More than 160 million Americans would be able to learn their all-important credit scores at no charge — and with no strings attached — under a settlement by credit reporting giant TransUnion Corp. of a long-running class-action lawsuit.

The case being settled stems from a business operated by TransUnion that sliced and diced data from the Chicago-based company’s massive credit files to generate customized lists of consumers. Retailers, lenders and other businesses would buy the lists to use in their marketing.

Johnny Grant, the longtime Hollywood showman and Tinseltown’s unofficial mayor, has seen a lot of star antics over the decades.

But from his penthouse apartment atop the trendy Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Grant, 84, said he’s not happy about what he’s seeing today — especially amid investigations focusing on underage starlets partying at Hollywood hot spots.

So went the finger-pointing on Hollywood Boulevard and the Sunset Strip as the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board was poised to investigate the case of actress Lindsay Lohan, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after what tabloids and paparazzi said was a night of partying.

ABC spokesman John Carr said that after the Beverly Hills Police Department provides evidence that alcohol was in Lohan’s system, the agency would try to determine whether the 20-year-old actress was illegally served liquor. Police have only said that Lohan’s blood-alcohol level was over the .08 legal limit after her arrest early Saturday.

ABC is seeking a 15-day closure of the club Mood on Hollywood Boulevard after photos last year showed several underage stars, including Lohan and singer Jesse McCartney, partying there.

An attorney for Mood said the bar has become a scapegoat and that more focus should be given to how underage patrons get fake identifications and why their parents don’t better monitor their behavior.

"Put the blame where blame should be, with the minor," said attorney Stephen Solomon, adding the club diligently checks the IDs of all young-looking patrons. "That’s the person you should worry about going after."

Officials in West Hollywood said they hope the Lohan case serves as a cautionary tale for bars.

Mayor Pro-Tem Jeff Prang said businesses roll the dice if they allow underage celebrities to drink in their establishments.

As a child, Traci Hong came from South Korea to the United States as a legal immigrant. Fifteen years ago, she became a U.S. citizen. Yet in March, when Hong, now 37, applied for a congressional staff job, an employee screening system that is the linchpin of the Senate’s immigration legislation told a different story: It flagged her as being here illegally.

Hong spent eight days navigating the bureaucracy to correct a database error and convince officials that she was entitled to work here — and she’s an immigration lawyer, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and its law school.

The screening system, called Basic Pilot, is run by the Department of Homeland Security. So far, it’s being used by only about 16,700 employers — 2,100 or so in California — out of 7 million nationwide.

But it would dramatically expand into a national electronic employment verification system under the Senate proposal; within 18 months, it could be used to check every new hire in the country. As the legislation is written, all 150 million workers in the U.S. would have to submit to the checks within three years.

Supporters call Basic Pilot an efficient blueprint to increase enforcement of laws that bar the hiring of illegal immigrants. It is a central component of what has been dubbed the "grand bargain" between Democrats and Republicans on immigration; in fact, the bill’s proposed guest worker program couldn’t begin until the verification system was capable of screening every new hire in the country.

But opponents — who include conservatives, small businesses, human resource managers and civil liberties groups — are dubious. They say the current program infringes on privacy, doesn’t stop identity fraud and will become more expensive and cumbersome as it expands, bogged down by technical problems and a database with inaccurate information.

Businesses check eligibility by submitting information from an I-9 form, required of all new hires, which includes Social Security and other documentation showing an employee’s right to live and work in the U.S.

If the information is valid, the system sends the business a confirmation. If not, a "tentative nonconfirmation" is returned, and the business asks the employee to provide additional proof of identity or citizenship. Files are even checked by hand before the government finally identifies an employee as illegal.

Although the Internet-based process usually takes seconds, any glitch can take days to resolve. About 200 businesses join the program each week; so far this year, Basic Pilot has processed 1.7 million inquiries — the same as in all of 2006.

Even as more businesses join the program, the system’s error rate of 5% is falling. But a Social Security Administration report last year estimated that 17.8 million Social Security records, or 4.1%, contained discrepancies that could tie up the system.

Traci Hong, for example, was stopped because her records, like those of 7% of naturalized foreigners, failed to indicate that she had been granted U.S. citizenship. A change in immigration status, marriage or divorce needs to be reported to Social Security, said Moran of the National Immigration Law Center.

Basic Pilot has become popular as workplace enforcement becomes a grass-roots issue.

This year, lawmakers in 41 states are considering legislation to strengthen workplace enforcement of immigration laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Tennessee Senate approved a bill this spring mandating the use of Basic Pilot by all employers in the state; Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a similar measure.

Proponents say it is the most affordable way to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Victims face bogus bills and risk injury or death. Privacy laws make such fraud hard to pursue.

After shoulder surgery last year, a hospital patient was stunned when hospital bill collectors demanded that she pay for the amputation of her right foot.

"Either you didn’t do the surgery, or you did a really [shoddy] job of it," the patient told the collection agency, sending along notarized photos of her toes, all still attached. "Either way, I’m not paying."  But the patient quickly discovered she was dealing with something more nefarious than a simple clerical error: An identity thief had obtained medical care under the patient’s name and had the bill sent to the patient’s insurer.

Although the most typical of the millions of identity theft cases in the U.S. each year involve credit cards, a 2003 federal report estimated that at least 200,000 instances involved medical identity fraud. Experts believe that the rising cost of healthcare is driving more identity theft, and that many people are unaware they have become victims unless they receive a hospital bill or query from their insurer.

With medical records compromised, victims of this kind of fraud face a greater risk of injury or even death if doctors make treatment decisions based on bad information. Files might list incorrect prescriptions or the wrong blood type. Or, as in this patient’s case, an erroneous diagnosis of diabetes.

Bad information can also put careers and insurance at risk. Many employers, including more than a third of the Fortune 500 companies, demand access to medical records when making hiring, promotion or benefits decisions, according to the nonprofit Patient Privacy Rights Foundation. Health and life insurance companies routinely scan medical files or payout reports before issuing new policies.

Victims, though, often find that clearing their medical records of bad information is much more difficult than fixing credit reports, which are centralized in three major credit bureaus.

Consumers have the right to obtain one free credit report annually, and to demand an investigation of information they believe is fraudulent or incorrect. Unverified reports must be removed promptly.

Medical records, in contrast, can be scattered across dozens of doctors’ offices, hospitals and clinics. And federal privacy rules intended to protect private information can make it difficult for patients to even obtain their own records when identity theft is suspected.

A big reason most people never find out about erroneous records is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The law can make it difficult for patients to see their own medical records, since the penalties for improper disclosure prompt some hospitals to set up roadblocks including demands for multiple forms of identification.

The bitter twist on medical identity theft is that once a person tells a keeper of records that someone else’s data might be intermingled, the file becomes even harder to obtain. Why? Because it includes another person’s medical history, which many hospitals argue can’t be turned over without consent.

Even when patients do see their records, they have no automatic right to fix errors they find.

About The Author:
Attorney Ted Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission – to fight for the rights of victims, the wrong accused, and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others – he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Ted Bills practices Auto Accident (Car, Truck, and Motorcycle crash), DUI, Personal Injury, and Criminal – Traffic Violation law in Colorado Springs, CO and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

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