Madera v. Comenity Capital Bank

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: April 26, 2024
• Docket: 3:23-cv-02124
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CAROLINA MADERA, Case No.: 3:23-cv-02124-RBM-BGS

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING 13 v. (1) JOINT MOTION TO STAY 14 COMENITY CAPITAL BANK and ACTION AND ARBITRATE EXPERIAN INFORMATION 15 CLAIMS AS TO COMENITY SOLUTIONS, INC., CAPITAL BANK 16 Defendants. 17 (2) STIPULATION TO SUBMIT CLAIMS AGAINST DEFENDANT 18 EXPERIAN INFORMATION

19 SOLUTIONS, INC. TO ARBITRATION AND TO STAY 20 CASE AS TO EXPERIAN 21

[Docs. 19, 20] 22

24 25 On February 20, 2024, Plaintiff Carolina Madera (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant 26 Comenity Capital Bank (“Comenity”) filed a Joint Motion to Stay Action and Arbitrate 27 Claims as to Comenity Only (“Joint Motion”). (Doc. 19.) In the Joint Motion, Plaintiff 28 and Comenity stipulated to stay this action and submit Plaintiff’s claims against Comenity 1 to binding individual arbitration. (Id. at 2.) Plaintiff and Comenity contend that “the credit 2 card agreement at issue in this case contain[s] an arbitration provision requiring the parties 3 to arbitrate their claims if either party makes a demand to arbitrate.” (Id.) The credit card 4 agreement is attached to the Joint Motion as Exhibit 1. (Doc. 19-1.) The credit card 5 agreement contains a section entitled, “Arbitration and Jury Trial Waiver,” in which the 6 parties to the agreement “waive[d] any right to trial by jury in the event of a lawsuit arising 7 out of or related to [the] [a]greement.” (Id. at 2.) 8 Shortly thereafter, on February 21, 2024, Plaintiff and Defendant Experian 9 Information Solutions, Inc. (“Experian”) filed a Stipulation to Submit Claims Against 10 Experian to Arbitration and to Stay Case as to Experian (“Stipulation”). (Doc. 20.) In the 11 Stipulation, Plaintiff and Experian indicate that “Plaintiff does not presently dispute 12 Experian’s request to arbitrate the merits of Plaintiff’s dispute against Experian in this 13 action.” (Id. at 2.) Plaintiff and Experian also “stipulate[d] to stay the action as to 14 Plaintiff’s claims against Experian only, pending completion of the arbitration.” (Id.) 15 District courts have “broad discretion to stay proceedings as an incident to its power 16 to control its own docket.” Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 (1997). Granting a stay 17 “is appropriate when it serves the interests of judicial economy and efficiency.” Rivers v. 18 Walt Disney Co., 980 F. Supp. 1358, 1360 (C.D. Cal. 1997). A district court “may ... find 19 it is efficient for its own docket and the fairest course for the parties to enter a stay of an 20 action before it, pending resolution of independent proceedings which bear upon the case.” 21 Leyva v. Certified Grocers of Cal., Ltd., 593 F.2d 857, 863 (9th Cir. 1979). That “rule 22 applies whether the separate proceedings are judicial, administrative, or arbitral in 23 character ….” Id. at 863–64. 24 However, “a district court may [also] … dismiss [an action] outright when ... the 25 court determines that all of the claims raised in the action are subject to arbitration.” 26 Johnmohammadi v. Bloomingdale’s, Inc., 755 F.3d 1072, 1074 (9th Cir. 2014); see also 27 Gadomski v. Wells Fargo Bank N.A., 281 F. Supp. 3d 1015, 1021 (E.D. Cal. 2018) 28 1 || (“‘[B]ecause both claims are to be arbitrated, the Court dismisses Plaintiff’s claims in favor 2 || of arbitration.’’). 3 Here, Plaintiff and both defendants have agreed to pursue arbitration and stay the 4 ||present action. The Court is not inclined to depart from the parties’ agreements. 5 || Accordingly, the Joint Motion and Stipulation are GRANTED. The Court ORDERS 6 || Plaintiff and Comenity, and Plaintiff and Experian, to submit to binding arbitration(s). The 7 ||Court STAYS this action pending the completion of any arbitration. The Court also 8 || VACATES any pending deadlines. Further, the parties must FILE a joint status report, 9 ||not to exceed five (5) pages, to update the Court on the arbitration proceedings every 180 10 ||days, starting from the date of this Order, and within 14 days of the proceedings’ 11 completion. 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 ||DATE: April 26, 2024 14 _< Fatt Earn, MoitggsD 15 HON. RUTH BERMUBEZ MONTENEGRO UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28