Engel v. Scully & Scully, Inc.

279 F.R.D. 117, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103948, 2011 WL 4091468
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 14, 2011
DocketNo. 10 Civ. 3167(PKC)
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 279 F.R.D. 117 (Engel v. Scully & Scully, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Engel v. Scully & Scully, Inc., 279 F.R.D. 117, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103948, 2011 WL 4091468 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

P. KEVIN CASTEL, District Judge:

Plaintiff Paul Engel brings this putative class action against defendant Scully & Scully, Inc., under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g). Engel has moved for class certification under Rule 23, Fed.R.Civ.P., and the defendant opposes and moves to dismiss under Rule 12(b), Fed.R.Civ.P. For the reasons below, the defendant’s motion to dismiss is denied in part and granted in part, and the plaintiffs motion for class certification is granted.

BACKGROUND

On December 4, 2003, Congress enacted FACTA, which provides that “no person that accepts credit cards or debit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of the sale or transaction.” 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g)(l). This provision applies only to electronic receipts, and not to handwritten or imprint copy receipts. Id. at § 1681c(g)(2). The statute became effective on December 4, 2006, for those receipt-printing machines put into use before January 1, 2005, but was effective December 4, 2004, for any such machine put into use after January 1, 2005. Id. at § 1681e(g)(3).

Scully & Scully, Inc., is a New York home furnishings retailer. Engel alleges that he made a purchase at the defendant’s business using a credit card, and that he received an electronically printed receipt displaying all sixteen digits of his credit card number, as well as the card’s expiration date. (Am. Compl. ¶ 8, Engel Aff. ¶¶ 6-7.) He alleges on behalf of the putative class that it was the [122]*122defendant’s regular business practice to print such receipts and provide them to consumers. (Am. Compl. ¶¶ 26-27.)

Engel did not attach a receipt to the complaint, but in connection with his motion for class certification he submitted a copy of the receipt and a declaration, which states that he purchased merchandise from the defendant and received a receipt which did not truncate his credit card number or expiration date. The receipt submitted on this motion by the plaintiff displays all sixteen digits of the credit card number (redacted for filing per Rule 5.2(a), Fed.R.Civ.P.), and the expiration date. (Declaration of Joseph Goljan dated Jan. 26, 2011 (“Goljan Deel”), Exh. I.)1 At the bottom of this receipt, the words “Merchant Copy” are printed. (Id.)

Engel also submitted the affidavit of Stephen 0. Robinson, a former employee of Scully & Scully. (Goljan Deel, Exh. 3 (“Robinson Aff.”).) Robinson was employed by the defendant as a sales associate from September 2007 until April 2010. (Robinson Aff., ¶ 2-3.) He affirms, based on personal knowledge, that under the “standard procedure for each sale” using a debit or credit card in defendant’s store, a sales employee would use one of three processing machines to electronically print “two identical receipts containing all sixteen (16) digits of the customer’s credit or debit account number as well as the credit or debit card’s expiration date.” (Id. at ¶¶ 6, 8.b.) Robinson further states that “[o]n both copies of the electronically printed receipt, the words ‘merchant copy’ appear.” (Id.) He also affirms that on at least three occasions he notified the defendant’s management that it was violating FACTA. (Id. at ¶ 20.)

The defendant submitted the declaration of a Scully & Scully employee, Tomas Villanueva. (Declaration of Tomas Villanueva dated March 7, 2011 (“Villanueva Decl.”).) Villanueva was the defendant’s comptroller from April, 1995 through October 2009. (Villanueva Deck, ¶2.) Since October 2009, he has worked part-time for the defendant, but his position of employment is not specified. (Id.) He states that “[a]t the time [he] stopped working full time, the machines printed out two receipts, one labeled merchant copy and the other labeled customer copy. The customer copy was truncated so that all the digits on the credit card number [did] not appear.” (Id. at ¶ 5.) He does not specify the source of his knowledge, and does not state whether he worked on the sales floor of the store or personally used the receipt-printing machines. Finally, he states that “the only change in [the sales] procedure that I am aware of occurred sometime in 2010, when Scully got new machines that truncate the merchant copy receipt in addition to customer copy receipt.” (Id. at ¶ 6.) DISCUSSION

I. Motion to dismiss

Defendant moves to dismiss the complaint under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ. P., arguing that there is no subject matter jurisdiction because the plaintiff lacks standing to bring his claim, and that the plaintiff fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Both the standing and merits arguments assert that the plaintiffs claim fails because the words “Merchant Copy” appear on the receipt provided to the plaintiff. I conclude that despite this fact, the plaintiff has standing and has stated a claim upon which relief can be granted.

a. Legal Standard

Rule 8(a)(2), Fed.R.Civ.P., requires “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief, in order to give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)) (ellipsis in original). To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a plaintiff must provide the grounds upon which the claims rest, through factual allegations sufficient to raise a right to relief above [123]*123the speculative level. ATSI Commc’ns, Inc. v. Shaar Fund, Ltd., 493 F.3d 87, 98 (2d Cir.2007) (quoting Twombly, 127 S.Ct. at 1965). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “The plausibility standard ... asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. Legal conclusions and “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action” do not suffice to state a claim, as “Rule 8 ... does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.” Id. at 1949-50. The Supreme Court has described the motion to dismiss standard as encompassing a “two-pronged approach” that requires a court first to construe a complaint’s allegations as true, while not bound to accept the veracity of a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation. Id. Second, a court must then consider whether the complaint “states a plausible claim for relief,” which is “a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
279 F.R.D. 117, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103948, 2011 WL 4091468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/engel-v-scully-scully-inc-nysd-2011.