A class of loan originators filed a lawsuit Thursday in California against Loan Factory and it's CEO Thuan Nguyen for what they liken to "trickery," for using their names, images, and likenesses without permission and adding the information to its "Find a Loan Officer" page.
The lead plaintiff, Derek Daniel Bobadilla, alleges that he would not have given Nguyen permission to use his name, photograph, phone numbers, and other personal and professional information for the site, if he had been asked.
Bobadilla and the class members, who are represented by Douglas Johnson of Johnson & Johnson, claim they have never had any relationship with Loan Factory nor provided their information to the company.
Bobadilla asserts that Loan Factory's actions have led to unauthorized redirection of internet traffic and business to its website by using the names, photographs, likenesses, and personal information of loan officers without their consent.
"Loan Factory has injured Plaintiff and the Class by taking intellectual property without compensation, by unlawfully profiting from its exploitation of personal information via a scheme involving fraud and trickery—holding out the Plaintiff’s and the Class’ names, images, likenesses, and personal information as though such individuals were affiliated with Loan Factory," the complaint states.
It goes on to say, "Naturally, Mr. Bobadilla and the Class place great value on their online personas and must control carefully any specific uses of their names, images, likenesses, and personal information because of the economic value of their names, images, likenesses, and personal information to generate leads for loans."
The lawsuit further contends that Loan Factory, as the sole creator of the content on its website, violated California laws protecting intellectual property and privacy rights.
Specifically, it is alleged that Loan Factory's actions constitute misappropriation of names, likenesses, and personal information for commercial purposes without consent, in violation of California's Right of Publicity statute, common law prohibiting misappropriation of a name or likeness, and the state's Unfair Competition Law.
Nguyen was unable to reached before publication of this article, but the loan officers who don't work for Loan Factory were removed from the website almost immediately last summer following the launch of the site.
The lawsuit is seeking punitive damages and an award of restitution and disgorgement of profits, in addition to a declaration that it knowingly misappropriated the names, images, and likenesses of the class.
