This action arises out of a peculiar set of circumstances-- On July 22, 1998, a person by the name of Andy G. Pierce, of Athens, Texas, was injured in a car accident in Texas. He was taken to a hospital for an emergency room visit, and given a chest x-ray. His bill came to some $240. In July 2003 --some five years later-- named plaintiff Andy G. Pierce, of Flower Mound, Texas (no relation to the Andy G. Pierce who was injured), noticed an entry on his consumer credit report for overdue collection of a debt in the amount of $240, attributed to defendant Gold Key.

Soon afterwards, he contacted Gold Key and requested removal of the charge from his credit report, explaining that he had neither been in an auto accident in July 1998, nor had he received any medical treatment. Gold Key allegedly refused to remove the entry, and demanded that he pay the $240 owed by Mr. Pierce of Athens. Between July and mid-December 2003, he repeatedly contacted Gold Key about the erroneous charge. On December 16, 2003, when he contacted Gold Key, he was once again told that if he would pay the $240, the company would remove the entry on his credit report. In reliance on those promises, he paid the debt just to clear his credit record. Instead of completely removing the reference from his credit record, Gold Key allegedly changed the entry to “paid collection account.”

On February 16, 2004, an attorney contacted Gold Key on behalf of Mr. Pierce, explaining once again that he was not the same person as the debtor, and demanded once again that Gold Key remove all reference of the debt from the credit report. The plaintiff swore an affidavit to affirm that he had never resided in Athens, Texas, was not involved in a car accident in July 1998, and did not receive medical treatment. He also affirmed that he had paid a debt that was not his, based on Gold Key’s representations that all reference to the debt would be removed from his credit report. The attorney attached the affidavit, plus several utility bills establishing Mr. Pierce’s 1998 residence in Plano, Texas, to the demand letter.

Gold Key allegedly responded on February 28, 2004, that Mr. Pierce’s 1998 residence was not in question, and that his credit report would continue to show “paid collection account” as the current status of the account, which would continue to be reported on the credit report. To date, that reference allegedly remains on Mr. Pierce’s credit report.

The lawsuit alleges that as many as 5,000 other persons nationwide have suffered the same treatment at the hands of Gold Key.