Ammons v. Ally Fin., Inc.

326 F. Supp. 3d 578
District Court, M.D. Tennessee·Decided June 27, 2018·No. NO. 3:17–cv–00505·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

WAVERLY D. CRENSHAW, JR., CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Martha Ammons brings suit against Ally Financial, Inc. ("Ally"), under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), 47 U.S.C. § 227, et seq. This case arises out of hundreds of debt-collection telephone calls that Ammons claims Ally made to her cellular telephone. Before the Court are (a) Ally's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 25) and (b) Ammons' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 69), both of which are fully briefed, including legal memoranda, exhibits, and an enormous amount of supplemental authority and related briefing. The Court also ordered additional briefing regarding the impact of ACA International v. Federal Communications Commission, 885 F.3d 687 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (" ACA International"), on this case. These motions are now ripe for decision. For the following reasons, Ally's motion will be denied in full and Ammons' motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background and Facts

In April 2014, Ammons1 and her daughter purchased a Nissan Altima from Trinity Automotive dealership in Nashville, Tennessee.2 (Doc. No. 35 at ¶ 2.) The purchase had two components: a credit application ("CA") and a retail installment sale contract ("RISC"). First, Ammons (who was listed as the "buyer") and her daughter (who was listed as the "co-buyer") obtained financing for the purchase via the CA. (Id. at ¶¶ 3-4.) In the "Applicant Information" section of the CA, Ammons provided the cellular telephone number that is at issue in this case.3 (Id. at ¶¶ 5-6.)

*581The CA provided that: "[b]y providing your cell phone number on this application, you are consenting to receive servicing and collection calls on your cell phone using an auto dialer or prerecorded message. This consent applies to the dealer, who is the originating creditor in this transaction, as well as any assignee who may purchase your credit contract from the dealer. " (Id. at ¶ 7.) The CA further stated that, "by signing below, you certify that you have read and agree to the terms...." (Id. at ¶ 8.) Trinity Automotive transmitted the CA to Ally, which processed and approved it. (Doc. No. 25-2 at ¶ 4.)

Next, Ammons and her daughter executed the RISC with Trinity Automotive. (Doc. No. 35 at ¶ 9.) Trinity Automotive then assigned its interests in the RISC to Ally. (Id. at ¶ 10.) In the "Servicing and Collection Contacts" section, the RISC states:

You agree that we may try to contact you in writing, by e-mail, or using prerecorded/artificial voice messages, text messages, and automatic telephone dialing systems, as the law allows. You also agree that we may try to contact you in these and other ways at any address or telephone number you provide us, even if the telephone number is a cell phone number or the contact results in a charge to you.

(Doc. No. 35 at ¶ 11.) The RISC also states that it "contains the entire agreement ... relating to this contract. Any change to this contract must be in writing and we must sign it. No oral changes are binding." (Id. at ¶ 12.) Finally, the RISC states: "You agree to the terms of this contract. You confirm that before you signed this contract, we gave it to you, and you were free to take it and review it. You confirm that you received a completely filled-in copy when you signed it." (Doc. No. 25-4 at 1.) The RISC contains a choice of law provision that dictates both "federal law and the law of the state of Tennessee apply." (Doc. No. 35 at ¶ 14.)

In July 2015, Ammons began receiving automated calls from Ally to her cellular phone number to discuss a delinquency in payments that were due under the RISC. (Id. at ¶ 16; Doc. No. 69-1 at ¶ 9.) Based on her own testimony, Ally's call records and admissions, and her own non-exclusive, handwritten call logs,4 Ammons alleges that Ally called her over 500 times between August 31, 2014 and January 24, 2017. (See Doc. Nos. 89 at ¶¶ 5, 8; 69-1 at ¶ 15.) However, based on various records, Ally suggests that there was a dramatically lower number of calls. (Doc. Nos. 86-2 at 13-16; 86-1 at 8-12; 69-8; 102 at ¶ 19.)

In her deposition, Ammons acknowledged that she didn't answer "a lot" of Ally's calls. (Doc. No. 86-1 at 37.) Ally's corporate representative, Diane Accurso, testified at her deposition that Ally "made" a substantially lower amount of calls than Ammons asserts, but conceded that this assertion only took into account calls where a representative actually spoke to Ammons or left a voicemail or text message. (Doc. No. 69-8 at 11.) In written discovery responses, Ally admitted that it "initiated" the following number of calls to Ammons' number using equipment with the capacity to operate as a predictive dialer: (a) after December 22, 2015: 518, (b) after September 22, 2016: 235; and *582after December 16, 2016: 64. (Doc. No. 69-3 at 5.)

The parties also plainly dispute if, how, and when Ammons instructed Ally's agents to stop calling her. (Doc. No. 89 at ¶¶ 7, 9.) Ammons testified that "from the beginning, [she] asked [Ally] to call [her daughter] instead of me." (Doc. No. 69-2 at 4.) But the calls kept coming, sometimes "four and five times a day." (Id. ) Ammons testified that, in conjunction with directing Ally to her daughter, she told them "don't call me" on "several, a lot of times." (Id. at 5.) Two key dates in the parties' disagreements on this subject are December 22, 2015, and September 22, 2016. (Id. ) Ammons contends that on December 22, 2015, she provided her daughter's information to Ally and asked Ally to stop calling her cell phone. (Doc. No. 69-1 at ¶ 11.) Ally, on the other hand, argues that records of the December 22, 2015, communication could be interpreted as Ammons instructing Ally to call Ammons' daughter, but not necessarily to stop calling Ammons.5 (Doc. No. 89 at ¶ 7.) Likewise, Ammons contends that on September 22, 2016, she spoke to an Ally agent-Mr. Body-and asked him to put a note in her file that Ally should stop calling her and call her daughter. (Doc. Nos. 69-1 at ¶ 12; 102 at ¶ 23; 86-1 at 12.) Ammons maintains that Mr. Body agreed that Ally would no longer call Ammons and stated that he would "put a flag on the account" so that no further automated calls would be made. (Id. ) However, Ally contends that (1) its records do not confirm that it spoke with Ammons (as opposed to, e.g., Ammons' daughter), (2) Ammons' evidence is fundamentally confused, and (3) the evidence suggests that Mr. Body volunteered to stop the calls in error rather than agreed to stop them in response to a demand from Ammons. (Doc. No. 89 at ¶ 9.) Regardless, on September 22, 2016, a permanent note was entered on Ammons' account by Mr. Body that advised "dnc buyer!!!" (Id. at ¶ 11; Doc. No. 69-6 at 58.) Accurso has stated that "dnc" means "do not call."6 (Doc. No.

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Ammons v. Ally Fin., Inc., 326 F. Supp. 3d 578 (M.D. Tenn. 2018).

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