McCrobie v. Palisades Acquisition Xvi, LLC

359 F. Supp. 3d 239
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 14, 2019
Docket15-CV-18
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 359 F. Supp. 3d 239 (McCrobie v. Palisades Acquisition Xvi, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCrobie v. Palisades Acquisition Xvi, LLC, 359 F. Supp. 3d 239 (W.D.N.Y. 2019).

Opinion

LAWRENCE J. VILARDO, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

On January 6, 2015, the plaintiff, Christopher McCrobie, filed this action seeking damages against defendants Palisades Acquisition XVI, LLC ("Palisades"), and Houslanger & Associates, PLLC ("Houslanger & Associates"). Docket item 1. McCrobie alleges that the defendants violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices *244Act ("FDCPA"), 15 U.S.C. § 1692a, et seq., by trying to collect a debt that was not theirs to collect. Id. Before this Court is McCrobie's motion for leave to amend his complaint and the defendants' motion to dismiss.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On May 19, 2015, McCrobie filed his first amended complaint ("FAC") adding Todd Houslanger, the attorney for Palisades and Houslanger & Associates, as a defendant. Docket Item 7. McCrobie also added a cause of action: violation of New York General Business Law ("GBL") § 349. Id. Finally, he added several factual allegations pertaining to events that occurred after the date of the original pleading. Id.

On July 28, 2015, the defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a plausible claim of relief under the FDCPA or GBL and for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Docket Item 17. McCrobie responded by filing a motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. Docket Item 19. He sought to add Palisades' corporate parent, Asta Funding, Inc., as an additional defendant. Id. He also sought to add claims for declaratory and injunctive relief and punitive damages. Id.

On March 25, 2016, United States District Judge John T. Curtin dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. Docket Item 41. McCrobie appealed, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Judge Curtin's decision. Docket Item 47. The Second Circuit remanded the case to this Court1 to address the other arguments raised in the motions that had been pending before Judge Curtin. Id.

After the Second Circuit's remand, this Court held a status conference on January 30, 2017, and permitted the parties to file supplemental briefing. Docket Item 52. On March 22, 2017, the defendants filed supplemental briefs in support of their motion to dismiss McCrobie's FAC and in opposition to McCrobie's motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. Docket Items 55 and 56. On April 24, 2017, McCrobie responded, Docket item 63, and on May 8, 2017, the defendants replied, Docket Items 66 and 67.

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND

As a preliminary matter, the Court considers McCrobie's motion for leave to amend his complaint, Docket Item 19. Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that leave to amend should be freely given "when justice so requires." The defendants oppose McCrobie's request to amend his complaint a second time. Among other reasons, the defendants contend that the second amended complaint fails to comply with Local Rule 15(b), Docket Item 55 at 11-12, which provides that

[u]nless the movant is proceeding pro se , the amendment(s) or supplements(s) to the original pleading shall be identified in the proposed pleading through the use of a word processing 'redline' function or other similar markings that are visible in both electronic and paper format.

A "local rule imposing a requirement of form must not be enforced in a way that causes a party to lose any right because of a nonwillful failure to comply."

*245Fed. R. Civ. P. 83(a)(2). In this case, the plaintiff's counsel specifically acknowledged "that the local rules generally require a 'redlined' copy of a proposed amended complaint to be submitted along with a motion to amend a complaint." Docket Item 19-2 at 2. Nevertheless, he decided that "in light of the significant additions, subtractions, and revisions, a 'redlined' copy would not be practicable." Id.

Contrary to the assertion by plaintiff's counsel that "a 'redlined' copy of a proposed amended complaint" is only "generally require[d]," id. , the language in Local Rule 15(b) is mandatory. What is more, this Court can find no authority for an attorney's unilaterally deciding that the rule need not be followed because it is not "practicable." In fact, at least one court in this district has strictly held plaintiffs who are represented by counsel to the requirements of Local Rule 15(b) when requesting leave to file complex amendments to their complaints. Doe by and through Doe v. E. Irondequoit Cent. Sch. Dist. , 2018 WL 2100605, at *5-*6 (May 7, 2018) (denying leave to amend because failure to comply with Local Rule 15(b)"required the Court to visually compare" the complaints "paragraph by paragraph, to identify the differences").

All that being said, this Court recognizes that "[n]arrow pleading rules should not be applied to foil an honest plaintiff's efforts to gain redress." Middle Atl. Utils. Co. v. S.M.W. Dev. Corp. , 392 F.2d 380, 384 (2d Cir. 1968). Therefore, this Court denies McCrobie's request to amend his FAC for failure to comply with Local Rule 15(b) without prejudice to his filing another request to amend that complies with that rule.

MOTION TO DISMISS

Having denied McCrobie's motion for leave to amend his complaint, this Court considers the defendants' motion to dismiss McCrobie's FAC.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

When considering a motion to dismiss, this Court accepts "the factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw[s] all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff['s] favor." Mantikas v. Kellogg Co. , 910 F.3d 633, 636 (2d Cir. 2018). The FAC tells the following story.

In 2007, Centurion Capital Corporation obtained a default judgment against McCrobie, Docket Item 7 at 1, 6, relating to credit card debt that McCrobie owed to Providian Financial. Id. at 5-6. McCrobie says that his debt to Providian Financial was "allegedly assigned" to Centurion Capital Corporation and that he did not know about the lawsuit or default judgment. Id. at 5-6.

In 2014, defendant Houslanger & Associates-and, in particular, defendant Todd Houslanger, an attorney with the firm-represented defendant Palisades. Id. at 1. On behalf of Palisades, Houslanger forwarded an income execution to McCrobie's employer designed to garnish McCrobie's wages so as to enforce Centurion Capital Corporation's judgment against McCrobie. Id. at 1, 6-7.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
359 F. Supp. 3d 239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccrobie-v-palisades-acquisition-xvi-llc-nywd-2019.