Kicken v. Valentine Production Credit Ass'n

628 F. Supp. 1008, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15629
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedJune 22, 1984
DocketCV84-L-374
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 628 F. Supp. 1008 (Kicken v. Valentine Production Credit Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kicken v. Valentine Production Credit Ass'n, 628 F. Supp. 1008, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15629 (D. Neb. 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

URBOM, Chief Judge.

On June 6, 1984, I dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint except for claims relating to a June 18, 1981, transaction, but I gave them time to amend their complaint to show the purpose of the transaction and whether the realty used to secure the loan included the plaintiffs’ dwelling. This information must be pleaded properly in order for the plaintiffs to have a cause of action under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1635 and 1640. The plaintiffs’ responses, filings 9, 10 and 11, do not supply the required information. Pursuant to my earlier order, I shall dismiss the action.

The plaintiffs’ newly filed documents raise several new arguments. In filing. 9, the plaintiffs argue that dismissal is improper if there is a possibility that they could obtain some relief on the facts stated. This was the basis of my decision: the statute of limitations problem completely bars all relief on the alleged Truth in Lending Act violations; the agricultural purposes of many of the loans make the Act inapplicable, so the plaintiffs could not recover under the Act. The reason I required more information about the June 18, 1981, loan was that the plaintiffs had not pleaded enough information to show that the loan was covered by the Truth in Lending Act; even if they had proved at trial every other fact in their complaint, I would have had to find for the defendants.

Filing 9 also contends that the complaint invokes all of Tit. 12 U.S.C. Ch. 27, instead of the sections I discussed. Section 2601 of that chapter says that the chapter’s intent is to change the settlement process for residential realty and to protect home buyers and sellers. Nothing in the complaint or amended complaint indicates that the plaintiff bought from or sold residential realty to the defendants. I have no reason to believe the chapter applies. The plaintiffs’ claims under 15 U.S.C. §§ 1701 et seq. suffer from the same problem. Those sections constitute the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, which concerns subdivisions and common promotional plans. See 15 U.S.C. §§ 1701(3) and (4). Again, the plaintiffs have not shown that they purchased from or sold real estate to the defendants, nor have they pleaded information which would show that the many exemptions listed in § 1702 do not apply.

In response to my earlier order, paragraph 7 of filing 9 argues and paragraph 21 of filing 10 alleges that the defendants did not explain why they were denying or revoking credit. The plaintiffs have not, however, alleged when they applied for credit, how they applied for credit, or when the application was denied or revoked. I also note that paragraph 30 of the amended complaint alleges that the defendants “extended to Plaintiffs more credit, after Defendants informed Plaintiffs that Defendants acknowledged that plain *1011 tiffs situation was hopeless.” In other words, the plaintiffs complain that the defendants gave them too little credit and too much credit. Furthermore, this allegation supplies a more than adequate reason for later denying credit.

In my earlier order I said that the several loans of which the plaintiffs complain say that they were made for agricultural purposes, which exempts them from the Truth in Lending Act. In paragraph 9 of filing 9, the plaintiffs argue that the loan statements do “no more than raise a rebuttable presumption,” so that under 15 U.S.C. § 1635(c) there is an issue for trial. Actually, § 1635(c) says that a written acknowledgement by a borrower that the borrower has received certain disclosures “does no more than create a rebut-table presumption of delivery thereof.” The section does not do what the plaintiffs say it does.

As to the new claims raised in the amended complaint, filing 10, paragraph 11 invokes the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq., and alleges various acts that the production credit association took to collect debts. However, the Act does not cover acts which a company or its employees take to collect debts owed to the company. 15 U.S.C. § 1692a(6). Paragraph 11(d) claims that the defendants did not inform the plaintiffs of a right to deferral under 15 U.S.C. § 636(b). However, that section covers only loans made by the Small Business Administration. See 15 U.S.C. § 633(a).

Paragraph 17 refers to “803 F 2d 233,” just as the original complaint did. As I pointed out in my earlier order, that case actually appears at 703 F.2d 233. The 803rd volume of the Federal Reporter 2d series has not been published, and I find it curious that I have seen the same error in documents submitted by other parties complaining about agricultural loans.

Paragraph 19 alleges that 15 U.S.C. § 1640’s one-year statute of limitations should be tolled by the equitable doctrine of fraudulent concealment. Under this doctrine, a plaintiff must show that he exercised due diligence to discover his cause of action before the statute of limitations expired and that the defendant committed some affirmative act of fraudulent concealment which prevented the plaintiff from discovering his cause of action. Hughes v. Cardinal Federal Savings and Loan Association, 566 F.Supp. 834, 838 (U.S.D.C.S.D.Ohio 1983). Since a cause of action under § 1640 is created by nondisclosure of certain rights, the doctrine of fraudulent concealment does not apply unless the defendants have done more than merely failing to disclose certain information. Id.; Chevalier v. Baird Springs Association, 371 F.Supp. 1282, 1284-1285 (U.S.D.C.Wyo.1974). The plaintiffs have not made any allegations which would satisfy these requirements. Furthermore, Rule 9(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a plaintiff to allege the circumstances constituting fraud “with particularity.”

In paragraph 26, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants failed to cancel superseded mortgages, but they do not inform me what federal or state laws this alleged failure violated. Paragraph 30, which I mentioned above, also alleges a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
628 F. Supp. 1008, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15629, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kicken-v-valentine-production-credit-assn-ned-1984.