Gonzalez v. ADT LLC

161 F. Supp. 3d 648, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15945, 2016 WL 525262
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedFebruary 9, 2016
DocketNo. 3:15CV290-PPS/CAN
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 161 F. Supp. 3d 648 (Gonzalez v. ADT LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gonzalez v. ADT LLC, 161 F. Supp. 3d 648, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15945, 2016 WL 525262 (N.D. Ind. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

Philip P. Simon, CHIEF JUDGE

Maria Gonzalez and her children were assaulted during a robbery at their home. Gonzalez contends that the security system sold to her and installed by ADT did not function as promised. She has sued ADT and a number of its affiliates as well as an individual named Eric Hardisty, an ADT salesman who sold her the system. This case was originally brought in state court and removed here by ADT. Gonzalez now asks for the case to be remanded to state court for a lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction because both she and Hardisty are Indiana citizens. [DE 20.] The Defendants argue that Hardisty should be dismissed because he was fraudulently joined. More broadly, ADT argues, among other things, that this action should be dismissed in its entirety because it is time-barred by a contractual provision. [652]*652[DE 6 at 1.] On November 30, 2015, I held a hearing on the pending motions.

Because I agree that Eric Hardisty is fraudulently joined, the Motion to Remand is denied, and the Motion to Dismiss Eric Hardisty is granted. But because this case was originally filed in state court, Plaintiffs will be given an opportunity to amend their complaint against Hardisty (and ADT) to try to cure the deficiencies in the complaint outlined in this opinion.

Factual Background

The facts come from the complaint which I accept as true at this point. In October 2010, Plaintiff Maria Gonzalez met with Eric Hardisty, an ADT salesman, about purchasing a home security system. [DE 4 at 2.] Both Gonzalez and Hardisty are Indiana residents. [Id. at 1, 2.] ADT is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Florida. [DE 1 at 3.] Gonzalez told Hardisty that her home had been burglarized in the past; Hardisty responded by telling Gonzalez that she lived in a high-crime area and that she needed a security system. [DE 4 at 2.] Naturally, as an ADT salesman, Hardisty recommended an ADT system. [Id. at 2-3.] That same day, Gonzalez signed a contract for the installation and monitoring of an ADT system. [Id. at 3.]

The nature and physical makeup of the contract that Gonzalez signed is in dispute. ADT claims Gonzalez signed a six-page contract, which included, in paragraph 10 on page four, a provision requiring Gonzalez to file any lawsuit against ADT or its employees within one year from the date of the event that resulted in the injury. [DE 7-1 at 5.] Gonzalez disputes this; she says the contract she was given consisted of only three pages, and that it did not contain the one-year time limitation. [DE 4 at 3.] Both parties have submitted copies of the contract they say Gonzalez signed. The three-page document Gonzalez submitted appears to be the first three pages of the six-page document ADT submitted. In both documents, each page is labeled as page “x of 6”, and in both documents Gonzalez’s signature appears at the bottom of page 1 under text that reads, in part, “[Y]ou understand all the terms and conditions of this contract, including, but not limited to, paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 22.” [DE 7-1 at 2.] On the three-page document Gonzalez submitted, there are no paragraphs or sections numbered 10 or 22, though paragraphs so numbered do appear on the six-page document ADT submitted. [DE 4 at 14-16.] Pages four through six of the document ADT submitted do not bear Gonzalez’s signature, initials, or any other mark or acknowledgment that she was provided those pages. [DE 7-1 at 5-7.]

Gonzalez denies ADT ever gave her anything beyond the three pages she submitted along with her complaint. [DE 4 at 3.] ADT argues that the physical construction of the contract makes that claim impossible. According to ADT, the six-page contract was not six individual pages, but instead three double-sided pages attached on the sides so that all six pages were connected. [DE 23 at 2.] But at the November 30 hearing, ADT could not provide the court with the original, physical copy of the contract that ADT claims Gonzalez signed.

Sometime between October 5, 2010, and June 10, 2013, Gonzalez contacted ADT and spoke with an unidentified ADT employee. [DE 4 at 3.] She informed the employee that she was going to cancel her traditional home phone service, and rely just on her cell phone. She asked what she needed to do to ensure continued monitoring of her security system by ADT. [Id. at 3-4.] According to the Complaint, the employee told Ms. Gonzalez that she was already “all set” to have her home monitored via cellular coverage. [Id. at 4.] In [653]*653other words, the system would still work without a land line and there was nothing for her to do.

On June 10, 2013, there was a break-in at Gonzalez’s home by “multiple assailants.” [Id] Gonzalez and her children were assaulted and robbed. [Id.] Because the security system was only set up to work with a land line, not via cellular technology, the system did not sound an alarm in the house at the time of the break-in, nor did it notify law enforcement. [Id.] So, in fact, Gonzalez was not “all set” when she cancelled her land line.

On June 8, 2015, Gonzalez filed this action in an Indiana state court, alleging multiple claims of negligence, gross negligence, willful and wanton conduct, and fraud against ADT and its salesman, Eric Hardisty. [DE at 4-10.] There is a problem with how the complaint is drafted. It does not enumerate counts against ADT and Eric Hardisty separately, but instead makes a series of claims against all “defendants” collectively so that every claim and nearly every allegation is made against all defendants. That makes the parsing of the complaint for each individual defendant especially challenging. In any event, the defendants removed the ease to this court, arguing that Eric Hardisty was fraudulently joined in this action, and that without him, complete diversity exists and this court has jurisdiction. [DE 1.]

ADT has also moved to dismiss arguing that the case is time-barred because Gonzalez did not file the lawsuit within one year of the break-in and attack as required by the version of the contract that ADT claims Gonzalez signed. [DE 7 at 6-7.] ADT also argues that the negligence claims against it should be dismissed because ADT did not owe Gonzalez a common-law duty to perform the duties they are alleged to have breached, that the fraud claims should be dismissed because they are really breach of contract claims and, in any event, Plaintiffs have failed to plead fraud with the specificity required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b).

Gonzalez seeks to have the case remanded back to Indiana state court, arguing that Eric Hardisty was properly joined, that complete diversity does not exist, and that this court therefore does not have jurisdiction to hear this case. [DE 20.] Discussion

When a lawsuit is removed to federal court on the basis of diversity of citizenship, “the district court should verify the existence of subject-matter jurisdiction at the outset of the litigation...” Allen v. Ferguson, 791 F.2d 611, 615 (7th Cir.1986). To ensure this court has subject-matter jurisdiction to hear this case, I will first examine the Motion to Remand before turning to the Motion to Dismiss.

Motion to Remand

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Bluebook (online)
161 F. Supp. 3d 648, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15945, 2016 WL 525262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gonzalez-v-adt-llc-innd-2016.