The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held in an Aug. 2 decision that an informational injury is sufficient to confer standing. Under this holding, plaintiffs do not have to prove an economic injury in order to have standing to sue for statutory damages.

“It will make it much easier for consumers to prove they have standing because an informational injury merely means that a consumer was not provided some sort of disclosure that was required under federal law, and if that disclosure provides for statutory damages then it takes out the actual damages or losses that some courts might claim a consumer must show under injury in fact,” Marx Sterbcow, managing partner of Sterbcow Law Group LLC, told RESPA News.

Although the 8th Circuit’s decision in Charvat v. Mutual First Federal Credit Union does not expressly reference RESPA, it could still have an effect on lawsuits alleging RESPA violations.