Hrivnak v. NCO Portfolio Management

994 F. Supp. 2d 889, 2014 WL 350858, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13848
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJanuary 28, 2014
DocketCase No. 1:10 CV 00646
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 994 F. Supp. 2d 889 (Hrivnak v. NCO Portfolio Management) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hrivnak v. NCO Portfolio Management, 994 F. Supp. 2d 889, 2014 WL 350858, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13848 (N.D. Ohio 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

DONALD C. NUGENT, District Judge.

Defendants Expert Global Solutions, Inc. f/k/a NCO Group, Inc. and NCO Financial Systems, Inc., successor in interest to NCOP Capital II, LLC d/b/a/ NCO Portfolio Management, and NCO Portfolio Management, Inc. (the “NCO Defendants”), and Defendant Javitch, Block & Rathbone, LLC (“JBR”) filed separate motions for judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) (ECF # s 76 and 80). The motions request dismissal of Plaintiff Christopher G. Hrivnak’s complaint, which is premised entirely on the content of a state court complaint seeking to recover an unpaid credit card debt from Plaintiff.

Plaintiff has opposed the motions for judgment on the pleadings, and Defendants have replied. Thus, the motions are ripe for consideration.

For the reasons stated herein, Plaintiffs complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Accordingly, Defendants’ motions for judgment on the pleadings are granted.

I. FACTS

Although this matter has been in litigation for several years, the facts are very simple. On June 4, 2009, Defendant JBR filed a lawsuit against Plaintiff in the Bed-ford Municipal Court. The name “NCO Portfolio Management” appeared in the caption of the Bedford complaint. The complaint sought recovery from Plaintiff on an unpaid credit card debt and sought damages in the amount of $11,481.81. The complaint identified Mr. Hrivnak as the obligated party and provided the original creditor, the nature of the debt, the amount of the debt, the credit card account number, and explained why the monthly credit card statements were not attached to the complaint. The complaint also- contained a copy of an unsigned written credit card agreement.

[895]*895Following the dismissal of the collection action, the parties were realigned and Mr. Hrivnak became the plaintiff in the Bed-ford Municipal Court case. The case later was removed to this Court.1

Plaintiff claims that the filing of the collection action gives rise to certain claims against the NCO Defendants and JBR. Among other claims, Plaintiff alleges that “NCO Portfolio Management,” the name appearing in the caption of the Bedford complaint, was a fiction, without authority to sue in Ohio or elsewhere. Yet Plaintiff alleges also that “[t]here is a similarly named legal entity ‘NCO Portfolio Management, Inc.’ registered with the Ohio Secretary of State.” Plaintiff claims that, in dropping the “Inc.” from the case caption, “NCO concocted and used the similarity in names between ‘NCO Portfolio Management’ and its controlled entity ‘NCO Portfolio Management, Inc.’ to support and accomplish such fraudulent concealment, and to prevent consumers from undertaking efforts to discover the nonexistence of ‘NCO Portfolio Management.’ ” Plaintiff further alleges that Defendants acted in concert to file lawsuits on defaulted consumer debts, and that such lawsuits: were beyond the statute of limitations; were filed with insufficient documentation; were filed despite lack of investigation; were accompanied by false documentation; improperly requested interest and costs; and misrepresented credit information.

Specifically, the Amended Complaint contains 13 counts.

• Counts 1, 7 and 12 assert claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692, et seq. (“FDCPA”).
• Counts 2, 8 and 13 allege claims under the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, Ohio Revised Code § 1345.01 et seq. (“OCSPA”).
• Counts 4 and 10 assert class and individual civil conspiracy claims for the NCO Defendants and JBR working in concert with one another allegedly to violate federal and state law.
• Count 5 asserts class abuse of process claims.
• Count 6 asserts class defamation claims.
• Count 9 alleges an individual claim for fraud.
• Count 11 is an individual claim for malicious prosecution.
• Count 3, which asserted class claims under the Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Ohio Revised Code § 4165.01 et seq. (“ODTPA”), has been dismissed with prejudice by the Court (ECF # 91).

All claims under the FDCPA, OCSPA, and common law derive from either: (a) the name “NCO Portfolio Management” appearing in the caption of the Bedford complaint; (b) the timeliness of the suit; (c) the attachment to the Bedford complaint; (d) the prayer for relief in the Bedford complaint; or (e) the use of the Courts to collect bad debts. For the reasons discussed below, none of these claims has merit.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Decisions granting judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) are reviewed under the same standard applied to motions to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). See Kottmyer v. Maas, 436 F.3d 684, 689 (6th Cir.2006). The Court construes the [896]*896complaint in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, accepts all factual allegations as true, and determines whether the complaint states a plausible claim for relief. Albrecht v. Treon, 617 F.3d 890, 893 (6th Cir.2010) (citing Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1950, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009)).

The Sixth Circuit has applied the now familiar pleading requirements in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) and Iqbal to both Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 12(c) motions, and held that plaintiffs must “ ‘plead ... factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.’ ” Albrecht, 617 F.3d at 893 (quoting Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949); see New Albany Tractor, Inc. v. Louisville Tractor, Inc., 650 F.3d 1046, 1049-51 (6th Cir.2011). Merely pleading facts that are consistent with a defendant’s liability or that permit the court to infer misconduct is insufficient. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949-50; see Courie v. Alcoa Wheel & Forged Prods., 577 F.3d 625, 629 (6th Cir.2009). Additionally, when considering a Rule 12(b)(6) or 12(c) motion, the Court “need not accept as true legal conclusions or unwarranted factual inferences.” Kottmyer, 436 F.3d at 689.

The plausibility pleading standard set forth in Twombly and Iqbal requires a plaintiff to have pled enough facts to state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1950. A complaint that allows the court to infer only a “mere possibility of misconduct” is insufficient to “show” that the complainant is entitled to relief and fails to meet the pleading requirements of Rule 8. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
994 F. Supp. 2d 889, 2014 WL 350858, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13848, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hrivnak-v-nco-portfolio-management-ohnd-2014.