able to collect their damages and they will have lost in the end. and, obviously, as we shared in the story, they had a ripple effect from this, with their credit being hurt and that kind of thing. danny, don t the credit reporting companies, on that no note, have some sort of liability here? ultimately, no. the real liability it is defamation if a company reports a debt that is not a brood debt. the real liability is on the company. reporting credit companies will reach out to the company reporting the debt and they rely on whatever that company, like klear gear, austensibly told them. then that s a debt as far as they re concerned. i suppose if they were reckless in researching that, but they rely on the companies to report truthfully and accurately. that s what they re supposed to do. they re supposed to add the consumer s claim as well, though, when they research it. so they may have some liability