by Jody Godoy - Reuters

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled on Friday that government agencies can be sued under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, deepening a circuit split on the issue but drawing a sharp dissent from one judge.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that Congress waived the federal government's sovereign immunity under the law, which governs how credit agencies handle consumer information.