Corrales-Gonzalez v. Speed Auto Wholesalers LLC

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided September 8, 2022·No. 2:20-cv-02023·Unknown

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8

Carmen Corrales-Gonzalez, ) No. CV-20-02023-PHX-SPL ) 9 ) 10 Plaintiff, ) ORDER vs. ) ) 11 ) Speed Auto Wholesalers LLC, et al., ) 12 ) 13 Defendants. ) ) 14 ) 15 Before the Court is Plaintiff Carmen Corrales-Gonzalez’s (“Plaintiff”) Motion for 16 Default Judgment (Doc. 83) in which Plaintiff moves for this Court to enter default 17 judgment against Defendant Raul Quintero and in favor of Plaintiff for a total amount of 18 $75,578.03—which includes statutory damages of $71,889.00, attorneys’ fees of 19 $3,467.50, and court costs of $221.53. (Doc. 83 at 1). No response to the Motion has been 20 filed. Having reviewed Plaintiff’s Motion, the exhibits attached thereto, and the record in 21 this matter, the Court will grant the Motion. 22 I. BACKGROUND 23 At issue in this case is a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 (the “Jeep”) which was 24 originally put into service on or about January 12, 2014. (Doc. 1 at 3). On May 11, 2018, 25 the Jeep was purchased by Defendant Quintero. (Id. at 4). At that time, the Jeep had 26 approximately 100,000 miles on it. (Id.). Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Quintero rolled 27 back or otherwise altered the odometer reading to approximately 40,000 miles. (Id.). On 28 June 2, 2018, Defendant Quintero sold the Jeep to Defendant Maira Perez. (Id. at 4–5). On 1 November 24, 2018, Defendant Perez sold the Jeep to Defendant DP Corporation (“Lifted 2 Trucks”). (Id. at 5). On November 27, 2018, Defendant Lifted Trucks sold the Jeep to 3 Defendant Speed Auto Wholesalers LLC (“Speed Auto”), certifying on the back of the title 4 that the Jeep had an odometer reading of 59,867. (Id.). Finally, on December 22, 2018, 5 Plaintiff purchased the Jeep from Defendant Speed Auto. (Id. at 6). Plaintiff alleges that 6 Defendant Speed Auto represented to Plaintiff that the Jeep had 59,867 actual miles on it. 7 (Id. at 1). Approximately a year and a half later, when Plaintiff attempted to trade in the 8 Jeep for another vehicle at a dealership in Gilbert, Arizona, Plaintiff learned that the Jeep’s 9 odometer reading was not accurate, and that it had been rolled back or otherwise altered to 10 reflect at least 60,000 fewer miles than it had actually traveled. (Id. at 1, 8). Specifically, 11 the dealership acquired a CarFax vehicle history report indicating that the Jeep’s odometer 12 was altered sometime after January 27, 2018 and before Defendant Speed Auto acquired 13 the Jeep on November 27, 2018. (Id. at 8). 14 Plaintiff alleges that Defendants knew or should have known about the mileage 15 discrepancy, that he would not have purchased the Jeep had he known the true status of the 16 odometer and its mileage, and that he suffered actual damages as a result of Defendants’ 17 actions, including the loss of value in the vehicle. (Id. at 10). On October 21, 2020, Plaintiff 18 filed a Complaint in this Court, alleging three counts: (i) violation of the federal Odometer 19 Act against all Defendants (Count I); (ii) violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act 20 against Defendant Speed Auto (Count II); and (iii) breach of express warranty against 21 Defendant Speed Auto (Count III). (Id. at 10–13). On January 13, 2021, Defendant Perez 22 was dismissed. (Doc. 16). On June 6, 2022, this Court dismissed Counts II and III. (Doc. 23 69). Thus, the only remaining Defendants are Speed Auto, Lifted Trucks, and Quintero, 24 and the only remaining claim is Plaintiff’s Odometer Act claim. 25 On January 11, 2021, the Clerk entered default against Defendant Quintero after he 26 failed to appear in this matter. (Doc. 15). On June 28, 2022, Plaintiff filed the present 27 Motion for Default Judgment as to Defendant Quintero. (Doc. 83). Defendant Quintero has 28 still not appeared in this matter. 1 II. DISCUSSION 2 A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction, Personal Jurisdiction, and Service of Process 3 When default judgment is sought against a non-appearing party, a court has “an 4 affirmative duty to look into its jurisdiction over both the subject matter and the parties.” 5 In re Tuli, 172 F.3d 707, 712 (9th Cir. 1999) (“To avoid entering a default judgment that 6 can later be successfully attacked as void, a court should determine whether it has the 7 power, i.e., the jurisdiction, to enter judgment in the first place.”). A court has a similar 8 duty with respect to service of process. See Fishman v. AIG Ins. Co., No. CV 07-0589- 9 PHX-RCB, 2007 WL 4248867, at *3 (D. Ariz. Nov. 30, 2007) (“Because defendant has 10 not been properly served, the court lacks jurisdiction to consider plaintiff’s motions for 11 default judgment.”). These considerations are “critical because ‘[w]ithout a proper basis 12 for jurisdiction, or in the absence of proper service of process, the district court has no 13 power to render any judgment against the defendant’s person or property unless the 14 defendant has consented to jurisdiction or waived the lack of process.’” Id. (citing S.E.C. 15 v. Ross, 504 F.3d 1130, 1138–39 (9th Cir. 2007)). 16 First, as to subject-matter jurisdiction, the Court may exercise subject-matter 17 jurisdiction because Plaintiff has stated a claim under the federal Odometer Act, 49 U.S.C. 18 § 32701, et seq., which confers jurisdictional powers upon district courts in the United 19 States in conjunction with 28 U.S.C. § 1331. See 49 U.S.C. § 32710(b) (“A person may 20 bring a civil action to enforce a claim under this section in an appropriate United States 21 district court.”). Next, as to personal jurisdiction, the Court has personal jurisdiction over 22 Defendant Quintero because he is a citizen of Arizona and because he was properly served. 23 See Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714 (1877) (noting that “every State possesses exclusive 24 jurisdiction and sovereignty over persons and property within its territory.”); Benny v. 25 Pipes, 799 F.2d 489, 492 (9th Cir. 1986) (noting that a federal court lacks personal 26 jurisdiction over defendant unless defendant properly served). According to the Complaint, 27 Defendant Quintero is an individual residing in Phoenix, Arizona. (Doc. 1 at 3). Defendant 28 Quintero was served at his Phoenix residence when the summons and complaint were 1 served on his grandmother, who also resided at the same residence, by a licensed process 2 server on October 23, 2020. (Doc. 9 at 1). The Court finds that service in this case was 3 proper under the relevant federal rule, which authorizes service of an individual by delivery 4 of the summons and complaint to the individual’s residence and by leaving said documents 5 with someone of suitable age and discretion who resides there. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e). 6 With preliminary considerations of jurisdiction and service of process out of the way, the 7 Court turns to whether default judgment is appropriate. 8 B. Default Judgment Analysis: Eitel Factors 9 “A defendant’s default does not automatically entitle a plaintiff to a default 10 judgment.” Hartford Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Gomez, No. CV-13-01144-PHX-BSB, 11 2013 WL 5327558, at *2 (D. Ariz. Sept. 24, 2013).

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Corrales-Gonzalez v. Speed Auto Wholesalers LLC, (D. Ariz. 2022).

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