Mccall Law Firm, PLLC v. Crystal Queen, Inc.

335 F. Supp. 3d 1124
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedSeptember 20, 2018
DocketCase No. 4:15-cv-00737-KGB
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 335 F. Supp. 3d 1124 (Mccall Law Firm, PLLC v. Crystal Queen, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mccall Law Firm, PLLC v. Crystal Queen, Inc., 335 F. Supp. 3d 1124 (E.D. Ark. 2018).

Opinion

Kristine G. Baker, United States District Court Judge

Before the Court is defendants Rudolf Galan, Adriana Galan, and Crystal Queen, Inc.'s (collectively, "Crystal Defendants") motion to strike class allegations (Dkt. No. 59). Plaintiff McCall Law Firm, PLLC ("McCall") timely filed its response to the motion (Dkt. No. 64). For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies the Crystal Defendants' motion.

I. Relevant Background

McCall is a law firm located in Pope County, Arkansas (Dkt. No. 4, ¶ 1). Individual defendants Mr. and Ms. Galan are residents of Ontario, Canada. On January 30, 2015, McCall originally filed this action against Crystal Queen, Inc., d/b/a Crystal Training, a Canadian corporation, in the Circuit Court of Pope County, Arkansas (Dkt. No. 1, ¶ 1). On September 21, 2015, McCall filed its amended class action complaint in that court to add defendants Mr. and Ms. Galan (See id. ). On December 3, *11282015, Crystal Training removed the case to this Court with the consent of separate defendants Mr. and Ms. Galan (Id. , Exhibit 2).

McCall's amended class action complaint alleges that all defendants violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 ("TCPA"), codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227, by purposefully transmitting an unsolicited advertisement by facsimile to a telephone facsimile machine belonging to McCall located in Pope County, Arkansas (Dkt. No. 4). McCall alleges that the unsolicited facsimile advertised computer software training sessions (Id. ). On March 10, 2016, Mr. and Ms. Galan filed separate motions to dismiss (Dkt. Nos. 21, 23). The Court denied both motions to dismiss (Dkt. No. 36).

After their motions to dismiss were denied by the Court, Mr. and Ms. Galan filed their answers to the amended class action complaint (Dkt. Nos. 41, 42). In their answers, Mr. and Ms. Galan both asserted multiple affirmative defenses, including lack of standing, constitutional violations, and class defects (Id. ).

Counsel for all defendants filed a motion to withdraw as counsel on October 3, 2017 (Dkt. Nos. 55, 56). In the same motion, counsel informed the Court that a motion to strike class allegations was imminent (Id. ¶¶ 3-4). The Court granted the motions to withdraw and directed Mr. and Ms. Galan to inform the Court whether they would proceed pro se ; the Court also directed Crystal Training to procure new counsel or risk a default judgment (Dkt. No. 58, at 2).

Former counsel for Crystal Defendants, Ms. Wymore, filed the present motion to strike class allegations (Dkt. No. 59) on October 24, 2017. Neither the Galans nor Crystal Training have informed the Court about their future plans for acquiring legal representation.

II. Standard of Review

The present motion is styled as a motion to strike, which is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f). As an initial matter, the Court notes that "striking a party's pleadings is an extreme measure, and, as a result ... motions to strike under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f) are viewed with disfavor and are infrequently granted." Stanbury Law Firm v. I.R.S. , 221 F.3d 1059, 1063 (8th Cir. 2000) (internal quotation and citation omitted). Per Rule 12(f), "the court may order stricken from any pleading any insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter." A district court has "liberal discretion" when deciding whether to strike any portion of a pleading pursuant to Rule 12(f). Stanbury , 221 F.3d at 1063. According to a leading treatise,

[There] appears to be a general judicial agreement, as reflected in the extensive case law on the subject, that [motions to strike] should be denied unless the challenged allegations have no possible relation or logical connection to the subject matter of the controversy and may cause some form of significant prejudice to one or more of the parties to the action. Any doubt about whether the challenged material is redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous should be resolved in favor of the non-moving party.

5C Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1382 (3d ed. 2009).

The Court construes the Crystal Defendants' standing and constitutional arguments as a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c). See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h) (noting that "a defense of failure to state a claim ... may be made *1129... by motion for judgment on the pleadings").

A court will grant a Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings if a plaintiff has "[f]ailed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(2)(C). A motion for judgment on the pleadings is subject to the same standard as is a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. NanoMech, Inc. v. Suresh , 777 F.3d 1020, 1023 (8th Cir. 2015). When considering a motion for judgment on the pleadings, the Court must accept as true "all factual allegations set out in the complaint and must construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, drawing all inferences in his favor." See Wishnatsky v. Rovner , 433 F.3d 608, 610 (8th Cir. 2006). The plaintiff must make sufficient factual allegations to "raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). A complaint must contain enough facts to state a claim that is plausible on its face, not merely conceivable. Id. at 570

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Bluebook (online)
335 F. Supp. 3d 1124, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccall-law-firm-pllc-v-crystal-queen-inc-ared-2018.