Hudgins v. Seterus, Inc.

192 F. Supp. 3d 1343, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92586, 2016 WL 3636859
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJune 29, 2016
DocketCase No. 16-cv-80338-BLOOM/Valle
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 192 F. Supp. 3d 1343 (Hudgins v. Seterus, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudgins v. Seterus, Inc., 192 F. Supp. 3d 1343, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92586, 2016 WL 3636859 (S.D. Fla. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTION TO DISMISS

BETH BLOOM, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Defendant Set'erus Inc.’s (“Defendant”) Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. [7] (the “Motion”), seeking dismissal of Plaintiff Thomas Hudgins’s (“Plaintiff” or “Mr. Hud-gins”) Complaint, ECF No. [1]. The Court has carefully reviewed the record, the parties’ briefs, and the applicable law. For the reasons that follow, the Motion is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff initially filed suit in the County Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, seeking relief for Defendant’s alleged violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, 12 U.S.C; § 2601, et seq: (“RESPA”), and its implementing regulation, 12 C.F.R. § 1024 et seq. (“Regulation X”). ECF No. [1], Exh. A (“Complaint”). Specifically, Plaintiff seeks remedies for Defendant’s alleged failure to comply with § 2605(k) of RESPA and § 1024.36- of Regulation X. See id. ¶ 3. Defendant timely removed the matter to this Court, and now moves to dismiss the Complaint. See ECF No. [7:].i

As with many RESPA claims, Plaintiff’s begins, simply, with the mailing of a letter. As early as September 15, 2015, Plaintiffs attorney “caused to be mailed to Defendant a written request for information pursuant to Regulation X (the “RFI”).” Complaint ¶¶ 10-11; see id., Attachment A. Defendant appears to have received the RFI on October 12, 2015. See id., Attachment B. While Plaintiff concedes that Defendant replied, “said response failed to address the areas of concern set forth in the RFI” in violation of 12 C.F.R. § 1024.36(d)(2)(i)(B). Id. ¶ 17. “Having not received a written acknowledgment to Plaintiffs RFI within the required time frame,” Plaintiff sent Defendant a follow up Notice of Error letter (the “NOE”), “which outlined the Defendant’s specific failures.” Id. ¶ 12; see id., Attachment C. Plaintiff claims that Defendant “did not provide ... written receipt” to the RFI “within the time period provided by 12 C.F.R. § 1026.36(c)(3),” and did not respond to the NOE. Id. ¶¶ 18, 22. As such, Plaintiff claims that Defendant “failed or refused to comply with 12 C.F.R. § 1024.36(d)(2)(i)(B),” and brings a single cause of action for Defendant’s alleged violation of 12 U.S.C. § 2605(k)(l)(E). Id. ¶¶ 22, 23. As to damages, Plaintiff alleges that he incurred “photocopying costs [and] postage costs ... less than $100.00 for mailing the RFI and NOE ... and attorney’s fees and costs, in an amount to be proven at trial.” Id. ¶¶ 24, 25.

Defendant moves the Court to dismiss the Complaint,. telling a more thorough story of the parties’ ill-fated correspondence. See ECF No. [7]. Defendant states that on September 9, 2014, a final judgment of foreclosure was entered against Plaintiffs home in the Sixth Judicial Circuit in and for Pinellas County, Florida (Case Number 12-CA-004887). See ECF No. [1] ¶¶ 1-2 (“Notice of Removal”). On December 14, 2015, Plaintiff served a dif[1346]*1346ferent lawsuit upon Defendant (the “First Lawsuit”), alleging the same cause of action, namely, that Defendant violated RESPA, 12 U.S.C. 2601, et seq., by failing to properly respond to Plaintiffs September 15, 2015 RFI. See EOF No. [7] ¶ 6. After removing proceedings to this Court, Defendant moved to dismiss the suit for, among other reasons, Plaintiffs failure to properly allege actual damages, and on January 21, 2016, Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the First Lawsuit. See id. ¶¶ 8, 10. Three days after the Court’s order of dismissal, Plaintiffs counsel sent the NOE to Defendant (and not to Defendant’s attorney), reminding Defendant that it had failed to adequately respond to the RFI mailed by Plaintiff four months prior. See id. ¶ 12; see also Complaint, Attachment C. Defendant argues that the Court must dismiss the instant suit for Plaintiffs failure to state a claim. Plaintiffs Response, and Defendant’s Reply, timely followed. ECF Nos. [13], [17].

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Rule 8 of the Federal Rules requires that a pleading contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Although a complaint “does not need detailed factual allegations,” it must provide “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); see Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (explaining that Rule 8(a)(2)’s pleading standard “demands more than an unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation"). In the same vein, a complaint may not rest on “ ‘naked assertion[s]’ devoid of ‘further factual enhancement.’ ” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Twom-bly, 550 U.S. at 557,127 S.Ct. 1955 (alteration in original)). “Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127.S.Ct; 1955. These elements are required to survive a motion brought under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requests dismissal for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

When reviewing a motion under Rule 12(b)(6), a court, as a general rule, must accept the plaintiffs allegations as true and evaluate all plausible inferences derived from those facts in favor of the plaintiff. See Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Fla. v. S. Everglades Restoration Alliance, 304 F.3d 1076, 1084 (11th Cir.2002); AKA Equitable Life Ins. Co. v. Infinity Fin. Grp., LLC, 608 F.Supp.2d 1349, 1353 (S.D.Fla.2009). However, this tenet does not apply to legal conclusions, and courts “are not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955; see Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937; Thaeter v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sheriff’s Office, 449 F.3d 1342, 1352 .(11th Cir.2006). Moreover, “courts may infer from the factual allegations in the complaint ‘obvious alternative explanations,’ which suggest lawful conduct rather than the unlawful conduct the plaintiff would ask the court to infer.” Am, Dental Ass’n v. Cigna Corp.,

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Bluebook (online)
192 F. Supp. 3d 1343, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92586, 2016 WL 3636859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudgins-v-seterus-inc-flsd-2016.