Levy v. Receivables Performance Management, LLC

972 F. Supp. 2d 409, 2013 WL 5310166, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 135675
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 23, 2013
DocketNo. 11-CV-3155 (JFB)(ARL)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 972 F. Supp. 2d 409 (Levy v. Receivables Performance Management, LLC) 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
Levy v. Receivables Performance Management, LLC, 972 F. Supp. 2d 409, 2013 WL 5310166, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 135675 (E.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOSEPH F. BIANCO, District Judge:

Plaintiff Omer Levy (“Levy” or “plaintiff’) brings this action against Receivables Performance Management, LLC (“RPM” or “defendant”) alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692, et. seq., and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. § 227, et. seq.1 This lawsuit is based on the telephone exchanges that took place between the parties during the latter half of 2010 in regards to a debt incurred by plaintiff. Plaintiff alleges that RPM used a robodialer to call his cell phone at least 284 times over the course of four months in an attempt to collect on a debt in violation of both the FDCPA and the TCPA, entitling plaintiff to an award of damages.

Presently before this Court are motions for partial summary judgment on the TCPA claim. Plaintiff moves, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, for summary judgment on the TCPA claim, arguing that RPM placed calls to plaintiffs cell phone via an automatic telephone dialing system without plaintiffs prior express consent, in violation of the TCPA. Defendant cross moves, also pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, for summary judgment on the TCPA claim, on the ground that plaintiffs provision of a former cell phone number on his initial credit application, as well as his initiation of phone calls to RPM from his cell phone, constitutes prior express consent, thereby exempting RPM from TCPA liability. For the reasons discussed in detail below, summary judgment is granted in plaintiffs favor on the TCPA claim.

It is uncontroverted that RPM called plaintiffs cell phone via an automatic telephone dialing system. Thus, under the plain language of the statute, there must [412]*412have been an emergency situation or plaintiff must have provided prior express consent to be so contacted in order for RPM to avoid TCPA liability for its actions. However, there is no indication that emergency conditions existed, nor is there any evidence demonstrating that plaintiff provided prior express consent as defined by the statute.

With respect to the issue of prior express consent, both the FCC and various federal courts have deemed a debtor’s provision of his or her cell phone number to a creditor or a debt collection agency during the lifespan of the debt to constitute prior express consent under the TCPA. Thus, in situations where a debtor listed his or her cell phone number on an initial credit application or directly informed his or her creditor or debt collection agency that he or she could be contacted at a specific cell phone number in regards to a debt, courts have found prior express consent. Here, it is undisputed that any cell phone number that appears on plaintiffs initial credit application is not the same cell phone number that RPM proceeded to dial for plaintiff. Moreover, it is uncontroverted that RPM received plaintiffs cell phone number from a third-party, and not from plaintiff. Although RPM argues that plaintiff should, nevertheless, be deemed to have provided prior express consent by virtue of the fact that he, at times, initiated calls to RPM and, at least on one occasion, verified the cell phone number from which he was calling, the fact of the matter is that plaintiff took no affirmative act rising to the level of prior express consent. For this reason, and as discussed in detail supra, no rational jury as a matter of law could conclude, based on the undisputed facts of this case, that RPM had plaintiffs prior express consent to be contacted on the specific cell phone number that RPM dialed via an automatic telephone dialing system to reach plaintiff for debt collection purposes. Accordingly, summary judgment is warranted in plaintiffs favor on the TCPA claim. Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment on TCPA liability is, therefore, granted and defendant’s cross-motion for summary judgment on the claim is denied.

However, because genuine issues of material fact exist with regard to whether RPM’s violation of the TCPA was knowing and willful, the issue of whether plaintiff is entitled to treble damages on his TCPA claim cannot be resolved at this juncture. Thus, both parties’ motions for summary judgment are denied with respect to the treble damages issue.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

The Court has taken the facts set forth below from the parties’ depositions, affidavits, exhibits, and respective Rule 56.1 Statements of Facts. Upon consideration of a motion for summary judgment, the Court shall construe the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Capobianco v. City of N.Y., 422 F.3d 47, 50 (2d Cir.2005). Unless otherwise noted, where a party’s 56.1 statement is cited, that fact is undisputed or the opposing party has not pointed to any evidence in the record to contradict it.2

Plaintiff incurred a debt related to an Ameritech Gold MasterCard (“MasterCard”) that he opened with a company called Household Finance (“Household”) sometime between 2004 and 2005. (Defs.’ 56.1 ¶ A.1;3 see also Pl.’s Aff. in Supp. of [413]*413Mot. for Partial Summ. J. (“Pl.’s Aff.”) ¶ 19.) At some point in time, Household sold the right to collect the debt to a company called Main Street Acquisitions, who later hired RPM, a debt collector, to collect the money that plaintiff allegedly owed. (See Joseph Mauro Aff. in Supp. of PL’s Mot. for Partial Summ. J. (“Mauro Aff.”) Ex. E, Christopher Vittoz Dep. (“Vittoz Dep.”), at 19.)

RPM obtained plaintiffs cell phone number by purchasing it from a company called Trans Union on July 16, 2010. (Pl.’s 56.1 ¶ 10.) According to Vittoz, a representative for RPM, RPM asked Trans Union for any type of phone number that they had for plaintiff; the number RPM received came with no indication that it was for a cell phone. (See Vittoz Dep. at 134.) Upon receiving plaintiffs number, RPM did not conduct any research to determine whether it was a cellular number before dialing it (PL’s 56.1 ¶ 12), despite the fact that RPM had been aware, since 2008, of a service that could be used to discern whether a particular number was for a cell phone (id. ¶ 13). Vittoz testified that, at the time it received plaintiffs number, RPM was under the impression that they were receiving only home telephone numbers from Trans Union. (Vittoz Dep. at 137.) Thus, the number Trans Union provided for plaintiff was placed into the “home phone number field” in RPM’s automatic telephone dialing system (“ATDS”). (Id. at 137-38.) Vittoz admitted, however, that RPM did not know definitively whether that number was for a home telephone, but that everyone who worked on the account at RPM later treated the number as if it were for a home phone line. (Id. at 138.)

The number that RPM received for plaintiff (and proceeded to dial on numerous occasions) was actually for plaintiffs cell phone.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Schaefer v. IC System, Inc.
E.D. New York, 2020
Breda v. Cellco Partnership
934 F.3d 1 (First Circuit, 2019)
Balschmiter v. TD Auto Finance LLC
303 F.R.D. 508 (E.D. Wisconsin, 2014)
Davis v. Diversified Consultants, Inc.
36 F. Supp. 3d 217 (D. Massachusetts, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
972 F. Supp. 2d 409, 2013 WL 5310166, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 135675, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levy-v-receivables-performance-management-llc-nyed-2013.