Kruglyak v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedMay 6, 2025
Docket1:22-cv-00024
StatusUnknown

This text of Kruglyak v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. (Kruglyak v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kruglyak v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., (W.D. Va. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT eee □□□□ FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA FILED. ABINGDON DIVISION May 06, 2025 LAURA A. AUSTIN, CLERK VLADIMIR KRUGLYAK, ) BY: s/ FELICIA CLARK ) DEPUTY CLERK Plaintiff, ) Case No. 1:22-cv-024 ) v. ) By: Michael F. Urbanski ) Senior United States District Judge HOME DEPOT U:S.A., INC., ) ) Defendant. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION This matter is before the court on a motion for summary judgment filed by defendant Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. (“Home Depot’), ECF No. 137, and several motions seeking remand to state court filed by plaintiff Vladimir Kruglyak, ECF No. 143; ECF No. 147; ECF No. 148. This matter arises from a transaction between Kruglyak and Home Depot. Kruglyak viewed an advertisement for a Whirlpool bathtub on Home Depot’s website indicating that the bathtub featured, among other things, a control panel, LED lights, and a water heater. Compl., ECF No. 1-3, 9] 8, 13-14. Kruglyak purchased the bathtub, and Home Depot delivered the bathtub, but when Kruglyak unpackaged the bathtub, he discovered that the bathtub he had received was not, in fact, the bathtub he had ordered. Id. J 13-18. Specific advertised features—the control panel, LED lights, and water heater—were missing. Id. Accordingly, Kruglyak filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Bristol, Virginia asserting eleven claims. Id. Home Depot removed the case to federal court on June 3, 2022. ECF No. 1. In a memorandum opinion and order on September 26, 2024, the court awarded Kruglyak

$3,696.35 in actual damages on his breach of contract claim stated in Count Two of his complaint, denied Kruglyak relief on nine counts, and permitted one final count, Count One, which the court construed as alleging actual fraud in the inducement, to proceed towards trial.

ECF No. 111 at 28. Count One alleged that Home Depot made false representations concerning the “true functions and features of the tub by photographic and verbatim product descriptions on the Home Depot website” and that Kruglyak relied upon these false representations in deciding to purchase the bathtub. Compl., ECF No. 1-3, ¶¶ 24-28. Significantly, as required to state a fraud in the inducement claim, Kruglyak further alleged that these false representations were

made to mislead the consumer “with full knowledge of their falsity.” Id. ¶ 25. This sole remaining claim is now before the court pursuant to Home Depot’s motion for summary judgment. ECF No. 137. That motion is fully briefed.1 ECF No. 137; ECF No. 139; ECF No. 140. At this stage in the litigation, allegations compliant with the elements of a fraud in the inducement claim no longer suffice; to survive a motion for summary judgment, a nonmoving party must adduce at least some evidence to support the truth of his claim. See

Res. Bankshares Corp. v. St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co., 407 F.3d 631, 635 (4th Cir. 2005) (requiring a nonmoving party to show that “there is sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party for a jury to return a verdict for that party”). Here, Kruglyak has not produced sufficient evidence to support his allegation that Home Depot knowingly, intentionally, and with the intent to mislead falsely represented the features of the bathtub displayed on its website.

1 The court has determined that it will “dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.” United States v. Martinez-Melquiades, No. 19-4081, 2022 WL 474169, at *2 (4th Cir. Feb. 16, 2022). Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252 (1986). Accordingly, Home Depot’s motion for summary judgment will be GRANTED. However, before reaching the issue of summary judgment, the court must first address two preliminary matters.

I. First, the court notes that Kruglyak has filed a notice of appeal as to several prior orders in this case: (1) the court’s order at ECF No. 112 signed on September 25, 2024, adopting in part and rejecting in part a report and recommendation by the Magistrate Judge, ECF No. 62, denying Kruglyak’s motion for preliminary or permanent injunction, ECF No. 31, granting in part and denying in part Home Depot’s motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 33, denying

Kruglyak’s motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 96, and granting as to Count Two but denying as to Count One Home Depot’s motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 80; (2) the court’s order at ECF No. 129 signed on January 27, 2025, denying Kruglyak’s motion for “adverse inference order, sanctions, and for investigation into subordination of perjury and criminal simulation by defendant’s counsel,” ECF No. 99, denying Kruglyak’s motion to admit a delivery receipt into evidence, ECF No. 106, and denying Kruglyak’s motion for

reconsideration of an order denying Kruglyak’s motion to compel responses to subpoena duces tecum from Karen Phoebus, ECF No. 125; and (3) “[a]ny other orders or rulings, including granting fraudulent joinder before discovery and subsequently denying discovery that could reveal error of granting fraudulent joinder, and orders that are inextricably intertwined with or necessary to the resolution of this appeal.” ECF No. 130 at 1-2. Kruglyak previously sought a stay pending these appeals. ECF No. 131. The court

denied Kruglyak’s motion for a stay on the grounds that these appeals were not proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 or any exceptions thereto. ECF No. 141. That statute provides that appeal may be taken only from “final decisions of the district courts.” 28 U.S.C. § 1291. “A ‘final decisio[n]’ is typically one ‘by which a district court disassociates itself from a case.’” Mohawk

Indus., Inc. v. Carpenter, 558 U.S. 100, 106 (2009) (quoting Swint v. Chambers Cnty. Comm’n, 514 U.S. 35, 42 (1995)). When Kruglyak filed his appeals, there was no final judgment in this matter because the court had not reached any final determination as to Count One. ECF No. 141 at 2. Indeed, Count One remained set for trial, meaning that this court was far from “disassociate[d]” from the case. Mohawk Indus., Inc., 558 U.S. at106. Thus, the court properly denied the motion for a stay, and the court may now proceed to rule on the pending motions

before it concerning Count One.2 However, the court notes that upon entry of this memorandum opinion and accompanying order, the court will have reached a final judgment on Count One, thereby resolving all remaining issues requiring the district court’s attention. Thus, the time is now ripe for Kruglyak to pursue his appeal to the Fourth Circuit. II.

Second, the court must also address Kruglyak’s pending motions relating to remand to state court. ECF No. 143; ECF No. 147; ECF No. 148. Because these motions go to the issue

2 One could also construe (somewhat circuitously) the court’s denial of the motion for stay pending appeal due to the lack of proper grounds for appeal as a denial of the stay in aid of appeal. “[It is a] well-established principle that an appeal divests a trial court of jurisdiction over ‘those aspects of the case involved in the appeal.’” Fobian v. Storage Tech. Corp., 164 F.3d 887, 890 (4th Cir. 1999) (quoting Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co., 459 U.S.

Related

Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter
558 U.S. 100 (Supreme Court, 2009)
United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs
383 U.S. 715 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co.
459 U.S. 56 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation
497 U.S. 871 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Swint v. Chambers County Commission
514 U.S. 35 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Bonds v. Leavitt
629 F.3d 369 (Fourth Circuit, 2011)
Melvin Moss v. Parks Corporation, (Two Cases)
985 F.2d 736 (Fourth Circuit, 1993)
Dennis Glynn v. EDO Corporation
710 F.3d 209 (Fourth Circuit, 2013)
Richmond Metropolitan Authority v. McDevitt Street Bovis, Inc.
507 S.E.2d 344 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1998)
Evaluation Research Corp. v. Alequin
439 S.E.2d 387 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1994)
Company Doe v. Public Citizen
749 F.3d 246 (Fourth Circuit, 2014)
McAirlaids, Inc. v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation
756 F.3d 307 (Fourth Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
Kruglyak v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kruglyak-v-home-depot-usa-inc-vawd-2025.