Jackson v. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc.

88 F. Supp. 3d 129, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18783, 2015 WL 667862
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 17, 2015
DocketNo. 14-cv-2485 (ADS)(AKT)
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 88 F. Supp. 3d 129 (Jackson v. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jackson v. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., 88 F. Supp. 3d 129, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18783, 2015 WL 667862 (E.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

SPATT, District Judge.

On April 18, 2014, the Plaintiff Brian M. Jackson (the “Plaintiff’), individually and on behalf of a putative class, commenced this action against the Defendant Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc. (“CCL”) and several Doe Defendants. The Plaintiff asserted a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 et seq. (“TCPA”) and sought actual and statutory damages, injunctive relief, and costs.

That same day, to avoid having the class claims mooted by a Rule 68 Offer of Judgment or other tender, the Plaintiff filed a motion to certify a class defined as (a) all persons (b) who, on or after April 18, 2010(c) were sent text message calls by or on behalf of CCL.

On April 25, 2014, the Court denied the motion for class certification without prejudice to re-file upon completion of class discovery.

On May 27, 2014, CCL moved pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ.P.”) 12(b)(6) to dismiss the complaint as against it for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

On June 17, 2014, in lieu of responding to Defendant’s motion to dismiss, the Plaintiff filed an amended complaint.

That same day, the Plaintiff filed an amended motion to certify a class, again defined as (a) all persons (b) who, on or after April 18, 2010(c) were sent text message calls by or on behalf of CCL.

On June 20, 2014, the Court denied the Plaintiff’s amended motion for class certification without prejudice to re-file upon completion of class discovery.

On July 8, 2014, CCL served the Plaintiff with a Rule 68 Offer of Judgment. The Plaintiff did not respond to that offer.

On August 1, 2014, CCL moved, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(h)(3) to dismiss the complaint against it for lack of subject matter jurisdiction in light of the Rule 68 Offer of Judgment to the Plaintiff.

On September 18, 2014, the Plaintiff moved pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a) for leave to file a second amended complaint adding Adsource Marketing Ltd. (“Ad-source”) as a defendant.

On September 19, 2014, the Court granted as unopposed the Plaintiffs motion for leave to file a'second amended complaint.

On October 2, 2014, the Plaintiff filed the second amended complaint.

On December 5, 2014, CCL moved to withdraw the motion to dismiss the original complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

On December 6, 2014, the Court granted CCL’s motion to withdraw the motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

[133]*133With respect to CCL’s pending motion to dismiss the original complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), “[w]hen a plaintiff amends its complaint while a motion to dismiss is pending, ... the ‘court then has a variety of ways in which it may deal with the pending motion to dismiss, from denying the motion as moot to considering the merits of the motion in light of the amended complaint.’ ” Sussman-Automatic Corp. v. Spa World Corp., 15 F.Supp.3d 258 (E.D.N.Y.2014) (quoting Roller Bearing Co. of Am., Inc. v. Am. Software, Inc., 570 F.Supp.2d 376, 384 (D.Conn.2008) (citation and internal quotation marks and alterations omitted)).

For the reasons set forth, CCL’s motion to dismiss the original complaint against it pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) is treated as directed at the second amended complaint and granted. The second amended complaint is dismissed as against CCL without prejudice to replead certain allegations as set forth later. Finally, sua sponte, the,Court declines to certify certain portions of this Decision and Order to CCL for an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).

I. BACKGROUND

Unless stated otherwise, the following facts are drawn from the second amended complaint and construed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, the Plaintiff.

A. The Parties

At the time the complaint was filed, the Plaintiff, an individual, was a resident of this district.

CCL is a Florida Corporation with its principal place of business located at 5100 North State Road 7, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33319.

Adsource is a Canadian corporation with its principal place of business located 82 Pleasant Heights RR2, Pictou, Nova Sco-tia. Adsource conducts business throughout the United States, including in this District.

The Defendants John Does 1-10 are other natural or artificial persons, unknown to the Plaintiff, allegedly involved in the sending of the text messages described below.

B. Factual Allegations

On March 25, 2014, the Plaintiff received an unsolicited text message on his cellular telephone from the email address, nixcyzqienkm@mytextalerts.net. The text message, a screenshot of which is as attached as Exhibit A to the second amended complaint, read: “Enjoy your Two Cruise Tickets! Call to claim 954 507 7628.”

According to the Plaintiff, Adsource sent the text message to the Plaintiffs cellular phone on behalf of CCL. The Plaintiff had no prior relationship with CCL or Ad-source.

Further, on information and belief, the message was delivered on a mass basis using an automated telephone dialing system. The Plaintiff also alleges that the message was not personalized and was made for telemarketing purposes to promote CCL’s cruise line. On information and belief, the Plaintiff alleges that his phone number and that of other potential class members are stored in a database that can be used to generate future calls using a random number generator or sequential number generator to dial such numbers.

C. Procedural History

As stated above, on October 2, 2014, the Plaintiff filed the second amended complaint, asserting one claim against CCL [134]*134and Adsource for a violation of 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) of the TCPA. In particular, the Plaintiff maintains that he and other potential class members suffered damages as a result of their receipt of the unsolicited text messages in that they were required tu pay for such receipt, either on a per message basis or because the receipt counted against the number of minutes or messages they pay for. The Plaintiff further asserts that their statutory right to privacy was violated.

Adsource has not answered or otherwise responded to the second amended complaint.

Again, the Court treats CCL’s motion to dismiss the original complaint against it pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P.

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Bluebook (online)
88 F. Supp. 3d 129, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18783, 2015 WL 667862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-caribbean-cruise-line-inc-nyed-2015.