Holland v. Pinnacle Services, Inc.

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided September 19, 2023·No. 3:23-cv-00071·Unknown

Opinion

Craig B. Friedberg, Esq. 1 LAW OFFICES OF CRAIG B. FRIEDBERG, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 004606 2 4760 South Pecos Road, Suite 103 Las Vegas, Nevada 89121 3 (702) 435-7968 – telephone attcbf@cox.net 4 James J. Parr, Esq. 5 AGRUSS LAW FIRM, LLC Illinois Bar No.: 6317921 6 1301 W. 22nd St, Suite 711 Oak Brook, IL 60523 7 (312) 224-4695 – telephone (312) 253-4451 – facsimile 8 james@agrusslawfirm.com 9 Attorneys for Plaintiff, DESIREE HOLLAND 10 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA 12 DESIREE HOLLAND, ) 13 ) Plaintiff, ) Case No.: 3:23-cv-00071-MMD-CLB 14 ) v. ) 15 ) ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S FIRST MOTION TO EXTEND ) 16 PINNACLE SERVICES INC., doing business DISCOVERY AND RELATED as, Summit Collection Services, ) DEADLINES 17 ) Defendant. ) 18 ) ) 19 NOW COMES the Plaintiff, DESIREE HOLLAND (“Plaintiff”), by and through her 20 21 attorneys, and pursuant to Local Rules LR IA 6-1(a) and LR 26-3, respectfully requests that this 22 Honorable Court extend the discovery close deadline to December 19, 2023, the dispositive 23 motion deadline to January 18, 2024, and the joint pretrial order deadline to February 19, 2024. 24 In support thereof, Plaintiff states as follows: 25 This is the first motion by Plaintiff, or any other party, to extend the discovery close 1 deadline, and related deadlines. 2 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 3 4 I. PROCEDURAL POSTURE 5 On February 28, 2023, Plaintiff filed a two-count Complaint against Defendant, 6 PINNACLE SERVICES INC., doing business as, Summit Collection Services (“Pinnacle”) based 7 on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq. (“FDCPA”), and the Nevada 8 Deceptive Trade Practices Act, NRS 598, et seq. and NRS 41.600 (“NDTPA”). (Doc. No. 1). In 9 her Complaint, Plaintiff alleged that Pinnacle violated the FDCPA and NDTPA in connection with 10 its attempts to collect a consumer debt from Plaintiff. (Id.) 11 On June 23, 2023, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint to 12 add BRIAN C. CHEW (“Chew”) as a party defendant and to add additional allegations of Pinnacle 13 and Chew’s wrongdoing that occurred after Plaintiff’s original complaint was filed. (Doc. No. 14 21). On July 25, 2023, the Court (Judge Baldwin) entered its Report and Recommendation of U.S. 15 Magistrate Judge, recommending that Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to File First Amended 16 17 Complaint be denied in part and granted in part. (Doc. No. 24). On August 8, 2023, Plaintiff filed 18 Objections to U.S. Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation, seeking that Plaintiff’s 19 Motion for Leave to File First Amended Complaint be granted in full. (Doc. No. 26). On 20 September 1, 2023, the Court (Judge Du) entered its Order overruling Plaintiff’s Objections to the 21 U.S. Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation and adopting U.S. Magistrate Judge’s 22 Report in full. (Doc. No. 27). The Court’s September 1, 2023 Order granted Plaintiff leave to file 23 her First Amended Complaint, subject to the restrictions contained in the Order, within fourteen 24 days thereafter. (Id.) On September 11, 2023, Plaintiff filed her First Amended Complaint. (Doc. 25 No. 28). And on September 13, 2023, the Clerk of Court issued a Summons for newly added 1 defendant, Chew. (Doc. No. 30). 2 II. STATEMENT SPECIFYING DISCOVERY COMPLETED 3 4 On May 1, 2023, the Court entered its Order Granting Stipulated Discovery Plan and 5 Scheduling Order & Joint Case Management Report. (Doc. No. 17). The current deadline of the 6 completion of discovery is September 19, 2023. (Id.) 7 Plaintiff and Pinnacle have exchanged written discovery. To date, Pinnacle has not sought 8 to depose Plaintiff. Plaintiff deposed Pinnacle’s 30(b)(6) witness (Chew) on September 12, 2023. 9 Plaintiff issued a subpoena to obtain copies of her relevant telephone records. After receiving 10 copies of her telephone records from her telephone service provider, Plaintiff learned that the 11 telephone records do not include missed calls. For context, even missed calls from a debt collector 12 are considered to be “conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any 13 person in connection with the collection of a debt” pursuant to § 1692d § 1692d(5) of the FDCPA. 14 Fleming v. Associated Credit Servs., Inc., 342 F. Supp. 3d 563, 579 (D.N.J. 2018) (“[b]y its plain 15 terms, this subsection of the statute reaches both answered and unanswered calls”); Bassett v. I.C. 16 17 Sys., Inc., 715 F. Supp. 2d 803, 810 (N.D. Ill. 2010) (holding that missed calls are actionable under 18 the FDCPA). 19 III. SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCOVERY THAT REMAINS TO BE COMPLETED 20 a. Telephone Records 21 At the deposition of Pinnacle’s 30(b)(6) witness, on September 12, 2023, Plaintiff, by her 22 23 counsel, learned that Pinnacle does not necessarily document all collection calls made to 24 consumers, including Plaintiff, because any such calls must be manually notated by Pinnacle’s 25 collectors. This is of particular import because, for example, Plaintiff has alleged the placement of a collection call to her by Pinnacle on a particular date, and has a screenshot documenting it, 1 yet that particular call does not appear on the “Debtor History Report” produced by Pinnacle. 2 Accordingly, Pinnacle has denied ever placing that call, but has no explanation for the screenshot 3 4 Plaintiff has documenting it. 5 As Plaintiff’s telephone records do not document missed calls Plaintiff alleges that she 6 received from Pinnacle, and Pinnacle’s documentation of collection calls depends on Pinnacle’s 7 collectors manually documenting such calls, it appears that the only reliable source of 8 documentation would be from Pinnacle’s telephone service provider. Moreover, during the 9 deposition on Pinnacle’s 30(b)(6) witness on September 12, 2023, the witness denied that Pinnacle 10 ever received the communications that Plaintiff’s counsel is alleged to have sent to Pinnacle, via 11 facsimile. Pinnacle’s telephone records also appear to be the best source of resolving this dispute, 12 as well. 13 Furthermore, during the deposition on Pinnacle’s 30(b)(6) witness on September 12, 2023, 14 Plaintiff learned the identify of Pinnacle’s telephone service provider, Spectrum, and is issuing a 15 subpoena to Spectrum contemporaneously with this motion, to obtain the relevant telephone 16 17 records. 18 b. Deposition of Pinnacle’s Collectors 19 During the deposition on Pinnacle’s 30(b)(6) witness on September 12, 2023, Plaintiff also 20 learned the identity of Pinnacle’s collector, who would have placed the above-referenced call to 21 Plaintiff. Plaintiff seeks to take the deposition of the collector to inquire about the collection calls 22 placed to Plaintiff, their practices as to documenting collection calls, and the like. 23 24 25 c. Additional Written and Oral Discovery Regarding New Allegations 1 Contained in Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint 2 Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint contains additional allegations of misconduct by 3 Pinnacle and Chew, which occurred after Plaintiff’s original complaint was filed. Namely, in the 4 context of litigation in a small claims case in Nevada state court that Pinnacle filed against 5 Plaintiff.1 As of the date of this motion, Plaintiff has a pending motion to vacate the default 6 judgment in the State Court Case.

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Holland v. Pinnacle Services, Inc., (D. Nev. 2023).

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Related

Bassett v. I.C. System, Inc.
715 F. Supp. 2d 803 (N.D. Illinois, 2010)
Fleming v. Associated Credit Servs., Inc.
342 F. Supp. 3d 563 (D. New Jersey, 2018)