McGinity v. Tracfone Wireless, Inc.

5 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40457, 2014 WL 1202950
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 11, 2014
DocketCase No. 6:13-CV-1214-ORL-22KRS
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 5 F. Supp. 3d 1337 (McGinity v. Tracfone Wireless, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGinity v. Tracfone Wireless, Inc., 5 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40457, 2014 WL 1202950 (M.D. Fla. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

ANNE C. CONWAY, District Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on Defendant TracFone Wireless, Inc.’s (“Defendant”) Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 17), in response to which Plaintiff Jennifer McGinity (“Plaintiff’) filed a Memorandum in Opposition (Doc. No. 22). With leave of Court, Defendant filed a Reply in support of its Motion (Doc. No. 28). Based on the reasoning contained herein, the Motion will be granted.

[1339]*1339I.BACKGROUND

Plaintiff alleges that she purchased a cell phone from Defendant on or about February 15, 2013, and thereafter called the provided telephone number to activate it. (Compl. (Doc. No. 1) ¶ 15.) “Upon activating her phone,” Plaintiff allegedly spoke with an employee of Defendant, Ul-win Mundy (“Mundy”), who allegedly told Plaintiff that “she needed to send $400.00 to him [Mundy].” (Compl. ¶ 16.) Apparently in this same call, Mundy stated that Plaintiff’s “whole family would be killed if Plaintiff did not send him money” and Mundy “proceeded to give [Plaintiff] details on how he would kill her.” (Compl. ¶ 17.) The Complaint further alleges that Mundy continued to call and harass Plaintiff, and “said he would not stop until Plaintiff gave him money.” (Id.)

Plaintiff allegedly took several steps to stop these calls, including having her husband, a neighbor, and a law enforcement officer ask Mr. Mundy to stop, and calling Defendant multiple times. (Compl. ¶¶ 18-21, 24.) The harassing calls allegedly began on or about February 15, 2013 and continued “through March 2013.” (Compl. ¶ 23.) In total, Plaintiff alleges that she “received approximately six thousand (6,000) calls from Defendant from February 2013 through March 2013.” (Compl. ¶ 26.)

Plaintiff alleges three causes of action against Defendant: violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (“TCPA”) (Count I) and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, Fla. Stat. § 559.55 et seq. (“FCCPA”) (Count II), and intentional infliction of emotional distress under Florida law (Count III).

II.LEGAL STANDARD

For purposes of deciding a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court accepts as true the factual allegations in the complaint and draws all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Randall v. Scott, 610 F.3d 701, 705 (11th Cir.2010). “Generally, under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint need only contain ‘a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.’ ” Id. (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2)). However, the plaintiffs complaint must provide “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1974, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955). Thus, the Court is not required to accept as true a legal conclusion merely because it is labeled a “factual allegation” in the complaint; it must also meet the threshold inquiry of facial plausibility. Id.

III.ANALYSIS

A. Violation of the TCPA

Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”), codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227, in large part to curb “the proliferation of intrusive, nuisance calls to [consumers’] homes from telemarketers.” Pub.L. No. 102-243, 105 Stat. 2394 at § 2(6) (1991). Although Defendant is not accused of telemarketing in this case, the statute was written broadly, and the portion relevant to Defendant provides the following:

It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States, or any person outside the United States if the recipient is within the United States—
(A) to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or [1340]*1340made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice
(iii) to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call....

47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1). Pursuant to § 227(b)(3), a private person may bring an action based on a violation of the statute to enjoin such violation and/or for the greater of actual monetary losses or $500 per violation. Additionally, the court may treble the monetary or statutory damages if the violation was willful or knowing. Id.

To sustain a claim under the TCPA, Plaintiff must plausibly allege that Defendant used an “automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A). The Complaint does not allege that Defendant made calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice; to the contrary, Plaintiff claims that she spoke to Mundy, presumably a real person, on multiple occasions. However, the Complaint does include a factual allegation that “[e]ach call the Defendant made to the Plaintiff was made using an ‘automatic telephone dialing system.’ ” (Compl. ¶ 12.) Defendant asserts that this pleading is facially implausible based on Defendant’s understanding of an “automatic telephone dialing system,” which the applicable statute defines as equipment which has the capacity “to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator[,] and to dial such numbers.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1). Many district courts have held that “a ‘bare allegation that [a defendant] used an [automatic telephone dialing system] is not enough.’ ” Jones v. FMA Alliance Ltd., 978 F.Supp.2d 84, 85, 2013 WL 5719515, at *1 (D.Mass.2013) (footnote omitted) (quoting Gragg v. Orange Cab Co., Inc., 942 F.Supp.2d 1111, 1113-14 (W.D.Wash.2013)); see also Johansen v. Vivant, Inc., No. 12 C 7159, 2012 WL 6590551, at *3 (N.D.Ill. Dec. 18, 2012) (“It is not unreasonable ... to require a plaintiff to describe the phone messages he received in laymen’s terms or provide the circumstances surrounding them to establish his belief that the messages were prerecorded or delivered via the [automatic telephone dialing system].”); Kramer v.

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Bluebook (online)
5 F. Supp. 3d 1337, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40457, 2014 WL 1202950, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcginity-v-tracfone-wireless-inc-flmd-2014.