Eades v. Kennedy, PC Law Offices

799 F.3d 161, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 9295, 2015 WL 3498784
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided June 4, 2015·No. Docket No. 14-104-cv·Published·Cited by 235 cases

Opinion

LOHIER, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs Joni Eades and Levere C. Pike, Jr. sued Defendant Kennedy, PC Law Offices (“Kennedy”), alleging that Kennedy’s attempts to collect a debt from the Plaintiffs violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Larimer, J.) dismissed the Plaintiffs’ amended complaint, holding primarily that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over Kennedy. In the alternative it also concluded that the payment allegedly owed to Kennedy’s client, a Pennsylvania nursing home, was not a “debt” under the FDCPA and that the amended complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. We affirm in part and vacate in part and remand.

BACKGROUND

We draw the following facts from the allegations in the Plaintiffs’ amended complaint and documents attached thereto or incorporated by reference therein. See Nat’l Org. for Marriage, Inc. v. Walsh, 714 F.3d 682, 685 n. 2 (2d Cir.2013). In October 2010 Doris Pike was admitted to Corry Manor, a Pennsylvania nursing home. Two months later Corry Manor required Ms. Pike’s husband, Levere C. Pike, Jr., to sign an admission agreement in order to' keep his wife at the nursing home. Under the admission agreement, Mr. Pike prom[167] ised to use Ms. Pike’s assets to pay for the nursing care provided to her. The agreement also required Mr. Pike to “assert[ ] that [he] has legal access to [Ms. Pike’s] income, assets or resources.”

When Ms. Pike passed away in January 2011, Corry Manor claimed an outstanding balance of approximately $8,000 for its nursing care services. Corry Manor retained Kennedy, a debt collector, to collect that balance. In July 2011 Kennedy mailed a debt collection letter to Mr. and Ms. Pike’s daughter, Joni Eades, at her home in New York. The letter stated, “[Y]ou may be held personally liable for the cost of your mother’s care” pursuant to Pennsylvania’s indigent support statute, 23 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 4603, and quoted portions of that statute and Pennsylvania’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, 12 Pa. Cons.Stat. §§ 5101-5110. It also stated that Kennedy would assume the debt was valid unless Eades notified it of a dispute within 30 days. During a subsequent telephone conversation with Eades, a Kennedy employee stated that if the debt was not paid Kennedy would put a lien on Mr. Pike’s home and garnish Eades’s wages. When Eades disclaimed responsibility for her mother’s medical bills, the Kennedy employee replied, “[S]ervices were provided, the bill needs to be paid and you are responsible.”

In December 2011 Kennedy filed a complaint against the Plaintiffs on behalf of Corry Manor in Pennsylvania state court. The complaint alleged that Mr. Pike had breached the admission agreement by failing to use Ms. Pike’s resources to pay the balance owed to Corry Manor. The complaint also alleged that by not paying the debt, the Plaintiffs had violated Pennsylvania’s indigent support and fraudulent transfer statutes. Kennedy mailed the summons and complaint to the Plaintiffs’ homes in New York.

The Plaintiffs responded by suing Kennedy in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. Their amended complaint alleged that Kennedy violated various provisions of the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p, in connection with the filing of the Pennsylvania lawsuit and the letter and telephone call to Eades. The Plaintiffs also alleged that Kennedy’s suit for breach of the admission agreement violated the FDCPA, because the financial obligations imposed by the admission agreement were unlawful under the Nursing Home Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1395Í-3, 1396r (NHRA). They did not, however, assert a separate claim for a violation of the NHRA. When Kennedy moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2), 12(b)(3), and 12(b)(6), the Plaintiffs responded, among other things, that Kennedy’s lawsuit in Pennsylvania violated the FDCPA because the NHRA preempted Pennsylvania’s indigent support statute.

The District Court granted Kennedy’s motion, holding that it lacked personal jurisdiction over Kennedy and that, in any event, the Plaintiffs’ alleged obligation to pay Corry Manor did not constitute a “debt” as defined by the FDCPA, the NHRA did not preempt Pennsylvania’s indigent support statute, and the complaint failed adequately to allege that Kennedy’s collection efforts violated the FDCPA or to state a cause of action under the NHRA.

This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

1. Personal Jurisdiction

As an initial matter, we address whether the Plaintiffs’ factual allegations support the exercise of personal jurisdiction over Kennedy. “In order to survive a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, a plaintiff must make a prima [168] facie showing that jurisdiction exists.” Licci ex rel. Licci v. Lebanese Canadian Bank, SAL, 732 F.3d 161, 167 (2d Cir. 2013) (quotation marks omitted). “To determine personal jurisdiction over a non-domiciliary in a case involving a federal question,” we first “apply the forum state’s long-arm statute.” Chloé v. Queen Bee of Beverly Hills, LLC, 616 F.3d 158, 163 (2d Cir.2010). If the long-arm statute permits personal jurisdiction, we analyze whether personal jurisdiction comports with due process protections established under the Constitution. Id. at 164.

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Eades v. Kennedy, PC Law Offices, 799 F.3d 161, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 9295, 2015 WL 3498784 (2d Cir. 2015).

799 F.3d 161 (Eades v. Kennedy, PC Law Offices) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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