Pro Se Plaintiff Moves for Default Judgments vs. Lending Club, American Express

Pro se plaintiff Venton Smith, who sued more than 20 merchants, banks and credit reporting agencies June 7 (see 2306120045), alleging his personally identifiable information was exposed in the 2019 Capital One data breach, filed motions for default judgments against two defendants Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. Lending Club was served a copy of the summons and complaint June 8 but failed to respond, said one motion (docket 3:23-cv-02804); similarly, American Express failed to respond to the summons, complaint and motion for default judgment, said another motion. Smith asked the court to award from each defendant relief of $42,500 under the California Identity Theft Law and negligent and willful violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, including actual and statutory damages, plus costs. The court ordered American Express and Lending Club to reply to the motion for default by Aug. 22 (see 2308080046), but they failed to do so, Smith said.