Dekker v. Vivint Solar, Inc.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided May 20, 2020·No. 3:19-cv-07918·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8

10 GERRIE DEKKER, et al., 11 Plaintiffs, No. C 19-07918 WHA

12 v.

13 VIVINT SOLAR, INC., et al., ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART LEAVE TO 14 Defendants. AMEND

15 16 INTRODUCTION 17 Following an order compelling arbitration in this unfair business practices suit, the 18 remaining plaintiffs seek leave to amend their complaint. Because leave is freely given and the 19 amendments are partially viable, leave is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. 20 STATEMENT 21 A prior order details the facts here (Dkt. No. 47). In brief, defendants Vivint Solar, Inc., 22 Vivint Solar Holdings, Inc., Vivint Solar Developer, LLC, and Vivint Solar Provider, LLC (all 23 “Vivint”) install solar panels on customers' roofs and, at least as advertised, sell them the low 24 cost, clean energy produced over a twenty year term pursuant to their “power purchase 25 agreement” (Prop. Amend. Compl., Dkt. No. 52-3, at ¶¶ 1–11). Plaintiffs allege a host of 26 misconduct, but only plaintiff Juan Bautista’s story remains relevant here. A Vivint salesperson 27 sold Mr. Bautista (a native Spanish speaker with virtually no English proficiency) a solar 1 Vivint sent him a $2,000 bill, which ballooned to $18,000 thirty days later, and ultimately 2 demanded $22,946.99 plus the costs to remove his solar system, court costs, and applicable 3 taxes (id. at ¶ 24). 4 Understanding these and similar demands against others to be unlawful liquidated 5 damages clauses, plaintiffs sued in December 2019 under California Civil Code § 1671, the 6 Consumer Legal Remedies Act, § 1750, and the Unfair Competition Law, Bus. & Prof. Code 7 § 17200. Mr. Bautista also asserted violation of California’s Translation Act, Civ. Code § 1632. 8 Vivint moved to dismiss and successfully asserted an arbitration clause against all but Mr. 9 Bautista and named-plaintiff Gerrie Dekker, who never signed an arbitration agreement. The 10 prior order found her claims timely, at least on the pleadings, and found that the language 11 barrier precluded contract formation and, thus, arbitration for Mr. Bautista. But, given he 12 lacked a contract with Vivint, the order dismissed his claims for unlawful liquidated damages 13 and invited him to seek leave to amend his complaint (Dkt. No. 47). 14 In a timely motion, Mr. Bautista seeks to add the Translation Act violation as a basis for 15 both damages and injunctive relief under both the CLRA and UCL and also seeks a declaration 16 that Vivint’s contracts are unenforceable against him and similarly situated consumers. 17 Alternatively, in case he does have a contract with Vivint, Mr. Bautista reasserts his original 18 unlawful liquidated damages claims. Vivint opposing, this order follows full briefing but was 19 decided on the papers due to the public health concern caused by COVID-19 (Dkt. No. 52). 20 ANALYSIS 21 Leave to amend a complaint shall be freely given “when justice so requires,” i.e., absent 22 (1) undue delay; (2) bad faith; (3) repeated failure to cure deficiencies; (4) undue prejudice; or 23 (5) futility. FRCP 15(a); Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962). Vivint opposes the 24 amendments only as futile. 25 As in a motion to dismiss, a complaint must allege facts sufficient to state a facially 26 plausible claim for relief. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). That means the factual 27 allegations permit a reasonable inference, not just speculation, that defendants are liable for the 1 as fact may be disregarded. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). And, also 2 like a motion to dismiss, “courts [generally] may not consider material outside the pleadings.” 3 Khoja v. Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., 899 F.3d 988, 998 (9th Cir. 2018). 4 1. TIMELINESS. 5 Vivint rates Mr. Bautista’s new Translation Act and related CLRA and UCL claims as 6 untimely under one, three, and four-year limitations periods because he signed Vivint’s 7 agreement in 2014 but sued in 2019. This order declines to impose such a pedestrian 8 application of the limitations periods. 9 The CLRA and UCL do impose three and four-year limitations periods, respectively. Cal. 10 Civ. Code § 1783; Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17208. The applicable statute of limitations for the 11 Translation Act, though, remains unclear. Several decisions from this district have imposed a 12 one-year limitations period under California Civil Code § 340(a). See Varela v. Wells Fargo 13 Home Mortg., No. C 12-03502 KAW, 2012 WL 6680261, at *11 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 21, 2012); 14 Melegrito v. CitiMortgage Inc., No. C 11-01765 LB, at *14 (N.D. Cal. June 6, 2011). But the 15 Translation Act provides that “the person aggrieved may rescind the contract or agreement in 16 the manner provided by this chapter,” which seems to point to a four-year limitations period for 17 “[a]n action based upon the rescission of a contract in writing.” Cal. Civ. Code § 1632(k); Cal. 18 Code Civ. P. § 337. Neither, as will be shown, bars Mr. Bautista’s claims. The Court will 19 decide which period applies at summary judgment with the benefit of further briefing. 20 As hinted, even a one-year limitations period does not totally bar Mr. Bautista’s claims. 21 “A claim may be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) on the ground that it is barred by the applicable 22 statute of limitations only when the running of the statute is apparent on the face of the 23 complaint.” Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 592 F.3d 954, 969 (9th 24 Cir. 2010) (quotation omitted). Unless the legislature says otherwise, California observes last- 25 element accrual, that is, the “cause of action accrues when [it] is complete with all of its 26 elements — those elements being wrongdoing, harm, and causation.” And this common law 27 accrual carries along the classic equitable exceptions, the discovery rule, equitable tolling, 1 Sols., Inc., 292 P.3d 871, 875–76 (Cal. 2013) (quotation omitted). So, absent legislative 2 guidance otherwise here, these doctrines apply. 3 The amended complaint largely realleges the same as before. In July of 2014, a Vivint 4 representative approached Mr. Bautista’s door, pitched a solar system in Spanish — to repeat, 5 he has virtually no proficiency in English — highlighted that there was no upfront cost, and 6 eventually obtained his signature on an English agreement. Vivint never provided a Spanish 7 translation yet continued to bill Mr. Bautista. In 2018, Vivint sent him a bill for $2,000 which 8 threatened to balloon to $18,000 in 30 days. The proposed amendments add that in 2019, 9 Vivint sent Mr. Bautista another letter, demanding $22,946.99, plus the cost to remove his solar 10 system, court costs, and “applicable taxes” (Prop. Amend. Compl. at ¶ 24). 11 This latest activity restarted the clock.

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