Carrington, Dennis v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJune 29, 2020
Docket3:19-cv-00398
StatusUnknown

This text of Carrington, Dennis v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (Carrington, Dennis v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carrington, Dennis v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc., (W.D. Wis. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

DENNIS CARRINGTON, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated,

Plaintiff, v. OPINION and ORDER

EXPERIAN HOLDINGS, INC., 19-cv-398-jdp CONSUMERINFO.COM, INC., d/b/a EXPERIAN CONSUMER SERVICES, and, EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS, INC.,

Defendants.

This is a proposed class action that arises out of an alleged refusal to cancel credit monitoring services. Plaintiff Dennis Carrington alleges that he never signed up for services with defendants, but they deducted money from his bank account for several months, even after he wrote them a letter directing them to cancel the services. Carrington asserts claims under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, the Credit Repair Organizations Act, the Wisconsin Consumer Act, and Wisconsin common law.1 Defendants have filed motions to: (1) dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction; (2) dismiss the case for failure to state a claim; (3) strike the class allegations; and (4) sanction Carrington under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. Dkt. 17 and Dkt. 24. For his part,

1 Carrington originally asserted additional claims for fraud in the inducement and violations of the Wisconsin Deceptive Trade Practices Act, but he later filed a notice with the court that he was “withdrawing” those claims. Dkt. 22. The court construes Carrington’s notice as a motion for leave to amend his complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15 and will grant the motion. See Taylor v. Brown, 787 F. 3d 851, 857-58 (7th Cir. 2015) (appropriate vehicle for dismissing less than the entire action is an amended pleading under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)). Carrington filed a motion to strike new arguments raised in defendants’ reply brief in support of their motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative to accept Carrington’s surreply brief. Dkt. 30. The court will grant Carrington’s alternative request to consider his surreply brief. Some of the arguments Carrington objects to were not new, but the court sees no unfair prejudice to

defendants in considering Carrington’s brief. As for defendants’ motions, the court concludes that it may exercise personal jurisdiction over defendant Consumerinfo.com, which calls itself Experian Consumer Services, but that Carrington’s amended complaint doesn’t state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Carrington doesn’t ask the court for leave to amend, so the court will dismiss the case with prejudice. That ruling moots defendants’ motion to strike the class allegations in the amended complaint. The court will deny the motion for Rule 11 sanctions. The court isn’t persuaded that any of Carrington’s claims are legally frivolous.

ANALYSIS A. Personal jurisdiction The court must first decide whether Carrington has shown that the court can exercise personal jurisdiction over each of the defendants. See Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U.S. 574, 584 (1999) (“Personal jurisdiction . . . is an essential element of the jurisdiction of a district . . . court, without which the court is powerless to proceed to an adjudication.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). In their motion to dismiss, defendants focus on the requirements of the Due Process Clause, so the court will do the same.2

2 Generally, a plaintiff must meet the requirements of both due process and state law. Mobile Anesthesiologists Chicago, LLC v. Anesthesia Assocs. of Houston Metroplex, P.A., 623 F.3d 440, 443 (7th Cir. 2010. But defendants don’t respond to Carrington’s arguments that jurisdiction is The Supreme Court has identified two types of personal jurisdiction: general and specific. There is no serious contention that Carrington has satisfied the requirements of “general jurisdiction,” which would require him to show that defendants’ operations within Wisconsin are “so substantial and of such a nature as to justify suit on causes of action arising

from dealings entirely distinct from those activities.” Kipp v. Ski Enter. Corp. of Wisconsin, 783 F.3d 695, 698 (7th Cir. 2015). Carrington says that defendants have “numerous [and] extensive contacts with the general Wisconsin populace” because their “core business is collecting and disseminating credit data.” Dkt. 23, at 7. But Carrington cites no authority for the view that the type of contacts he identifies would make defendants “essentially at home” in Wisconsin. Kipp, 783 F.3d at 698. It is well established that a “corporation’s continuous activity of some sorts within a state . . . is not enough to support the demand that the corporation be amenable to suits unrelated to that activity.” Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations,

S.A. v. Brown, 564 U.S. 915, 927 (2011). Under Carrington’s view, each of the defendants could be sued for any reason in any state in the country. The real question is whether the court has “specific jurisdiction,” which requires the plaintiff to show that the defendant has “purposefully directed” conduct related to the plaintiff’s claim at the forum state. See Curry v. Revolution Labs., LLC, 949 F.3d 385, 398 (7th Cir. 2020).3 To satisfy that requirement, Carrington relies on his allegation that “Experian

proper under multiple provisions of Wisconsin’s long-arm statute. See Dkt. 23, at 12–16. Issues related to personal jurisdiction can be waived, see Relational, LLC v. Hodges, 627 F.3d 668, 672 (7th Cir. 2010), so defendants’ “failure to grapple with these issues . . . results in waiver.” Lee v. Ne. Illinois Reg’l Commuter R.R. Corp., 912 F.3d 1049, 1054 (7th Cir. 2019). 3 If the plaintiff makes that showing, the burden shifts to the defendant to show that an exercise of jurisdiction would “offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” Curry, 949 F.3d at 402 (internal quotation marks omitted). But defendants don’t discuss that intentionally deducted funds from Carrington’s Wisconsin checking account after Carrington had directly informed Experian that they were no longer authorized to do so and any prior authorization had been revoked.” Dkt. 23, at 11 (citing Dkt. 11, ¶¶ 39–47). Defendants contend that Carrington’s allegation is insufficient for two reasons. First,

they say that their alleged conduct wasn’t purposeful because they couldn’t determine based on the information that Carrington provided that they were wrongfully deducting money from Carrington’s account. Citing a declaration accompanying their reply brief, defendants say that Carrington never had an account with them, but someone else had stolen his payment information to open an account under a different name. Because Carrington didn’t provide his payment information when he first complained about the deductions, defendants had no way of confirming Carrington’s allegations. Dkt. 26. This declaration doesn’t help defendants because they are confusing personal

jurisdiction with the merits and purposeful conduct with wrongful conduct. Defendants don’t deny that they knew that they were deducting money from a Wisconsin account.

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Related

Ruhrgas Ag v. Marathon Oil Co.
526 U.S. 574 (Supreme Court, 1999)
RELATIONAL, LLC v. Hodges
627 F.3d 668 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S. A. v. Brown
131 S. Ct. 2846 (Supreme Court, 2011)
Alan J. Stransky v. Cummins Engine Company, Inc.
51 F.3d 1329 (Seventh Circuit, 1995)
Buckett v. Jante
2009 WI App 55 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2009)
Helms v. Consumerinfo. Com, Inc.
436 F. Supp. 2d 1220 (N.D. Alabama, 2005)
Berndt v. Fairfield Resorts, Inc.
337 F. Supp. 2d 1120 (W.D. Wisconsin, 2004)
Selective Insurance Company of v. City of Paris
769 F.3d 501 (Seventh Circuit, 2014)
Kevin O'Gorman v. City of Chicago
777 F.3d 885 (Seventh Circuit, 2015)
William Kipp v. Ski Enterprise Corporation
783 F.3d 695 (Seventh Circuit, 2015)
John Taylor, Jr. v. James Brown
787 F.3d 851 (Seventh Circuit, 2015)
Charles Curry v. Revolution Laboratories, LLC
949 F.3d 385 (Seventh Circuit, 2020)
Lee v. Ne. Ill. Reg'l Commuter R.R. Corp.
912 F.3d 1049 (Seventh Circuit, 2019)
Rotkiske v. Klemm
589 U.S. 8 (Supreme Court, 2019)

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