the records.

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1 New accounts, paid accounts, accounts to delete, all

2 of those with the appropriate codes go into that file or

3 they are in this file created at the end of the month.

4 C-R-E-B-U-R is what the file is named.

5 That is created in Episodic. That file is

6 transmitted through a file transfer utility to an ASCII.

7 That ASCII file is then FTP'd to Inlet Data Systems, and

8 Inlet Data Systems processes it and sends it to the

9 repositories.

10 Q Would it be fair to say then that the CU that

11 was entered on July 13 was transmitted to Inlet sometime

12 at the end of July --

13 A Probably the first of August.

14 Q -- or the first of August?

15 A First of August.

16 Q Did you receive some notification back from

17 Inlet to let you know that the account had been deleted?

18 A No.

19 Q Then with this 08/01 UC, how does the system

20 know to change it to a UC?

21 A That's our own internal system. That just shows

22 that we submitted the record.

23 Q And that's what I am getting at. There is a

24 difference between you submitting it and it actually being

25 done. So what you have a record of is on 08/01 that you

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1 transmitted data to be deleted?

2 A Yeah. All this shows is we did our part of what

3 we did ourselves. We can't really say what someone else

4 did without, you know -- I can only speak for myself or my

5 company.

6 Q Would that be a yes, sir? Do you want me to

7 repeat the question?

8 A Repeat the question.

9 Q This 08/01 UC that we have on Exhibit Number 9,

10 that indicates that you transmitted data to Inlet to

11 delete the account?

12 A Correct.

13 Q Then it appears on 09/01, you transmitted the

14 data again to Inlet to have it deleted. Correct?

15 A That's correct.

16 Q So the 09/01 indicator suggests to you that your

17 08/01 data was not deleted?

18 A They said it wasn't, and me personally, I'm not

19 going to say that would indicate to me that, but the

20 person who was trying to take care of it, it apparently

21 indicated to them that maybe it didn't work.

22 It could be, possibly, they didn't get the file or

23 something like that, or something could have happened. So

24 they just tried to do it again.

25 Q What person are you referring to?

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1 A That was probably Theresa the second time.

2 Probably. I can't say that for a fact.

3 Q Theresa, your wife?

4 A Yes.

5 Q The second time meaning 09/01?

6 A Right, which would have been done in August. I

7 mean it would have been coded in August, but it would have

8 been submitted when it was appended into the file on the

9 first of September and sent off.

10 Q Now I understand. That's all I was trying to

11 get to. The name change that you had on the account, why

12 did you change the name from Mr. Yount to Custom

13 Contracting?

14 MR. SZWAK: Did you say Yount or Yourt?

15 MS. ANDREW: Yount.

16 A It was Yourt initially.

17 Q (By Ms. Andrew) But what --

18 A Yourt is his client. I mean Yount is his

19 client, but Yourt is what we entered in originally, Sam

20 Yourt.

21 Q I understand that, but I don't want to -- that,

22 to me, is a side issue. What I am trying to get at is why

23 was Custom Contracting added?

24 A Custom Contracting, I don't think was added. It

25 was an original -- I mean it was submitted originally. It

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1 was always in our records as Custom Contracting.

2 What I was saying earlier, the guarantor name and the

3 debtor name, apparently, were reversed at some point. I

4 can't tell you what day that happened because I don't have

5 a record.

6 It was not recorded as to when that happened, but

7 that was my assumption, and my attempt to correct it was

8 that this is could possibly be why Experian didn't pick

9 the file up is because of that.

10 So when was it changed? I can't answer that

11 question.

12 Q Well, I'm just looking at Exhibit Number 11. If

13 you can, look at Exhibit Number 11.

14 A Uh-huh.

15 Q We have three entries on Exhibit Number 11.

16 A Right.

17 Q One of them shows a Yourt.

18 A Right.

19 Q Then there are two entries for Contracting Inc.,

20 Custom?

21 A Okay.

22 Q My question is, at some point, it appears there

23 was a change from Yourt to Contracting, and I'm asking

24 first, do you know when that changed occurred?

25 A No, I don't know when.

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1 Q Do you know why that change occurred?

2 A No. I do not know why other than someone

3 attempted to correct our records to be proper.

4 Q When you say "someone," are you referring to

5 someone at CBS?

6 A Probably Theresa. I'm saying probably because I

7 don't know for an absolute fact that it was Theresa who

8 would have made that change.

9 Sam Yourt is the record that we submitted to 7006

10 Billie Lee Lane, and somehow it ended up on Sam Yount,

11 Jr.'s account. I don't -- that was not our intention.

12 Q As of August 2006, in looking at the Contracting

13 Inc., Custom, do you know if there still was a Sam Yourt

14 or Sam Yount associated with this trade line?

15 A On our record, yes, the name was always on

16 there. The name actually was, at some point, corrected to

17 Sam Yount.

18 After this first record is when it was submitted to

19 go on Sam Yourt's credit record at 7006 Billie Lee. After

20 that, you know, our attempts were to try to get it off of

21 Sam Yount, Jr.'s credit record.

22 So that would be why we submitted the delete codes in

23 our system was to try to delete our record entirely.

24 Okay. Your question, I probably didn't answer it.

25 What did you ask me?

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1 Q Actually, you anticipated my next question which

2 is how did you get the name Sam Yount?

3 A Probably in the debtor contacts, with the

4 collector communicating with them, found out it's not

5 Yourt, it's Yount.

6 Q Do you know when that would have occurred?

7 A I can only assume because I don't have the

8 printed record of that. I would say early on back in

9 2005.

10 Q Mr. Juneau, if you wanted to find out exactly

11 how CBS reported this account, how would we go about doing

12 that?

13 A I would -- that is some comfort that I have in

14 Inlet Data Systems taking my data and dispersing it for

15 me.

16 That's a third-party that can be a witness as to what

17 I did. He's not directly related to my company other than

18 I'm a customer. So his testimony should be that what I

19 did should be valid.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 20 Q Have you had any conversations with Inlet Data

21 about what you reported?

22 A On this particular account?

23 Q Yes, sir.

24 A Yes. And he said, That's not a problem for me

25 to testify. I do it all the time.

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1 Q Did you ask him how you reported the data or

2 CBS? When I say "you," I mean CBS.

3 A I don't know if I had him look into it or not.

4 I can say I don't know. I can honestly say I don't know

5 if I asked him that or not.

6 Q What do you recall about your conversation with

7 him?

8 A Well, I asked him. I said, you know, this is

9 the first time I have ever needed him to be a witness, you

10 know, a possible witness, and you know, would he be able

11 to do that. He said, Absolutely, you know, that's

12 something that we do and we do it all the time.

13 But I did not have Doug, who is obviously very busy,

14 go and research these records because I didn't really see

15 the need for him to do it at the time.

16 (Exhibit No. 34 marked for identification)

17 Q (By Ms. Andrew) All right. Now I would like to

18 talk to you about your specific contacts with Experian

19 which is my client. I don't think I said that before.

20 We have here now a document that you have provided,

21 and I have marked that document as Exhibit Number 34.

22 MR. MOORE: It's this one.

23 THE WITNESS: Give me just a minute to

24 reorganize. Okay. I'm ready.

25 Q (By Ms. Andrew) What I have here are the

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1 contacts that you directly had with Experian which are

2 Exhibit Number 25.

3 A Which one is 25?

4 Q It's the September 26, 2006 letter. It may be

5 in this stack here.

6 A September 26.

7 Q It's Exhibit 25. September 26 is the date of

8 the letter.

9 A Okay. The 26th is the 27th letter?

10 Q No. Exhibit 28 is the September 27th letter.

11 MR. MOORE: Here is Exhibit 25 right here.

12 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Then Exhibit 34 which we have

13 already premarked.

14 A Okay.

15 Q Then the other document that you need is Exhibit

16 Number 29 which is the LexisNexis Accurint.

17 A Okay.

18 Q Before I ask any questions about these

19 documents, I want to ask you do you have any other

20 documents that would suggest that you contacted Experian

21 directly about the South Gateway Tire account?

22 A This is some confirmations that I found where

23 they -- I should have made you copies of these.

24 MR. SZWAK: The longer the day goes on, we

25 keep getting more documents. We're going to need copies.

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1 MS. ANDREW: We can go off the record.

2 (Off the record)

3 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Mr. Juneau, I want to now talk

4 about your contacts with Experian, and as I understand it,

5 you've had conversations with someone at Experian. Is

6 that right?

7 A That's right.

8 Q Would that person be Elizabeth McCormick?

9 A Yes.

10 Q Do you recall how many conversations you had

11 with Ms. McCormick?

12 A No. I don't know how many.

13 Q Do you believe it was more than two?

14 A I don't -- I honestly cannot answer that. I

15 don't know how many times I spoke with her, and I was in

16 the midst of trying to run my business, trying to get this

17 corrected.

18 So I spoke with her as many times as I thought I

19 needed to, I guess. I don't think I had any trouble

20 reaching her or her calling me back or anything.

21 Q Do you know what department Ms. McCormick is in?

22 A Experian's dispute -- no. It says Experian's

23 dispute response team. That may be an error, but that's

24 what my notes here say. That's what this says.

25 Q Do you have any idea where you would have gotten

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1 Ms. McCormick's number or name from?

2 A I remember the name Sandra Clancey or something.

3 That maybe has something to do with data contribution. Is

4 that a familiar name? Sandra Clancey?

5 She may be the one that I initially contacted that

6 found out -- you know, I mean I don't know. I'm only

7 trying to remember, and basically thinking out loud here.

8 I contacted someone who told me to contact her, but I

9 cannot tell you exactly who it was or when.

10 Q I do want to focus on the conversations that you

11 had with Ms. McCormick.

12 A Okay.

13 Q What do you recall about your conversation --

14 let's look at Exhibit 25 -- your conversation with

15 Ms. McCormick in connection with Exhibit 25?

16 A I believe that all she informed me was where to

17 fax it and how to do it and what to say in there to help

18 get the mission accomplished.

19 Q What do you recall telling her about this

20 particular account?

21 A That I had something that I needed to correct

22 immediately.

23 Q Do you have any reason to believe that you had a

24 conversation with Ms. McCormick prior to September 26,

25 2006?

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1 A I don't -- I mean off the top of my head, no, I

2 don't.

3 Q In looking at Exhibit Number 28, which is your

4 September 27, 2006 letter -- do you see that sir, Exhibit

5 28?

6 A Yes.

7 Q In your letter, you say, Per my conversation

8 with Ms. McCormick. Do you see that, sir?

9 A Yes.

10 Q When you testified earlier and I want to make

11 sure I understand, do you recall having a subsequent

12 conversation with Ms. McCormick in connection with Exhibit

13 Number 28?

14 A Well, because it says today on both faxes, it

15 looks like I did, but that could be an error. I mean I

16 don't -- no, I can't swear I did, but from looking at

17 these faxes with different dates on them, it says, my

18 conversation today. Maybe one of the words should have

19 been yesterday. I don't know.

20 Q Do you recall anything about that conversation

21 that you discussed with her?

22 A Well, only what I already told you that I got

23 the information, the fax number to send it to, who I

24 needed to send it to, you know, to get it done

25 immediately.

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1 Q Do you know whether or not Ms. McCormick

2 accessed Mr. Yount's credit file in assisting you?

3 A I think she did. It seems like she did. I

4 think so.

5 Q Why do you think that?

6 A Because I believe that she almost had it at her

7 fingertips and was able to look at what I was talking

8 about.

9 Q You believe she had what?

10 A From what I recall.

11 Q You believe she had what at her fingertips?

12 A The information.

13 Q What information?

14 A This item.

15 Q And this item would be?

16 A Sam Yount at 7006 Billie Lee Lane or Sam Yourt

17 or whatever she showed. I'm not sure what she showed, but

18 my attempts were to correct it regarding the South Gateway

19 Tire.

20 (Exhibit No. 35 marked for identification)

21 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Sir, now I want to talk about a

22 document that I have not yet marked. It is a fax, it

23 appears, dated September 29, '06. We can mark this as

24 Exhibit 35.

25 Is this a document that you received from Experian,

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1 sir?

2 A Yes.

3 Q What is your understanding of what this document

4 is telling you?

5 THE WITNESS: You-all are wearing me out.

6 A Okay. That would indicate to me that they

7 received this right here, they received my communication

8 to correct the file. It says an update completed as

9 requested.

10 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Do you know if it's referring

11 to --

12 A My faxes, I'm assuming. I mean I'm only

13 assuming. Confirmation of fax request. So I faxed

14 something to them, and they are saying we are confirming

15 that, you know, we received it and completed your request.

16 Q You sent two faxes, one on the 26th and one on

17 the 27th.

18 A I sent three faxes, the first one on the 26th,

19 the second one on the 27th, and the third one on

20 October 2.

21 Q So you would agree with me that Experian would

22 not have had your October 2nd fax on September 29?

23 A No. I wouldn't agree with that.

24 Q You believe that you sent your fax that is dated

25 October 2 before October 2?

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1 A I sent it on October 2.

2 MR. MOORE: I think he misunderstood you.

3 THE WITNESS: Okay. Say it again. I'm

4 getting tired.

5 MS. ANDREW: Would you like to take a

6 break?

7 THE WITNESS: No. Go ahead. Let's get it

8 over with. I'm doing the best I can.

9 Q (By Ms. Andrew) What I am trying to get at is,

10 Exhibit Number 35 where it says, Account update completed

11 as requested, what was requested that has been updated?

12 Now as of September 29th, Experian would have only had two

13 of your faxes. Correct?

14 A That's correct. That would not be this one. It

15 would be the 26th and the 27th. They would have these two

16 by that time, by that date, the 29th.

17 So I would assume that they are saying that they

18 updated this one to the 27th, or in other words, they

19 received both of these because I have my confirmation

20 where they went through.

21 They should have received that one, and they should

22 have received that one. They are saying, okay, we got

23 your fax and we updated it according to what you told us

24 to do.

25 Q Do you have any other documents that would

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1 suggest that they actually considered both of the faxes,

2 one of the faxes?

3 A No, only the fax confirmation attached. That

4 would be October 4 which should acknowledge my third fax.

5 (Exhibit Nos. 36 & 37 marked for identification)

6 MS. ANDREW: Let's go ahead and mark the

7 October 4 fax, we'll mark that as Exhibit 36. While we

8 are at it, let's go ahead and mark the September 19 letter

9 as Exhibit 37.

10 Q (By Ms. Andrew) I want you to look at Exhibits

11 25 and 28. Let's focus on those. Do you have Exhibit 25,

12 sir?

13 A Yes.

14 Q In the gray line, you have Sam Yount, and then

15 you have a Social Security Number. Do you see that, sir?

16 A Yes.

17 Q What is your understanding, at the time that you

18 wrote this letter, of whose Social Security Number that

19 was?

20 A Sam Yount, Sr., it looks like. I'm assuming

21 that. Hold on. Let me read this before I answer that.

22 Give me just a minute.

23 Okay. We submitted it on Sam Yount, Sr., actually

24 Sam Yourt, and this was to delete it off of him, who from

25 what I gather -- I don't know Jr.'s Social Security

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1 Number, which is which today. No one has ever provided it

2 for me. It's like it's a secret or something.

3 My attempt was to delete it off of Sam Yount, Sr.'s

4 credit record because that's whose we intended to put it

5 on.

6 Q You wanted to delete the account from Sam Yount,

7 Sr.'s account because that's who you attempted to put it

8 on?

9 A Sr. That's correct. That was what we initially

10 submitted.

11 MS. ANDREW: I'm going to ask -- I want to

12 have his testimony. I want to make sure I understand.

13 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Your understanding as of

14 September 26, 2006, sir --

15 A Okay. This initial one -- okay. I'm sorry.

16 You are going to repeat the question?

17 Q Yes. My question is: Is it correct that you

18 were attempting to remove the South Gateway Tire account

19 from Sam, Sr.'s credit report?

20 MS. ANDREW: David, I'm going to ask that

21 you not do that.

22 MR. MOORE: Okay. I'm sorry.

23 A Well, the litigation was Jr. So yes, we wanted

24 it deleted it off of Jr.'s account, too. My intentions

25 were to delete the record that we submitted, period, you

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1 know.

2 The record that we submitted to Experian, I wanted it

3 deleted, and that was what I was trying to get

4 accomplished here. I followed up with some more

5 information as I gathered it from the sources that I could

6 on trying to make sure it came off of Jr.'s as well.

7 Q (By Ms. Andrew) That's fine, but I want to

8 focus. As of September 26 -- we can be here all day, but

9 I need an answer to my question.

10 A You are going to get the same answer over and

11 over.

12 Q I haven't gotten an answer. On September 26,

13 2006, you wanted the South Gateway account deleted.

14 Correct?

15 A That's correct.

16 Q Whose credit report did you want it deleted

17 from?

18 A Whoever's it was on.

19 Q Whose did you think that it was on as of

20 September 26, 2006?

21 A Well, Jr.'s obviously. I mean he stated that it

22 was on his in the petition.

23 Q So as of September 26, 2006, you believe that it

24 was reporting on Sam, Jr.'s account?

25 A Yes.

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1 Q Correct?

2 A That's correct.

3 Q Sam, II, his account. Did you also think that

4 it was reporting on Sam -- I don't know if the other one

5 is a Sr. or not, but the other Sam, did you think it was

6 reporting on his credit report?

7 A It could have been. At this point, I just

8 wanted the items that we submitted deleted entirely from

9 whoever's report it was showing up on.

10 Q That wasn't my question. My question is did you

11 think that it was reporting on Sam, Sr.'s account?

12 A Yes. Well, did I think it was or did I assume

13 or did I think it was possible that it was? Yes.

14 Q So you thought it was reporting on both Sam, II

15 and Sam, Sr.?

16 A I did not know. I mean I was unsure. I just

17 wanted our item that we submitted deleted.

18 Q Okay. Then do you indicate to Experian, in your

19 letter of September 26, that you thought it was reporting

20 on two people's accounts, credit reports?

21 A I think that our record number -- did I think it

22 was on two people's reports? Very possibly. I knew that

23 it was on Jr.'s because Jr. was suing us because it was on

24 his. So I knew it was on his.

25 Sam, Sr. At that time when I wrote this, I don't

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1 think I knew for sure it was on Sr.'s. It may have been.

2 Maybe it was on Sr.'s.

3 MS. ANDREW: I'm going to object to the

4 nonresponsive portions.

5 Q (By Ms. Andrew) My question, sir, was did you

6 indicate, in this letter to Experian, that it was being

7 reported on two people's credit reports?

8 A It doesn't specifically state that in this

9 letter that it is on two people's credit reports.

10 Q Did you somehow suggest it in that letter? Do

11 you believe that you suggested that it was reported on

12 more than one person's credit report?

13 A Well, I have no way of knowing who all's credit

14 report it was on because I did not pull their credit

15 reports. I don't have access to it.

16 So did I suggest it? I mean you can read the letter

17 and say was I or not. I mean I don't -- from reading

18 this, I don't specifically say that it's on two people's

19 credit reports, but how was I to know?

20 Q You would agree with me that what you are doing

21 here is attempting to have an account removed from

22 someone's credit report?

23 A Correct.

24 Q So you are attempting to convey to Experian

25 sufficient information to have the data, the reporting,

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1 removed?

2 A Correct.

3 Q You would agree that it's important to give

4 sufficient information for Experian to determine what you

5 are trying to convey?

6 A Absolutely.

7 Q And that's what I am getting at. Not the

8 possibilities. I want to know what you were attempting to

9 convey to Experian by your September 26 letter?

10 A Delete my item totally.

11 Q From which person's account?

12 A Whichever one you put it on, whichever one

13 Experian put it on.

14 Q Experian put it on there because you reported

15 it. Correct?

16 A Correct.

17 Q Whose account did you report it on?

18 A Sam Yourt's.

19 Q Which one?

20 A Sr.'s is who --

21 MR. SZWAK: On Yourt?

22 A I put it on Sam Yourt's initially. Sam Yourt

23 and I didn't have Jr. or Sr. at 7006 Billie Lee Lane.

24 That's who I submitted the information to to put it

25 on the credit record -- or that's the information that I

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1 submitted.

2 Q We have gone over one of your exhibits.

3 MR. MOORE: We need a break.

4 (Recess from 3:25 p.m. to 3:32 p.m.)

5 Q (By Ms. Andrew) My last question to you,

6 Mr. Juneau, was about whose account did you report the

7 South Gateway Tire?

8 A Sam Yourt's.

9 Q Did that ever change?

10 A No. The record that ended up on credit records

11 was Sam Yourt's.

12 Q When we talked a few minutes ago about your data

13 and I asked you if it had changed, the name changed, you

14 said you weren't sure?

15 A We are talking about -- okay. You said when did

16 it change? When did we correct our record? Wasn't that

17 the question?

18 Q Let me ask it again. Let me ask again because I

19 want to make sure that I understand.

20 A Okay.

21 Q You received the account from South Gateway Tire

22 in July of 2005. Is that correct?

23 A Correct.

24 Q When you initially reported it to the data

25 service, Inlet, you reported it with the name of Yourt?

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1 A Correct.

2 Q Did you ever report the name Yount to Inlet?

3 A As far as this goes, no. The only item --

4 Q When you say "this," what you are you referring

5 to?

6 A This Exhibit 11. As far as looking at

7 Exhibit 11, no, I did not report it as Yount. The item

8 that I am saying is missing is the item to update it to a

9 paid status.

10 It may have been corrected to Yount at that time. It

11 may have been Custom Contracting. That item, I cannot

12 testify to because I don't have it in front of me.

13 Q We were looking at Exhibit Number 10, and I

14 asked you about when the name changed and where. You

15 mentioned that Theresa may have changed it.

16 THE WITNESS: Where is 10?

17 MR. MOORE: This is 10 right here.

18 A Yes. I think someone changed it in our system

19 to Sam Yount eventually.

20 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Do you know when it was changed

21 to Sam Yount?

22 A No, I do not.

23 Q Do you know if it was before you contacted

24 Experian in September of 2006?

25 A In our system, yes, it was updated to Sam Yount

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1 by then.

2 Q Going back to Exhibit Number 25, you were asking

3 Experian to delete the South Gateway Tire account.

4 Correct?

5 A Correct.

6 Q My question to you is who were you reporting, at

7 that time, should have had or who were you reporting owned

8 the South Gateway Tire account?

9 A It says here, specifically, we submitted through

10 Spahr Systems an item for Sam Yourt on 09/01/05 at 7006 --

11 it should not have said Billy. It should have been Billie

12 Lee Lane.

13 So that was my obvious intention was to delete that

14 item with our account number, our record number 278163.

15 Q Did you think that Sam Yourt was the father or

16 was the son?

17 A In this, I'm not stating whether it is the

18 father or the son. My intention in this fax is to delete

19 the item that I originally submitted.

20 Q Why would you want to delete it?

21 A To get it off of anybody's credit record.

22 Q Why did you want to get it off of anybody's

23 credit report?

24 A Because there was a problem, it was paid, and

25 there was no sense in having it on there particularly. I

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1 mean my priority was to remove the item from whoever's

2 credit record it was pending.

3 Q Why did you want it removed?

4 A Because it was in error. If there was -- I

5 wanted it removed to eliminate the error that existed.

6 Q What was the error?

7 A That it was on the son's credit record. I mean

8 now I don't know if I knew all of this at this particular

9 time. It was still reported unpaid. It was reported

10 unpaid. It was on the wrong credit record, Jr.'s.

11 I didn't know if it was on Sr.'s or not, but I knew

12 that the problem was it was not supposed to be on Sam,

13 Jr.'s or the son's credit record.

14 Q Well, what was your understanding? Should it be

15 on the father's credit report as of September 26, 2006?

16 A Well, it could be on his as my --

17 Q No. I want you to stay on 25. I'm talking

18 about as you understood on September 26, 2006.

19 A How was it supposed to be on the father's credit

20 record? As a paid account. I mean if it was on anybody's

21 credit record, it could have been on his credit record as

22 a paid account and it would be accurate, but in this fax,

23 I simply wanted it deleted entirely.

24 Q If it should have been on the father's credit

25 report, then why would you tell Experian to delete it?

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1 A Later faxes. I mean we are talking about two or

2 three days. In panic to try to correct the problem, I

3 wanted the item deleted.

4 Q I understand that, and if you are telling me

5 that you wanted it deleted regardless if it was correct or

6 not, that's an answer. But I need to find out the answer.

7 A Okay. That's it. Whether it's correct or not,

8 for the time right now until we can research it further or

9 whatever, delete it off of Jr.'s or Sr.'s or whoever's it

10 is on.

11 I'm only guessing with this Social Security Number.

12 I was not provided the proper Social Security Number to

13 make a correction.

14 Q How did you get that Social Security Number?

15 A Off of that Accurint, this LexisNexis printout,

16 this Exhibit 29.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 17 Q Let's turn to Exhibit 29. If you turn to Page 2

18 of Exhibit 29, there are names of Samuel Yount, Samuel G.

19 Yount, Samuel Garland Yount, and then there are two Social

20 Security Numbers or what appear to be two Social Security

21 Numbers. Do you see that, sir?

22 A Yes, I do.

23 Q Then you have marked around one of the Social

24 Security Numbers. Do you see that?

25 A Yes.

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1 Q Why did you mark around that Social Security

2 number?

3 A Well, probably because one was born in -- one is

4 40 years old, and the son is 23 years old. There seem to

5 be two.

6 On the record, it says Samuel Garland Yount, II. Up

7 above that, it does not have a Social Security Number.

8 It's all guesswork on this thing trying to figure out

9 which is the correct Social Security Number because it

10 shows on both of these. This guy is 41 years old; 1965.

11 And this is in 2006, obviously, that I printed this. So

12 that would make him 41.

13 So both of these are indicating this guy is 41 years

14 old with two different Social Security Numbers.

15 Obviously, one of these is Jr. So my challenge is to

16 figure out, okay, which one of these is Jr. even though

17 they are both showing up as Sr.?

18 I didn't make this record. I mean I didn't do this.

19 This is information I obtained from a third-party.

20 Q But this is the information you used to create

21 Exhibit 25?

22 A I think that this is my first fax, yes. It

23 looks like I am trying to get this item deleted, yes, and

24 I used that Social Security Number. I mean I used

25 ABC-DE-6321, and I have it in a block here on this

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1 printout. So that's probably where I got that Social

2 Security Number.

3 Q Why did you choose that one?

4 A You know, I just don't know. I just wanted the

5 item deleted which meant my account number for South

6 Gateway Tire.

7 I knew about the record and I knew which one I wanted

8 deleted. So I just wanted anything I submitted deleted.

9 At this time, I did not know if that was Jr. or Sr.'s

10 Social Security Number.

11 Q Well, if you didn't know --

12 A I shouldn't have put it on -- you're right. I

13 shouldn't have put it on this fax. I should not have put

14 that Social Security Number on that fax. Right.

15 Can we talk about the other faxes that followed it

16 up?

17 Q You also marked on this exhibit the Jr.?

18 A Uh-huh.

19 Q What did you mean by that?

20 A It doesn't -- I'm not pointing to that saying

21 that's Jr. I mean this was what? A year ago that I did

22 this. I honestly cannot remember what I scribbled on this

23 thing almost a year ago or seven or eight months ago or

24 whatever.

25 Q Sir, you understand that Experian is getting

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1 information from you.

2 A Uh-huh.

3 Q So I am trying to understand what information

4 you were giving to Experian so that we can ascertain what

5 happened after that.

6 A Well, it's in black and white right there what I

7 gave Experian in the faxes.

8 Q You gave them the Social Security Number that is

9 listed on Exhibit Number 25. Correct?

10 A Correct.

11 Q And you got that from Exhibit Number 29, the

12 Social Security Number?

13 A That's an assumption that -- I mean I am not

14 going to swear, yes, that's where I got it from. I know

15 that's what you are wanting me to say.

16 That's been several months ago. I don't know how I

17 determined which Social Security Number to put on this

18 thing.

19 Q Well, what other documents would you have looked

20 at to determine what Social Security Number should have

21 been put on Exhibit Number 25?

22 A This would be the only thing that I could use to

23 look up Social Security Numbers to try to figure it out.

24 I may have spoken to -- I mean, you know. I did speak to

25 someone there, and maybe we discussed the Social Security

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1 number. I'm saying maybe. I don't remember. I mean that

2 could be where I got it is from Experian.

3 Q Sir, do you realize you are under oath?

4 A Yes.

5 Q Because I want to convey to you that we are not

6 going to leave here until you explain to me what

7 information you gave to Experian and what you anticipated

8 Experian would do with that information.

9 Now in Exhibit Number 25, you gave Experian a Social

10 Security Number. Correct?

11 A Correct.

12 Q And you got that Social Security Number from

13 Exhibit Number 29, didn't you?

14 MR. SZWAK: Objection to form.

15 THE WITNESS: Can we object?

16 A I mean I don't know. I told you I don't know

17 for sure that I got it from that.

18 Q (By Ms. Andrew) No. What you said, sir, was

19 that --

20 A This is the only thing I can get it from as far

21 as I can recall.

22 Q There are two Social Security Numbers that are

23 listed in Exhibit Number 29. Correct?

24 A Actually, there are three.

25 Q Where is the third one?

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1 A Sammy Yount, GHI-JK-5696. Then there is the

2 LMN-OP-2381. Then there is the ABC-DE-6321.

3 The only indication of an age for any of those Social

4 Security Numbers is this where that block is or that area,

5 and they both say that this guy is 41 years old, born in

6 '65. So which is it?

7 Q I want you to look at 29, and I want to go over

8 those Social Security Numbers that you mentioned. The

9 very first one that you mentioned, the 433, do you see

10 that?

11 A Yes.

12 Q You crossed that out, didn't you?

13 A Where at now?

14 Q Exhibit 29.

15 A Well, yeah, because that -- I did that, I think,

16 just the other day because that's Sandra Rogers, and that

17 was just to eliminate confusion for me. This says Sandra

18 Rogers's Social Security Number.

19 Q Did you just mark on this page, Exhibit 29, just

20 the other day at the top as well?

21 A No. Well, reprint.

22 Q What about the part where it says, Attention

23 profile maintenance? Did you just mark on that the other

24 day as well?

25 A No. That was on there when I was trying to

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1 gather the information.

2 Q The ink that is on the original of Exhibit 29 is

3 the same ink that you used to cross out Sandra Rogers?

4 A No. I'm sorry. That is a coincidence. I

5 always try to use black ink, and it may have been the same

6 point, medium or dark.

7 I mean you are trying to say I am lying about that,

8 and that's not right. I mean, I'm telling you the truth.

9 I wrote reprint on there just the other day, and I

10 probably "X'd" through Sandra Rogers the other day.

11 I think I did just to eliminate confusion because she

12 is not even an issue. She is just someone that's at that

13 address.

14 Q Then why did you list her Social Security Number

15 when I was saying that there were two Social Security

16 Numbers listed for Mr. Yount? You said there were more,

17 and that was one of the ones that you identified.

18 A No, it wasn't. It was Sam Yount which is

19 RST-UV-5696.

20 Q Where are you, sir? What page?

21 A First page, 1 of 3, of that Exhibit 29.

22 Q The 458?

23 A Right. See, that's also to a Sammy Yount at

24 7006 Billie Lee Lane.

25 Q But you ever didn't think that was Mr. Yount,

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1 did you?

2 A I don't know. I mean, at the time, you are

3 referring to this fax, and you are trying to tell me that

4 at this time, I was trying to delete the wrong one, you

5 know.

6 I honestly was confused about which was the right one

7 for Mr. Sammy Yount. My intention on Exhibit 25 was to

8 delete our record entirely at least until we could get it

9 resolved.

10 Q That's what I am trying to get to, and that's

11 what I need an answer for. Whose account or which

12 consumer's credit report were you trying to delete it

13 from?

14 A Whose ever it was on because I submitted Sam

15 Yourt to Experian with very limited information. It ended

16 up I had no control on whose it ended up on. I did not

17 put it out there on Sam Yount, Jr. or Sr. from the

18 information I submitted on Sam Yourt.

19 I am trying to delete my record entirely. I

20 originally submitted this thing that is in Exhibit 11, the

21 top line, top item, and wherever that ended up is what I

22 want deleted.

23 Q Sir, let's turn to Exhibit Number 28. You sent

24 that fax the very next day, didn't you?

25 A Yes.

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1 Q There, you use the same Social Security Number?

2 A Okay.

3 Q Isn't that correct?

4 A Yes. That's correct.

5 Q Actually, you informed Experian not to delete

6 the account. Correct?

7 A Yes. In this one, I did.

8 Q In fact, you say you need to update it to a paid

9 status?

10 A Correct.

11 Q Which consumer --

12 A This says don't worry about it.

13 Q Which consumer?

14 A And still I was confused. Which consumer? Now

15 this, I was intending on this being the father's account,

16 Sam Yount, Sr.

17 I could have had Jr.'s Social Security Number on

18 here, you know. It's all been a secret as to what is

19 Jr.'s Social Security Number. I still don't know today

20 which is his for a fact.

21 Q Sir, someone at your office had a conversation

22 with Mr. Yount back in July.

23 A Okay.

24 Q Isn't that right?

25 A Our records indicate that, yes. In July, yes.

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1 There is not much detail about what the conversation --

2 what was in that conversation, but apparently, it was not

3 a very pleasant one.

4 Q In fact, Mr. Yount could have given you or given

5 CBS his Social Security Number?

6 A Could have if he had been willing to cooperate

7 with us.

8 Q You don't have any indication that he didn't

9 give it to you, do you?

10 A Well, yeah. If he gave it to us, we would have

11 it in our record. We would have typed it in. That's what

12 we do. I mean we want the correct information.

13 Q Where would that have been indicated? In which

14 one of these documents?

15 A It would have been either in this notes thing

16 where the person entered the information or it could have

17 been on the front of the work screen which is Exhibit 9,

18 you know, anywhere to make a notation of a way to correct

19 it.

20 Q Looking at Exhibit Number 10 where it says

21 Mr. Yount called, this is on his credit report. This is

22 his father's account. There is no indication that says,

23 We asked for his Social Security Number and he didn't give

24 it.

25 A No. You are right about that.

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1 Q Now going back to Exhibit Number 28, is it your

2 testimony, sir, that you thought that the social security

3 Number ABC-DE and the last four digits which I'm not going

4 to say for privacy reason belong to the father Yount?

5 A Yes, with me stating not to delete it. We would

6 be assuming that that is the correct Social Security

7 Number for the father.

8 Q What would you be basing that is the correct

9 Social Security Number for the father?

10 A Just actually, at that point, it's basically a

11 guess, I mean.

12 Q Okay, sir. If you could turn to Exhibit Number

13 34.

14 MR. MOORE: It's this letter.

15 THE WITNESS: Okay. That's the final one.

16 A Yes, ma'am.

17 Q (By Ms. Andrew) In this letter, you state that

18 you discovered some information in dealing with the Social

19 Security Number belonging to Sam Yount, II. Do you see

20 that, sir?

21 A Yes. How did we do that? I can't tell you.

22 Sorry.

23 Q How did you find that information?

24 A I don't know. At this point, I don't know.

25 MR. SZWAK: It's okay to scream, No mas, no

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1 mas.

2 Q (By Ms. Andrew) All right. Well, how about in

3 the next paragraph where you say, If possible, the item

4 needs to be moved to father's profile and then you give a

5 Social Security Number. Do you see that, sir?

6 A Yes.

7 Q How did you get that Social Security Number?

8 A You know if it is not off of Exhibit 29 --

9 MS. ANDREW: I'm going to ask to see that,

10 David.

11 MR. MOORE: It just says broke consumer

12 credit report.

13 MS. ANDREW: It said what?

14 MR. MOORE: It said, Consumer credit

15 report, question mark.

16 MS. ANDREW: That's providing testimony.

17 MR. MOORE: Okay. It's just a question

18 though --

19 A I don't know.

20 THE WITNESS: He's asking --

21 MR. MOORE: -- do you recall that or not?

22 MS. ANDREW: If you need to take a break, I

23 don't have a problem with you taking a break, but I really

24 don't want notes passed during my deposition.

25 MR. MOORE: Okay.

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1 MR. SZWAK: Can we do mental telepathy?

2 MS. ANDREW: If you dismiss me out of the

3 case.

4 THE WITNESS: You know I was about to ask

5 that, honestly. Did we pull a credit report? That would

6 show up as an inquiry, and Experian would have access. I

7 mean did we or not?

8 A Did we pull a credit report? I don't have a

9 copy of his credit report. So no, I don't think we did.

10 MR. SZWAK: No, at least not of what I have

11 seen.

12 A So you are asking me how I got that Social

13 Security Number?

14 MR. SZWAK: No, not on the father.

15 MS. ANDREW: I have no idea about the

16 father. That's what he's asking. That's what he is

17 saying.

18 A How did I get the Social Security Number? Well,

19 I honestly cannot answer that with 100 percent and

20 swearing. I honestly cannot answer how we arrived at

21 which was which. Was I right, I mean, in my guess?

22 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Well, sir, how about this? You

23 went to Exhibit Number 29 and you turned over to the

24 second page and then you went for the Social Security

25 Number that you didn't choose the first time?

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1 A Okay. I was just trying to figure out which is

2 which Social Security Number. I don't know. I must have

3 finally come up with some sort of conclusion that this is

4 the father's Social Security Number.

5 How did I come up with that conclusion? I honestly

6 can't answer that. It is still just guesswork because it

7 was never provided to me by the consumer directly.

8 I never was -- I mean, to this day, I cannot swear

9 which is Jr.'s Social Security Number and which one is

10 Sr.'s Social Security Number.

11 My only efforts were to try to fix the problem the

12 best that I could and the best way I knew how.

13 Q But, sir, you would agree with me that your

14 attempts to correct the problem further confused the

15 issue?

16 A Well, it's in black and white here. I mean I've

17 got our member number on here this time and our record

18 number, you know, and this is the accurate -- this is the

19 way I must have decided, you know, if we are going to

20 leave it on his credit record.

21 It says, I think, if possible, put it on his and show

22 it with a paid status. I mean this is an update to my

23 previous faxes. In other words, please disregard these

24 other two. This is my most recent finding that I came up

25 with.

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1 MS. ANDREW: Objection to

2 nonresponsiveness.

3 Q (By Ms. Andrew) Sir, do you have any reason to

4 believe that you did not look at Exhibit Number 29 to

5 determine what the father's Social Security Number was?

6 A No. I'm not telling you I have no reason to

7 look at that. I did have a reason to look at that because

8 it contained Social Security Numbers and I am trying to

9 figure out whose is whose.

10 Q So would it be fair to say that you may have

11 relied upon Exhibit Number 29 when you prepared Exhibit

12 Number 34?

13 A Not in whole. I mean I can say that I at least,

14 in part, relied on that.

15 Q With regard to the Social Security Numbers,

16 would it be fair to say that you relied upon Exhibit

17 Number 29 when you inserted the Social Security Numbers

18 for the consumers that are listed in Exhibit Number 34?

19 A Yes, in part.

20 Q What is the other part?

21 A I don't know.

22 Q Then how do you know that Exhibit Number 29 is

23 not the entire thing that you considered?

24 A Well, because I probably wouldn't have relied on

25 this information with it being as confused as it was. Now

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1 how I verified it is what I honestly cannot tell you I

2 remember, how I ended up determining which is which.

3 Q Would Theresa know?

4 A No. That was me. I signed this.

5 Q Would there be anyone else at your company that

6 could go look at records and determine what information

7 you had at this time?

8 A No. There is no one else there that knew. I

9 mean I was the one that was fixing this problem. When

10 there is a problem of this magnitude, I, as president,

11 general manager, and owner am going to see to it that it

12 is fixed to the best of our ability.

13 Q Because at this point, it had become litigation.

14 Correct?

15 A Well, yes, and two, we don't want an error.

16 Even if it's not litigation, we don't want an error out

17 there, I mean.

18 Q I understand, but I just want to make sure that

19 I understand in terms of what you did to determine what

20 the Social Security Numbers were and for who they belong

21 because that's the information that you gave to my client.

22 A Uh-huh.

23 Q As you sit here today, do you have any

24 recollection of reviewing anything other than Exhibit

25 Number 29 to determine what Social Security Numbers belong

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1 to which consumers when you prepared Exhibit Number 34?

2 A There had to be, but I cannot tell you what it

3 was because I do not have any kind of a reporting

4 document, or I mean, a printed document, and I do not

5 recollect what exactly I used to help me make that

6 determination.

7 Q Then why did there have to be more than Exhibit

8 Number 29?

9 A To try to ensure that I am accurate, finally

10 accurate. I was, obviously, making every attempt to, you

11 know, get it corrected, to supply accurate information.

12 This was an obvious priority to me to try to figure this

13 out and fix it.

14 Q Since it was a priority, would that be something

15 that would stick out in your mind of things that you

16 reviewed?

17 A I'm 50 years old, okay, and that was what? How

18 many months ago was this?

19 Q That's young. Fifty is young. That's the new

20 30.

21 MR. SZWAK: You look good for 50.

22 A No. I do not fully remember what I used to make

23 that.

24 Q (By Ms. Andrew) But at any rate, in Exhibit

25 Number 34, you are telling Experian to keep the South

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1 Gateway Tire account on somebody's credit report. Is that

2 correct, sir?

3 A Yes.

4 Q And you are hoping that it will be on the

5 father's account?

6 A Correct. As a paid status, right.

7 Q Because you knew back in July of 2006 that it

8 should not be on the son's account?

9 A Correct.

10 Q Exhibit Number 36 is two pages?

11 A Yes.

12 Q They appear to be the same document just sent to

13 different fax numbers, a document from Experian to you?

14 A Okay. Right.

15 Q Well, I'm asking. I want to make sure that they

16 are the --

17 A Yes. It does appear that way from the bottom of

18 page.

19 Q Well, let's just look at the first page.

20 A Okay.

21 Q What is your understanding of what Experian is

22 conveying to you?

23 A They deleted it from 6321 and put it on 2381 --

24 Q It is your understanding they did that --

25 A -- which is as per my request on October 2.

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1 Q Before October 2, do you have any communications

2 with Experian that say to delete it from the son's and add

3 it to father's?

4 A No. This is all I have at my disposal.

5 Q After you receive the October 4 fax, do you have

6 any other communications with Experian regarding this

7 particular account from either the father or the son?

8 A Do we have a communication with Experian after

9 this date? Not that I can recall.

10 Q Looking again at the first page of 36, it has

11 author and then it has QC. Do you see that at the very

12 top?

13 A Where is this?

14 Q The very top of the page of Exhibit --

15 A Author: QC, yes.

16 Q What is your understanding of what the QC is?

17 A Somebody's initials maybe.

18 Q Do you --

19 A I don't know. I would think that would be a

20 representative from Experian. I mean this is the first

21 time I have looked at that and noticed it.

22 Q Is it your understanding this is from Elizabeth

23 McCormick?

24 A You know, I don't know if it's from her directly

25 or an associate that works with her. All I know is it's

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1 from Experian's profile maintenance.

2 Q Did you have any other communication with

3 Ms. McCormick after October 4?

4 A I don't think so, not that I have record of or

5 recall.

6 Q Okay, sir. If you could turn to Exhibit Number

7 37.

8 A Okay.

9 Q What is your understanding of what this document

10 is?

11 A Okay. September 19 is the date on the letter

12 that is, apparently, saying that there was some sort of an

13 error, and within the next few days, I was going to

14 receive a packet of forms and to enter my responses on the

15 verification form, fill it out and return it to them, and

16 they would promptly correct or reinsert my data.

17 Q Is this letter addressed to you?

18 A Not -- well, Client. It was sent to me. So I

19 was assuming it was sent to me. It does not have my name

20 on it.

21 Q Do you have any understanding of whether it was

22 sent to other clients?

23 A Do I have any understanding of -- repeat that.

24 Q Of whether this letter was sent to other

25 Experian clients?

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1 A It looks to me like a letter that they would

2 send out to multiple clients, I mean, looking like a form

3 letter or copy.

4 Q Do you have any indication that this letter is

5 in connection with any of the claims that are made the

6 basis of this lawsuit or the South Gateway Tire?

7 A No. And again, I attached this because it was

8 from Experian at the time, and I was just -- it got put in

9 here.

10 So when -- I'm not saying that this is related to

11 this particular incident. It's just a document that I had

12 in my stack of papers, and when I was asked if I had

13 anything else, I don't want to lie. I'm not going to be

14 in contempt. This is in there.

15 Q Now you mentioned the E-Oscar log. What is an

16 E-Oscar log?

17 A I believe that it is a record of things that we

18 have either verified or done through the electronic means

19 of communicating with the repositories. I know that

20 E-Oscar is a facilitator of disputes that we are able to

21 deal with easier.

22 Q Is it your understanding that -- I'm sorry.

23 A I'm sorry. I was going to finish answering you.

24 The log would be just a record of the communications with

25 E-Oscar.

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1 Q So it's not broken down by consumer. It's just

2 your continuous log of disputes that you handle?

3 A I have never looked at it, and I meant to go

4 print that out and bring it. But we were unable to do it

5 in a short time because we have never had to print that

6 out.

7 I don't know how to do it, and Theresa was there. I

8 asked her if she could do it, and she couldn't do it in

9 the time frame that I had to be back at 1:30.

10 Q Was there an E-Oscar dispute in regards to the

11 South Gateway Tire account?

12 A I don't know. Not to my knowledge.

13 Q The dispute with E-Oscar, do you know if that

14 goes to Inlet or does it go to the credit reporting

15 agencies?

16 A Well, do I know or do I assume? I assume that

17 it goes to all of them. The ones that -- okay. Let me

18 say that my understanding is that it's disputed on one

19 report. It's shared. Then it's disputed on all of the

20 repositories.

21 Q That was a poor question. Let me go back. What

22 I am trying to get at is if your transmission through

23 E-Oscar, if that goes to Inlet first?

24 A No.

25 Q Your transmissions in E-Oscar go directly to the

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1 credit reporting agencies?

2 A However E-Oscar distributes it. I'm not sure of

3 their procedure.

4 Q Sir, do you have an address for Inlet?

5 A Not with me. Of course, I do.

6 Q Did you say that they were in South Carolina?

7 A I believe it's Murrells Inlet. I think that's

8 right.

9 THE WITNESS: Is there a Murrells Inlet,

10 South Carolina? That's familiar.

11 Q (By Ms. Andrew) The person you had

12 communications with is Doug Spahr?

13 A Correct, S-P-A-H-R.

14 MS. ANDREW: I think that's all the

15 questions that I have.

16 MR. SZWAK: All right. We are going to

17 have some fun now.

18 EXAMINATION

19 BY MR. SZWAK:

20 Q I want to ask you this. If someone that you

21 reported an account about complained about that account to

22 Experian and said that it wasn't their account, would you

23 expect Experian to let you know that?

24 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

25 A Yes, through E-Oscar, normally.

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1 Q (By Mr. Szwak) You are, generally, familiar with

2 the Fair Credit Reporting Act and if a consumer disputes

3 an account to the credit reporting agency, the credit

4 reporting agency has an obligation to notify you about

5 that. Right?

6 A Uh-huh. We have 30 days to verify disputes.

7 Q Did Experian ever tell you that my client

8 complained to Experian about this particular account?

9 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

10 A Do I have knowledge about your client

11 complaining to Experian about the account?

12 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Right.

13 A No. I don't have any record of it.

14 Q Would it have been helpful to you, if Experian

15 knew who my client was in July, in fact on July 13 of

16 2005, if Experian had told you who my client was?

17 A 2006 is when he was your client. Correct?

18 Q Sorry. I may have misstated that. 2006. In

19 July of 2006, if Experian had told you that they had all

20 of my client's personal identifiers, knew exactly who he

21 was, and that he was complaining about it, would that have

22 been helpful to you?

23 A Oh, definitely.

24 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

25 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Let me show you what I have got

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1 as one of my Bates-labeled documents. That is 6 and 7. I

2 want to show you it's dated July 14 of 2006. Okay? I

3 think we can agree that's my client with the P.O. Box in

4 Blanchard that we have been discussing today.

5 A Yes.

6 Q I want to show you Page 2. Now we previously

7 marked the documents, but we didn't talk about this fact.

8 Do you see any comment placed on that particular account

9 in the comments section?

10 A You mean about it being verified and updated in

11 July of '06?

12 Q No. A little bit above there.

13 A I have no knowledge of this account.

14 Q I have no knowledge of this account, okay. Now

15 if Experian had received my client's communication on

16 July 13 of 2006 saying that he didn't have any knowledge

17 of this account, it wasn't his account, and they posted

18 that message on his credit file, and in fact, sent him a

19 copy of it, would that information have been useful to you

20 on July 14 of 2006?

21 A Yes, it would have.

22 Q Did they send you any communication?

23 A You know, now I honestly cannot answer that. I

24 don't know. They may have and we may have verified it not

25 knowing that this was Jr. and Sr.

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1 Q But you don't have any records of that as we sit

2 here. Right?

3 A No, sir. As we sit here, I do not.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 4 Q My understanding is Experian's contention is

5 that they have no reinvestigation records whatever. Okay?

6 A Okay.

7 Q Now I want to show you my client's disclosure.

8 I'm looking for 22, 23. I'm looking for the very last

9 disclosure on September 28 of '06. This one. I want you

10 to look at Exhibit 24.

11 A Okay.

12 Q I think we can agree this is a credit report

13 about my client, Sam Yount. It's got his identifiers back

14 here in the back. It was sent to him, in fact. What I

15 want to show you are a few things in here and ask you what

16 you know about them.

17 A Okay.

18 Q On July 13, 2006, there are one, two, and in

19 fact three, and there is a fourth one. There are four

20 inquiries on July 13. Here it is. One, two, three, four

21 inquiries by Experian, different offices of Experian, on

22 July 13, 2006. Were you ever aware of that fact?

23 A No, sir.

24 Q Did Experian contact you and tell you that my

25 client had been in communication with them on that date?

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1 A Not to my knowledge, you know. Was there an

2 E-Oscar? Let's look at the log. I mean that would be the

3 only way that I would know is if they did it through

4 E-Oscar.

5 Q One of the monumental facts and allegations in

6 this case is that my client contested this account, and

7 there is abundant proof of it. I'm asking you, as the

8 company who should have received a communication from

9 Experian, did you or did you not get a communication from

10 them in July of 2006?

11 A I'm going to have to say I don't recall it.

12 Q Okay. Well, let me ask you about some other

13 inquiries as we go through here. July 26, 2006. So

14 Experian is right back on top of this at least in terms of

15 pulling my client's credit report, and in fact, they

16 continue into August. August 6, August 17. Did you have

17 any contact with Experian during that period of time?

18 A You know, I really wish I had the E-Oscar log

19 before I could say yes or no on that because I don't want

20 to lie, you know. I mean I don't know.

21 Q I understand. More inquiries. September 4,

22 September 4, September 5, September 11. Do you have any

23 knowledge of any contacts with Experian with regard to

24 those contacts?

25 A Not off the top of my head, no, sir, I don't.

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1 Q There is another one down here at the bottom,

2 August 6. Now I want to ask you because this is really

3 important. If you looked at the CSC Equifax report, you

4 will notice that, in compliance with the Fair Credit

5 Reporting Act, there is a requirement to send alert

6 messages to the other bureaus when you take in a

7 consumer's dispute. You are familiar with that?

8 A Yes, sir.

9 Q The credit bureau takes in a dispute. They have

10 an obligation to share that dispute so that the consumer

11 is not running around like a chicken with his head cut

12 off.

13 A Right.

14 Q There is an inquiry here, July 14, 2006, from

15 Experian, an alert message sent to Equifax and CSC. Back

16 here on July 13, a second report made by Experian to

17 Equifax and CSC. Did you receive copies of any

18 communications from either Equifax or from Experian about

19 these two alerts?

20 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

21 A Again, I would need to see our E-Oscar log to

22 testify to that, and that would be --

23 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I think if I understand correctly

24 and I'm sort of summarizing a day full of this for you --

25 I'm going to try to cut it short -- there is no question

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1 that my client contacted you on July 13, 2006?

2 A Correct.

3 Q There seems to be abundant evidence that he

4 contacted Experian on the same day. There is no question

5 that the very next day, they sent him a document showing

6 that he is saying it's not my account, I don't have any

7 knowledge of this account. It's right here in black and

8 white on Bates Label Number 7.

9 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

10 Q (By Mr. Szwak) If you received any information

11 or communication from Experian telling you what my client

12 was saying and who my client is because they have the

13 correct file, that's real important. I need to know if

14 you have any information about that.

15 A Not --

16 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

17 A I can almost swear that it's not in writing.

18 Now whether or not the dispute was submitted through

19 E-Oscar, I would not be able to testify.

20 Q (By Mr. Szwak) If it was submitted to you on the

21 13th and you turned around and verified it as reported and

22 this report came to my client on the 14th, that fact would

23 be very important in this case. You agree?

24 A Yes, sir.

25 Q Subsequent to the 14th, as this matter began to

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1 unravel and unfold, there were other communications

2 between your company and Experian pertaining to my client.

3 Right?

4 A Right.

5 Q You have told me today and you have shown me

6 letters that you wrote and you said, I didn't know his

7 Social Security Number, I didn't know who the consumer

8 was. Right?

9 A Correct.

10 Q In part, you have blamed my client saying he is

11 unpleasant, uncooperative, didn't supply you information,

12 and in part, there seems to be adequate proof here that

13 Experian is pulling my client's credit file the entire

14 time. So they know exactly who the complaining consumer

15 is.

16 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

17 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Is that fair to say?

18 A Yes, sir.

19 Q You are telling me, however, that you were not

20 privy to the same information from Experian; that in

21 essence, you didn't understand that it was my Samuel

22 Yount, P.O. Box 915, Blanchard?

23 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

24 A I did not have adequate information to expedite

25 and make it clear to correct the problem. It was very

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1 hard for me to gather my information.

2 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I want to look at the

3 September 28 credit report copy, disclosure copy

4 pertaining to my client, and at least according to the

5 inquiries that are listed in here where Experian accessed

6 my client's file --

7 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form. That's

8 your client who accessed it.

9 MR. SZWAK: I'm sorry. My client --

10 MS. ANDREW: You keep saying that. I need

11 to correct it because I cannot --

12 MR. SZWAK: -- is not a subscriber. If

13 someone --

14 MS. ANDREW: That means your client went to

15 the Internet to get his credit report and that's how it

16 shows up. You know that, David.

17 MR. SZWAK: No, I don't know that. These

18 are inquiries that are noted as Experian inquiries.

19 MS. ANDREW: Because he obtained Experian's

20 consumer disclosure.

21 MR. SZWAK: Well, I will talk to your

22 clients about that in a couple of days.

23 Q (By Mr. Szwak) But there are different

24 mechanisms that were apparently used to pull the report.

25 There are CIC inquiries, CIC Experian credit report, and

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1 there are regular Experian credit reports in their

2 reinvestigation center in Allen, Texas showing September

3 inquiries.

4 You never received any of those copies of my client's

5 credit report?

6 A No. I did not receive a written copy of the

7 credit report.

8 Q Let me ask you as you look back here on this

9 credit file, which we have established as my client's

10 credit file, how many different names are being reported

11 back here by Experian?

12 A Five.

13 Q Five. The last one being Sam Yourt which was

14 the name that you had initially reported him?

15 A Right.

16 Q There is also the Billie Lee Lane address, the

17 Kay Avenue address, and his Post Office Box.

18 A Right.

19 Q Okay. There does not appear to be more than one

20 Social Security Number reporting in connection with this

21 file. The Social Security Number that was supplied to

22 generate the disclosure is masked and not shown in this

23 report. Okay?

24 A Okay.

25 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

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1 Q (By Mr. Szwak) When we talk about your telefaxes

2 back and forth with Experian or should I say one way going

3 to Experian, and ultimately, they responded, is it

4 possible that you ultimately obtained the Social Security

5 Numbers from Experian?

6 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

7 A Is it possible? It is possible. As I said, I

8 cannot recall and state for a fact that I did, but I

9 honestly can say I do not remember. I don't know.

10 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Well, let me ask you --

11 A But it's possible.

12 Q If Ms. McCormick had access to my client's

13 credit file and you were explaining that you wanted it

14 removed from everybody's credit file, it should have been

15 fairly simple to take it off. Right?

16 A Well, that was my hope, of course.

17 Q I understand it looks like -- I'm just going to

18 ask you if you can agree with me generally. I have sat

19 and I have listened to you today. I have looked at the

20 telefaxes.

21 It looks like there was confusion on your part

22 about what you wanted done, but in the ultimate

23 communication on October 2, it looks like you asked to

24 have the matter reported on the father and not on the son

25 and that you wanted the matter completely straightened out

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1 so that it wouldn't be back on the son's credit report?

2 A Absolutely.

3 Q If it had continued to appear on my client's

4 credit report on into the year 2007, would you agree with

5 me that's way, way too long for it to have continued to

6 appear for whoever's fault it is?

7 A Sure. I would agree.

8 Q How long, do you think, would be reasonable if

9 the error was on your credit report? How long is

10 reasonable for it to remain after you put the right

11 parties on notice?

12 A The Fair Credit Reporting Act says 30 days. I

13 would probably allow an additional 30 days before I

14 started -- well, I would actually do it probably with a

15 certified letter or something to prove that I -- that

16 would be what I would do.

17 Q Would it make any difference to you if it was

18 not your debt at all, the way you would react to the

19 situation of having someone else's debt placed on your

20 credit?

21 A If my father's was on my credit record. Is that

22 what you are saying?

23 Q Well, anybody's. It's not yours.

24 A Well, I believe I would be a little bit

25 understanding if I had the exact same name and the exact

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1 same address as someone else.

2 Q But those are assumptions you are making.

3 Right?

4 A Well, if my father's name was Greg Juneau and

5 one of his items appeared on my credit record, I would

6 take the steps to get it recognized.

7 Q What if you were in the process of trying to

8 obtain a mortgage at the time? Would that aggravate you?

9 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

10 A Sure.

11 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Could you see where a collection

12 account would not be real good to have on your file if you

13 were trying to get a mortgage?

14 A Yes.

15 MR. SZWAK: I have got a few more questions

16 to run through with you, but I think I've hit the high

17 points of what I wanted to go over.

18 Q (By Mr. Szwak) You commented earlier that you

19 have an ability to access credit reports by entering a

20 name plus address on there. Is that true?

21 A That's true.

22 Q Have you found that you tend to get mixed credit

23 files when you retrieve them with less than full

24 identifying information?

25 A Well, I am not the one that actually pulls

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1 reports. I am not the one that compares the information,

2 but it would be likely for that to happen since there, you

3 know -- I am not saying it's just Experian but with

4 Equifax as well, and I'm sure it happens.

5 Q You don't have any knowledge as to what happens

6 within the credit reporting database when files are pulled

7 together to form a credit report, at some point in time,

8 in terms of the matching logic and how the files could be

9 tied together permanently after that, do you?

10 A Not as much as I would -- that I should know

11 probably or I would like to know, but I'm not -- I'm sure

12 that you know more than I do about it.

13 Q You commented earlier that you felt like the use

14 of a back-end procedure is to fix errors that occurred due

15 to the posting of information under name and address were

16 adequate to remedy a problem for a consumer, sort of,

17 well, I post it with name and address, it might hit

18 someone else's credit file, but what the hell, they will

19 catch it later and dispute it and that will take care of

20 it?

21 A Well, that's the way the system works. That's

22 why it's in place to solve problems. I definitely would

23 not intentionally submit a file that would go out in error

24 like that.

25 Q Prior to October 2 of 2006, did you ever

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1 communicate with Inlet about this problem given that it

2 was a credit reporting problem?

3 A Prior to, no.

4 Q When was your first communication with Inlet

5 about this, to your knowledge?

6 A It would have been when we were served the

7 petition.

8 Q Did you feel like, based upon your using a

9 third-party mechanism to report credit data, that maybe

10 they should have gotten involved in this to try to fix it?

11 A At the point -- I mean, at that time, no,

12 because apparently, my submissions -- I don't think that's

13 as much his job when it becomes an issue like this that

14 needs to be expedited.

15 My transmittals to him in effort to delete it were in

16 vain apparently on this particular issue. So I had to do

17 it. I had to make sure it was done myself.

18 Q In Exhibits 7 and 11, this is where you did the

19 updates in August and September. I want to ask you

20 generally, you plugged in part of the business name in the

21 first name field and part of it in the last name field in

22 order to perform an update. Is that right?

23 A One of my staff members apparently changed the

24 place that it goes, and you are probably pretty accurate

25 as to how they did that.

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1 Q Let me ask you --

2 MS. ANDREW: Exhibit 6 and 7, did you say?

3 MR. SZWAK: Seven and 11. That's what I

4 wrote down. Those were the two that dealt with the

5 changes.

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) If you are reporting consumer

7 credit data, most human beings would have a first name and

8 last name with the exception of a handful of music and TV

9 stars. Right?

10 A Yes.

11 Q So in this case, if you try to plug in a

12 business name into a consumer-reporting format, it doesn't

13 fit. Right?

14 A I could see that would -- sure, and I admit

15 that -- if we did anything in error, that would have been

16 it, is that you know -- I believe that whoever did it was

17 relying on the account number and some other information

18 having it find the file.

19 Q So now there is a file in the Experian consumer

20 credit database with a last name Contracting, Incorporated

21 and first name, Custom, that has been generated in their

22 records by virtue of that change, and so --

23 MS. ANDREW: Objection on form.

24 MR. SZWAK: It's actually shown that way in

25 reverse. So I'm asking him --

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1 MS. ANDREW: It's not shown in Experian's

2 documents.

3 MR. SZWAK: I'll find it for Friday.
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
David A. Szwak
Posts: 1974
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:19 pm

Post by David A. Szwak »

 4 Q (By Mr. Szwak) You understand that reporting a

5 business name in the consumer credit reporting format

6 would cause a problem and not effect a deletion?

7 A Well, in place, was the procedure for Experian

8 to pull those files out if it's submitted that way and put

9 them into the Experian's business record database. Yes, I

10 don't believe that it creates a file out there on somebody

11 named Contracting, Custom or anything like that.

12 Q Okay. Now you talked about Exhibit 11. That is

13 the one with the various changes. It's 11. You

14 transmitted that information through the normal reporting

15 process and not through E-Oscar or through the CDV or ACDV

16 or UDF of AUDF processes. Right?

17 A The deletions, you are asking me?

18 Q I'm talking about these changes in the Exhibit

19 11.

20 A In Exhibit 11, this is our normal procedure to

21 update records.

22 Q That is the reporting. Right?

23 A That is correct. E-Oscar is a dispute

24 verification which would be secondary.

25 Q And that's not this?

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1 A No. This is not E-Oscar.

2 Q Exhibit 11 is not E-Oscar?

3 A Correct.

4 (Exhibit No. 38 marked for identification)

5 MR. SZWAK: So we need the E-Oscar logs.

6 We are going to need you to also produce as Exhibit 38

7 directly to the court reporter the E-Oscar logs including

8 prints of any and all E-Oscar records having anything to

9 do with this account or either one of the Yount gentlemen.

10 That's two exhibits that we are going to

11 need. We are going to need the Exhibit 12 which deals

12 with the codes and then Exhibit 38 which would be the

13 E-Oscar logs and any prints of any screens or

14 documentation that pertains to this account or either one

15 of these gentlemen.

16 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Just to follow up, this is a real

17 basic question that Cindy had asked you. She asked you

18 about your use of metro two. When did you start using

19 metro two?

20 A I don't have the date. All of my data has been

21 submitted in metro two through Spahr. Spahr does that

22 conversion.

23 If it was in metro one, he converted it to metro two

24 but I'm now submitting it to him in metro two. So I guess

25 there is less confusion for him.

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1 Q Historically, did you have some problems with

2 data conversion with regard to the data first delinquency

3 or the account open date with respect to the additional

4 data required by metro two?

5 A No, I don't. When we resolved that or when we

6 defined that at the very early stages with Doug Spahr, I

7 think that it's not been an issue since then. I am

8 talking about many, many years ago.

9 Q You anticipate, at the present time, that

10 Experian and any other credit reporting agency that you

11 report to should have placed this account as a paid

12 collection account on the credit report of the plaintiff's

13 father. Correct?

14 A Correct.

15 Q Have you reviewed the actual contract between

16 South Gateway Tire and him in terms of the determining

17 whether or not there is actually a guarantee under

18 Louisiana law based upon the manner in which he signed it

19 as owner and president of the applicant as opposed to

20 signing it as a guarantor?

21 A No. No, that would not be -- no.

22 Q My point is this. You haven't gotten a legal

23 opinion about whether or not there is a legal guarantee by

24 Mr. Yount, the father, on this account, have you?

25 A No, not a legal opinion. My assumption is that

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1 South Gateway Tire did.

2 Q The manner in which this document is signed is

3 not indicative under Louisiana law of a personal guarantee

4 is why I am asking.

5 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

6 (Exhibit No. 39 marked for identification)

7 MR. SZWAK: All right. Last but not least,

8 for Exhibit 39, I would like to see the attachments,

9 whatever was attached to the September 19 letter because

10 it is in the appropriate time frame, and I know I've

11 stated it off the record because it started up again.

12 Because of the time frame this particular

13 document came in and the particular relevance to the

14 issues addressed in Exhibit 37, I would like to see the

15 attachments, please. We will mark those as Exhibit 39.

16 THE WITNESS: I have a question. What if I

17 cannot locate that?

18 MR. SZWAK: Then we will make a request to

19 Experian to produce what they provided you.

20 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Brandy Foshee. She lives up in

21 Oil City?

22 A I'm not sure.

23 Q Candy Foshee's sister?

24 A No. That would be Candy Foshee's daughter.

25 Q Daughter, okay.

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1 MR. SZWAK: Candy is a legal secretary is

2 why I asked.

3 That's all the questions I have.

4 (Off the record)

5 EXAMINATION

6 BY MS. ANDREW:

7 Q Mr. Juneau, I promise I don't have very many

8 questions for you.

9 When Mr. Szwak was asking you about this document --

10 let me see what exhibit this is -- this is the July 14,

11 2006 disclosure, Experian disclosure. It has been marked

12 as an exhibit.

13 MR. MOORE: Is it 24?

14 MS. ANDREW: This one is not.

15 MR. SZWAK: There is one that is marked

16 here. There it is.

17 Q (By Ms. Andrew) If you can look at Exhibit

18 Number 19. Mr. Szwak asked you if it would have been

19 helpful for you to know about the information that is

20 contained in Exhibit Number 19, and you responded yes.

21 What information in Exhibit 19 would have been helpful to

22 you?

23 A Well, any information is helpful to me in trying

24 to figure out the proper way to correct it, and again, I

25 think that my answer was that I don't know if I was

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1 supplied this information or not at the time. One of my

2 employees could have received it. Without seeing the

3 E-Oscar log, I won't know if Experian did notify me.

4 Q Let's assume that you didn't receive it. I just

5 want to know what information in here would have been

6 helpful to you?

7 A Honestly, I have no knowledge of this account.

8 Then it says this file is verified and updated July of

9 '06. This indicates to me that they did communicate with

10 us and then verified it, but I don't know that for sure.

11 Q So those two things, I have no knowledge of this

12 account, which is the plaintiff's statement, and then this

13 item was verified and updated on July 2006.

14 A No. We couldn't have because we were just

15 informed of it in July. So there is no way that we could

16 have responded that fast unless it was through E-Oscar.

17 So let's look at the E-Oscar log.

18 Q Well, my question has not so much to do with --

19 A What information?

20 Q Yes, sir.

21 A And I think I answered it. So ...

22 Q I have no knowledge of this account, that would

23 have been helpful to you?

24 A Sure. It either would have been or it was is my

25 answer, yes. That would be it.

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1 Q Because the plaintiff contacted you on

2 July 13 --

3 A Correct.

4 Q -- and told you that it was his father's

5 account?

6 A Of course, that was vital information for us to

7 try to correct it.

8 Q So that's no different from what he is saying

9 here in this statement, I have no knowledge of this

10 account?

11 A Sure. I agree with that.

12 Q This item was verified and updated on July 2006.

13 You don't have an understanding of when that statement is

14 placed on a disclosure, do you?

15 A No, sir -- oh, no, ma'am. I didn't know.

16 Q Do you know that this statement is placed on

17 there if someone were to add a personal statement like, I

18 have no knowledge of this account, that that is sufficient

19 enough to have the marker, This item is verified and

20 updated?

21 A Repeat that one more time.

22 Q Do you have an understanding of whether when

23 someone puts a personal statement on their account like, I

24 have no knowledge of this account, that is sufficient

25 enough for Experian's system to give this marker, This

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1 item was verified and updated on July 2006?

2 A No. I wouldn't think that would be -- by them

3 saying that, that it was -- unless it was actually

4 updated, if it was verified and updated, I would assume

5 that was some sort of a true statement that they

6 somehow --

7 Q It would be a true statement because it's been

8 updated with a personal statement?

9 A Okay.

10 Q So that's my question.

11 A Okay.

12 Q If you were to assume that, that's what

13 happened, that it was updated because the plaintiff

14 entered this I have no knowledge of this account, would

15 the fact that it had been updated on the 14th have been

16 helpful to you?

17 A Yes.

18 Q In what way, sir?

19 A Well, whether I got it from here or from

20 wherever I got it from, him verbally, it helps me in

21 trying to research the way to correct it.

22 Q That's information that you already knew on the

23 13th?

24 A I think so, yes.

25 Q And that's what my question is, is that there is

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1 nothing that's contained in Exhibit Number 19 that's any

2 different from what you already knew?

3 A Okay. I will agree with that.

4 Q Then we also talked about Exhibit Number 24, and

5 it's the September 28, 2006 disclosure. This is going to

6 be very quick.

7 You sent to Experian, on October 2, a fax that says

8 delete the account from one person and add it to another.

9 We have gone over that. Then on October 4, you got a

10 confirmation that that was done.

11 A Okay.

12 Q We can go on. I don't want to confuse you.

13 A The dates would be the only thing that --

14 Q Sure.

15 A I think my assumption was that the confirmation

16 related to my October 2 fax.

17 Q That's what I was saying.

18 A Okay.

19 Q Your October 2 fax?

20 A Yes, was confirmed by the fax from Experian.

21 Q On October 4?

22 A October 4.

23 Q Which is Exhibit Number 36?

24 A Correct.

25 Q The first time that you became aware that there

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1 was a problem with the South Gateway Tire account was in

2 July of 2006. Correct?

3 A Correct.

4 Q Before that time period, you didn't have any

5 indication that there was a problem with the account, did

6 you?

7 A I did not have substantial dispute information,

8 and according the Fair Credit Reporting Act, I am to be

9 supplied with sufficient information by the disputed

10 party.

11 Q Because, in your business, there is a percentage

12 of accounts that you receive that do not have Social

13 Security Numbers, right --

14 A Correct.

15 Q -- and you still attempt to collect on those.

16 Correct?

17 A Sure.

18 Q For the most part, the person who you try to

19 collect from is the correct consumer?

20 A That is correct, and a lot of them pay.

21 Q Then in this particular case, there was no

22 indication for you to have sufficient evidence to believe

23 that there was anything wrong with the account prior to

24 July of 2006?

25 A That's correct.

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1 Q Then the first time that you attempted to have

2 that deleted once you learned there was a problem, it was

3 the beginning of August of 2006. Correct?

4 A That's correct.

5 Q You transmitted that information to --

6 A Inlet Data Systems.

7 Q -- Inlet. Correct?

8 A Correct.

9 Q Then it appeared that the deletion did not

10 occur. Correct?

11 A Correct.

12 Q As you sit here, you are not aware whether Inlet

13 transmitted that information onto Experian, are you?

14 A I'm 75 percent certain they did, okay.

15 Q So that means you're 25 percent unsure?

16 A Sure.

17 Q Then again, in September, you attempted to have

18 it deleted again --

19 A Correct.

20 Q -- that account?

21 A Uh-huh.

22 Q Then you transmitted the deletion information to

23 Inlet again. Correct?

24 A Correct. You said September, correct, of '06.

25 Q Of '06. As you sit here today, you are not 100

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1 percent sure if Inlet transmitted that information to

2 Experian. Correct?

3 A Well, at that time, I would almost be 99 percent

4 sure if it didn't work the first time -- I mean we've

5 given it the benefit of the doubt. It may not have

6 happened.

7 Q The reason why I am asking is I know from

8 Exhibit Number 11 that the name that is transmitted on the

9 account is the Custom Contracting for both August and

10 September, and so my question is then given that that

11 happened in September and October of 2006, there is a

12 possibility there could have been an error, and as a

13 result, the information may not have been supplied to

14 Experian?

15 A Correct. I will agree with that which I stated

16 in one of my faxes.

17 Q You did. You stated in there that the name was

18 removed of Custom Contracting and all of that. We talked

19 about that.

20 So then because you received additional information

21 that the account was still reporting on the plaintiff's

22 credit report, you contacted Experian yourself. Correct?

23 A Correct.

24 Q The very first time that you contacted Experian,

25 it appears was sometime around September 26, 2006.

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1 Correct?

2 A Yes, sometime around there. That's correct.

3 Q Then you contacted them again on the next day,

4 September 27, 2006?

5 A Correct.

6 Q Then we know that Experian did something in

7 response to your communication by Exhibit Number 35?

8 A The first page of it.

9 Q Actually, no. Exhibit Number 35 is this profile

10 on May 10 --

11 A I'm sorry. Yes.

12 Q -- where it says, Action taken, account updated,

13 completed as requested?

14 A Correct. Because that's on the 29th, correct.

15 Q Then we know that you had a subsequent

16 communication with Experian where you asked them to delete

17 the plaintiff and add it to the father. Correct?

18 A Correct, in my -- that's correct.

19 Q And Experian complied?

20 A Correct, by Exhibit 36.

21 Q So the time span that we are talking about where

22 you became aware of the account, the time that it was

23 actually deleted from the plaintiff's credit report, you

24 became aware of it around July 2006? I just want to get

25 the time span and make sure I understand the time span.

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1 You became aware, substantially, that there was a

2 problem with the account and were trying to get it

3 removed? We are talking about July of 13 of 2006 --

4 A Correct.

5 Q -- to October 4?

6 A Correct.

7 MS. ANDREW: I don't have any further

8 questions for you.

9 MR. SZWAK: Two minutes.

10 A That's almost less than 90 days.

11 EXAMINATION

12 BY MR. SZWAK:

13 Q We have been looking at Exhibit 19. Can you

14 read me these two sentences real quick? It starts, We

15 completed.

16 A We completed investigating the items you

17 disputed with the sources of information. Here are the

18 results.

19 Q Updated. What does updated mean as shown above?

20 A Well, normally, it means we verify it.

21 Q And that is, in fact, included in the message on

22 the second page that it was verified. Right?

23 A Yes.

24 Q Experian's own words are that they contacted you

25 as the source, right --

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1 A That's right.

2 Q -- that there was an investigation done, and

3 that it was updated and essentially verified. Right?

4 A Okay. No. If they are saying that they did, I

5 am not going to say that they didn't.

6 Q Okay. Well, just so we can put this in a time

7 perspective as to when this occurred. This is a

8 disclosure document that they generated on July 13, same

9 consumer, and look the status on the account. There are

10 no remarks. Do you see that?

11 A Yes.

12 Q The day before, there is no verification. There

13 is no consumer statement of I don't know whose account

14 this is. Right?

15 A That's correct.

16 Q So the day before, this is one day between my

17 client contacting you and we know from Experian inquiries

18 when he contacted Experian, in one day, this item was back

19 and verified at Experian. Is that accurate?

20 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

21 A I mean the date, it's in black and white there.

22 I mean why are you asking me?

23 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Well, what I am asking you is

24 based upon what I am showing you, does it appear that

25 Experian, in fact, contacted your company either on

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1 July 13 or sometime on the 14th, did a reinvestigation by

2 asking you to parrot the information back to them, then

3 they verified it, and told my client such in Exhibit 19?

4 A It is appearing.

5 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

6 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Would you call a one-day

7 reinvestigation to be a real reinvestigation where you

8 were digging into it to find out if someone was right or

9 wrong?

10 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

11 A Are you asking my opinion?

12 Q (By Mr. Szwak) I'm asking you if you think

13 Experian did an adequate investigation based upon my

14 client's dispute?

15 A I don't know their procedure.

16 Q Okay. Well, let me ask you. If their procedure

17 was to simply contact the person who reported the

18 inaccurate information in the first place and ask them to

19 just parrot it back to me one more time and tell me it's

20 right, and one day later, they verify it, would that be

21 acceptable to you if it was your credit?

22 A It would not accomplish the mission. I assure

23 you, there would definitely need to be further efforts to

24 get it corrected at that point.

25 Q Ms. Andrew asked you about Exhibit 19 which is a

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1 post-reinvestigation report. This is what the consumer

2 gets after a reinvestigation is done. It tells you what

3 happened, and it tells you the status of the report.

4 She said would this information be helpful to you,

5 but in reality, what we ought to be asking you is if you

6 had the full credit report file, Exhibit Number 22 from

7 July 13 where you could get all of the consumer's

8 identifying information, other account information, and

9 you could glean that he pays all of his bills to his

10 legitimate creditors on time, see his address history, the

11 fact that there are multiple incorrect names in his credit

12 file, would that information be helpful to you if you were

13 reviewing this?

14 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

15 A That would not -- I would not be entitled to

16 that because if that is not the debtor, then I have no

17 right to review that personal information on him. So they

18 couldn't send me that.

19 Q (By Mr. Szwak) You believe that you would not be

20 entitled to know the content of that file when you are

21 reinvestigating an error in connection with it?

22 A No. I don't think that the Fair Credit

23 Reporting Act allows me to pull a file on Jr., not

24 intentionally, in other words, knowing that he is not the

25 debtor. Now I don't know if the Fair Credit Reporting Act

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1 allows me to do it on investigation like this, but I know

2 that if I did pull the report, it would show up as an

3 inquiry.

4 Q You would be surprised to learn that the case

5 law differs with your opinion in that --

6 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

7 Q (By Mr. Szwak) -- that, in fact, you can look

8 into it when you've got to accurately report it?

9 A Okay.

10 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form. That is

11 not the case law.

12 MR. SZWAK: That is absolutely the case

13 law. It absolutely is reported case law. Every case is

14 consistent.

15 MS. ANDREW: I'm going to object to the

16 form.

17 Q (By Mr. Szwak) So my question is this. Would

18 this information have been helpful to you in Exhibit 22?

19 A Yes, it would have, if I was entitled to it.

20 Q What if I was at Experian and I simply reported

21 to you, you know, we have a father and a son? One of them

22 is a Samuel Yount, and the other is Samuel Yount, II.

23 They have different addresses, different Socials,

24 different dates of birth. Would that be helpful?

25 A Sure.

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1 MS. ANDREW: Objection.

2 Q (By Mr. Szwak) What if I had simply told you,

3 Look, it looks like the guy who is complaining about this

4 has all good credit accounts, pays his pills, and there is

5 this one collection item that he is complaining about?

6 Would that help?

7 MS. ANDREW: Objection to form.

8 A Yes. Historically, that is the way it works.

9 Q (By Mr. Szwak) Would it help if they had

10 reported to you, it looks like there are two different

11 dates of birth and different phone numbers associated with

12 them?

13 A Yes.

14 MR. SZWAK: I think I am done.

15 EXAMINATION

16 BY MS. ANDREW:

17 Q One more because I want to make sure that we are

18 not talking about apples and oranges.

19 A Can I curse?

20 Q You go ahead because I'm about to.

21 A Okay.

22 Q We are looking at this disclosure of July 13.

23 If the plaintiff, himself, were to give you this report,

24 which is totally different from you getting it yourself,

25 what information in here would have helped you in your

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 determination given that you talked to the son on the 13th

2 and then you knew that the account --

3 A Sure. If he had that information and he would

4 have provided it to me, then yeah, I could have solved it.

5 Q But you did solve it as of the 13th?

6 A Finally, yeah.

7 Q That's the same day as this.

8 A Okay. Yes. Wait a minute. The 13th.

9 July 13th?

10 Q Yes, sir.

11 A Is that the day that I resolved it?

12 Q You had a conversation or someone at CBS had a

13 conversation with the plaintiff on July 13th.

14 A Okay.

15 Q At that time, the decision was made that the

16 account belonged to father and not the son?

17 A It was not totally determined because we did not

18 have adequate information. We need adequate information

19 to support making changes like that.

20 Q Okay, sir. We have gone over this because we

21 talked about your Exhibit Number 9, and we talked about

22 the CU and the UC.

23 A Right.

24 Q I asked you when was the UC placed on the

25 account, and you said July 13, 2006. Do you recall that,

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 sir?

2 A Yes. That's a very close assumption that it

3 occurred sometime in July. From looking at the

4 conversation that took place that day, it was probably

5 done that day. So we attempted to delete the item that we

6 submitted with that code.

7 Q That's what I am getting at.

8 A Okay.

9 Q You had already made the decision to delete the

10 account as of July 13?

11 A Sure.

12 Q So there is nothing in these exhibits that

13 Mr. Szwak just showed you that would have helped you make

14 that determination about this account because you had

15 already decided to delete it?

16 A We were already trying to delete it, okay. The

17 fax that I finally sent last which updated it, the one

18 that is Exhibit 34, that information would have helped me

19 in my investigation to correct the information.

20 Q Are you sure, sir? I'm going to let you look at

21 it because the Social Security Numbers are not contained

22 in the disclosures.

23 A Oh, well, okay. No, I don't know if it would

24 have helped or not without that. You're right. It does

25 not have the Social Security Numbers.

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 Q So there is this nothing in Exhibit 22 that

2 would have changed your mind on what you had already

3 decided to do on July 13?

4 A No.

5 MS. ANDREW: That's it. That's all I

6 needed to establish. I'm done.

7 MR. SZWAK: You have the right to read and

8 sign your deposition to make sure it's accurate. Most

9 people waive it, but after the day you've had, you may

10 want to sign it.

11 MS. ANDREW: You may want to look at it.

12 What is the time period in Louisiana?

13 MR. SZWAK: I think it's 30 days.

14 MS. ANDREW: He can have more than 30 days,

15 if he would like.

16 (Off the record)

17 THE WITNESS: Waive it.

18 (Deposition concluded at 5:02 p.m.)

19

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GREGORY L. JUNEAU 04/25/07




1 C E R T I F I C A T E

2

3 STATE OF LOUISIANA :

4 PARISH OF CADDO :

5

6 I, Kay Moore, Certified Court Reporter, do

7 hereby certify that the said witness came before me

8 at the time and place set forth herein, and after being

9 first duly sworn was examined and testified as shown; that

10 the deposition was reported by me and thereafter

11 transcribed by use of computer-aided transcription and is

12 a true and correct record of the testimony given by the

13 witness.

14 I further certify that I am not of counsel nor

15 related to nor employed by any of the parties to this

16 cause nor in any wise interested in the event thereof.

17 SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO this the 10th day of

18 May, 2007.

19 ____________________________
Kay Moore, CCR
20
Moore Reporting, LLC
21 P.O. Box 52753
Shreveport, Louisiana 71135
22 (318)868-7478

23 Louisiana CCR No. 96015
Arkansas CCR No. 547
24 BS, Centenary College

25
David Szwak
Chairman, Consumer Protection Section, Louisiana State Bar Association
Bodenheimer, Jones & Szwak
509 Market Street, 7th Floor
Mid South Tower
Shreveport, Louisiana 71101
318-221-6444
Fax 318-221-6555
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