On August 10, 2026, a court in the Northern District of Texas granted the Consumer Data Industry Association’s (“CDIA”) motion for summary judgment in substantial part, declaring Texas Business & Commerce Code § 20.05(a)(5) (which precluded reporting of certain types of medical debt) expressly preempted by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) § 1681t(b)(1)(E) and permanently enjoining the Texas Attorney General from enforcing the statute.  The Court accepted CDIA’s core position that § 20.05(a)(5) impermissibly imposes a state-law prohibition on a subject matter regulated by FCRA.  The Court held that “the best interpretation of § 1681c and § 1681t(b) is that Congress intended to preempt States from passing legislation more protective of consumers in relation to adverse information on their consumer reports—which includes the reporting of medical debt.”  This is a tremendous win for CDIA, as the decision clarifies the broad scope of preemption under § 1681t(b)(1)(E) with respect to state laws that seek to regulate what types of consumer information can be reported on consumer reports, and it represents a break from the First Circuit’s contrary decision (in CDIA v. Frey) in which the First Circuit adopted a narrow interpretation of § 1681t(b)(1)(E) and found no preemption of medical debt reporting.

This case was led by Jesse Smallwood and Ryan Scarborough. The team also included senior counsel Bill Murray, associates Jonathan Spratley, and Nikolai Morse, and former W&C attorneys Chris Baldacci and Eric Blankenstein.