Sponsors (7)
The bill reduces businesses' exposure to large class-action awards—protecting firms and potentially lowering litigation-driven costs—but does so at the expense of consumer recoveries and private enforcement of consumer protection laws, shifting the burden to regulators or individual suits.
Small businesses and financial institutions face lower risk of crippling class-action judgments and bankruptcy because total class payouts are capped.
Consumers and taxpayers may benefit from lower litigation-driven costs or preserved company resources (which could translate into lower prices or preserved jobs) because defendants' aggregate exposure is limited.
Low-income class members and other consumers in large classes may receive little or no compensation because per-member damages and overall class awards are tightly capped.
Consumers broadly may lose private enforcement of rights because limits on attorney fees could deter counsel from bringing meritorious class actions under the FCRA.
Consumers may get less effective relief overall because reduced class recoveries shift enforcement to regulators or individual suits, which are often less accessible or vigorous for ordinary people.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Places monetary ceilings on individual and class damages and caps attorney fees for willful and negligent Fair Credit Reporting Act violations.
Introduced October 17, 2025 by Barry D. Loudermilk · Last progress October 17, 2025
Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act to place court-set limits on damages and attorney’s fees for both willful and negligent violations and to cap total class-action recoveries. It restricts per-member minimum awards in class suits, caps statutory/punitive and negligent awards at the lesser of $100,000 or 40% of actual damages, limits total class recovery (excluding fees) to the lesser of $500,000 or 1% of the defendant’s net worth, and caps costs plus reasonable attorney’s fees at the lesser of $100,000 or 40% of damages. The changes apply to civil liability provisions for willful and negligent violations and revise how courts determine aggregate awards in individual and class actions, shifting several recovery amounts to fixed ceilings and percentage-based limits tied to damages or defendant net worth.