Oregon Judge Lops Big Chunk off $18.6M Jury Award

An Oregon woman who won nearly $19 million in a lawsuit against Equifax over credit reporting mistakes saw the jury award cut to less than $2 million last week by a federal judge in Portland.

Judge Anna J. Brown reduced punitive damages to bring them more in line with the $180,000 in compensatory damages.

The Oregonian reported the jury award in July was one of the largest granted to a consumer in a case against a major credit bureau. Atlanta-based Equifax appealed in December.

In her lawsuit, Julie Miller said she attempted to contact Equifax eight times between 2009 and 2011 to correct inaccuracies, but the agency failed to correct its mistakes, hurting her credit and her ability to help a disabled brother who couldn’t get credit on his own.