Boerner v. LVNV Funding LLC

358 F. Supp. 3d 767
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJanuary 8, 2019
DocketCase No. 17-CV-1786-JPS
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 358 F. Supp. 3d 767 (Boerner v. LVNV Funding LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boerner v. LVNV Funding LLC, 358 F. Supp. 3d 767 (E.D. Wis. 2019).

Opinion

J. P. Stadtmueller, U.S. District Judge

1. INTRODUCTION

On December 22, 2017, Plaintiff George Boerner ("Boerner") filed a complaint against defendants LVNV Funding, LLC ("LVNV") and Messerli & Kramer, PA ("Messerli") (collectively, "Defendants") alleging violations of the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act ("FDCPA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1692(e) and the Wisconsin Consumer Act ("WCA"), Wisc. Stat. § 427.104, in connection with the collection of a credit card debt. (Docket # 1). On November 7, 2018, Messerli filed a motion for summary judgment, which LVNV joined. (Docket # 38 and # 45). For the reasons stated below, the motions will be denied.

2. LEGAL STANDARD

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 states that the "court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a) ; see Boss v. Castro , 816 F.3d 910, 916 (7th Cir. 2016). A "genuine" dispute of material fact is created when "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The Court construes all facts and reasonable inferences in a light most favorable to the non-movant. Bridge v. New Holland Logansport, Inc. , 815 F.3d 356, 360 (7th Cir. 2016). In assessing the parties' proposed facts, the Court must not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility; the Seventh Circuit instructs that "we leave those tasks to factfinders." Berry v. Chicago Transit Auth. , 618 F.3d 688, 691 (7th Cir. 2010).

The Seventh Circuit has provided additional direction in evaluating the viability of FDCPA claims. Such claims are assessed from the perspective of the "unsophisticated consumer." An unsophisticated *772consumer "may be uninformed, naïve, [and] trusting, but is not a dimwit, has rudimentary knowledge about the financial world, and is capable of making basic logical deductions and inferences[.]" Lox v. CDA, Ltd. , 689 F.3d 818, 822 (7th Cir. 2012) (citations and quotations omitted).

3. RELEVANT FACTS

George Boerner held a Menard's/Capital One credit card, for which he fell behind on payments after he lost his job. Between October 2016 and February 2017, Boerner received billing statements in the mail that contained information including the amount due and the payment due date. As is customary with credit card billing statements, Boerner was allowed to make partial payments, or "minimum payments," on the debt. Boerner owed a total of $ 1,957.57 on the Menard's/Capital One credit card before it was finally turned off ("charged off") in early 2017. By February 2017, Boerner was required to pay $ 649.00 on the total owed balance. At some point following the charge off, the Menard's/Capital One credit card debt was sold. It passed through multiple financial institutions and ultimately arrived at LVNV, which retained the Messerli law firm to collect on the delinquent account.

On June 19, 2017, Messerli sent Boerner's bankruptcy attorney a standard form letter stating that it represented LVNV in the collection of the debt, and, if appropriate, Boerner must dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days. (Docket # 40-2). Boerner does not recall seeing this letter and, to this day, is confused by the fact that it refers to HSBC Bank Nevada, a bank Boerner has never used. The letter does not contain any information regarding Boerner's opportunity to cure the default, nor does it mention that the debt stems from Boerner's Menard's/Capital One card. It does, however, list the last four digits of that credit card. Id. Neither Boerner, nor his attorney, responded to this letter. On October 25, 2017, Messerli filed a summons and complaint against Boerner in Washington County Circuit Court, seeking to collect LVNV's debt (Case No. 17SC2061). On November 16, 2017, Boerner filed an answer with the state court, followed by an amended answer and counterclaims on December 15, 2017.

LVNV is a long-term client of the Messerli firm, and Messerli is familiar with LVNV's business practices and accounts. When retained to collect a particular debt, Messerli receives consumer files from LVNV, as well as general demographic information about the debtor. State court complaints are drafted on a standard form template, which Messerli attorneys review "at least annually." (Docket # 50 at 10-11). Messerli regularly trains its employees on legal compliance and industry developments. Id. Messerli attorneys use a file-tracking system to show work performed on each case. (Docket # 53 at 7).

The Messerli attorney working on behalf of LVNV in Boerner's case, James Kachelski, is listed as the attorney of record in several hundred cases throughout Wisconsin.1 The state court complaint filed in Boerner's case was the result of Messerli's mass-produced, computer-assisted process, which Kachelski reviewed and signed before the complaint was filed. There is no way to know for certain how long Kachelski *773actually spend reviewing the complaint, id. at 8, and the parties dispute how long Kachelski reviewed the complaint. Messerli's records contain two time stamps for this complaint, at 4:04 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. Boerner argues that this shows that the complaint was reviewed for one minute before it was sent to the assistant to be filed. Messerli argues that 4:04 p.m. is "the time the code was placed on the file after

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Bluebook (online)
358 F. Supp. 3d 767, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boerner-v-lvnv-funding-llc-wied-2019.