Miraglia v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedOctober 28, 2024
Docket3:24-cv-00988
StatusUnknown

This text of Miraglia v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (Miraglia v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miraglia v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, (S.D. Cal. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DOMINIC MIRAGLIA, Case No.: 24-cv-00988-H-JLB

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING, IN PART, AND 13 v. DENYING, IN PART, DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO 14 PENNSYLVANIA HIGHER DISMISS EDUCATION ASSISTANCE AGENCY, 15 Defendants. [Doc. No. 10.] 16

17 On June 5, 2024, Plaintiff Dominic Miraglia (“Plaintiff”) filed a complaint against 18 Defendant Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (“PHEAA”). (Doc. No. 1 19 (“Compl.”).) On August 15, 2024, PHEAA filed a motion to dismiss the complaint 20 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. (Doc. No. 21 10.) On September 23, 2024, Plaintiff filed a response to PHEAA’s motion to dismiss. 22 (Doc. No. 14.) On September 24, 2024, the Court took the matter under submission. (Doc. 23 No. 15.) On September 30, 2024, PHEAA filed a reply. (Doc. No. 16.) For the reasons 24 below, the Court grants, in part, and denies, in part, PHEAA’s motion to dismiss without 25 leave to amend. 26 Background 27 The following factual background is taken from the allegations in Plaintiff’s 28 1 complaint. Plaintiff is a resident of California. (Compl. ¶ 4.) PHEAA is a company that 2 regularly attempts to collect debt using the name American Education Services (“AES”). 3 (Compl. ¶¶ 8–9.) On or about June 2006, PHEAA granted Plaintiff an extension of credit. 4 (Compl. ¶ 17.) On July 30, 2022, Plaintiff filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the Bankruptcy 5 Court for the Southern District of California. (Id. ¶ 32.) Plaintiff listed PHEAA, under the 6 name AES, as a creditor in its bankruptcy filings. (Id. ¶ 33.) On November 2, 2022, the 7 bankruptcy court entered a discharge order in Plaintiff’s Chapter 7 case and electronically 8 notified all of Plaintiff’s creditors, including PHEAA, of the same. (Id. ¶¶ 34–35.) 9 Following notification of the discharge, PHEAA failed to report to credit reporting 10 agencies that Plaintiff’s $7,793 in debt owed to it was discharged in bankruptcy and 11 continued to attempt to collect the debt. (Id. ¶¶ 36–37.) 12 On January 18, 2023, Plaintiff notified PHEAA that he was represented by an 13 attorney and wished to cease further communications with it. (Id. ¶¶ 18, 20.) Plaintiff 14 received at least 14 total communications, including at least five phone calls, from PHEAA 15 after January 18, 2023. (Id. ¶¶ 21, 23.) 16 On June 5, 2024, Plaintiff filed his complaint against PHEAA, alleging claims for: 17 (1) violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et 18 seq.; (2) violations of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“Rosenthal Act”), 19 California Civil Code §§ 1788 et seq.; (3) violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection 20 Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. §§ 227 et seq.; (4) violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act 21 (“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq.; and (5) intrusion upon seclusion. (Compl. ¶¶ 35– 22 74.) PHEAA moves pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss 23 Plaintiff’s complaint in its entirety for failure to state a claim. 24 Discussion 25 I. Legal Standards for a Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss 26 A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) tests the legal 27 sufficiency of the pleadings and allows a court to dismiss a complaint if the plaintiff has 28 failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Conservation Force v. Salazar, 1 646 F.3d 1240, 1242 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Navarro v. Block, 250 F.3d 729, 732 (9th Cir. 2 2001)). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires that a pleading contain “a short 3 and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” The function 4 of this pleading requirement is to give the defendant fair notice of the claim is its grounds. 5 Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 6 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). 7 A complaint will survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss if it contains “enough 8 facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Id. at 570. “A claim has facial 9 plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the 10 reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. 11 Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). Dismissal for failure to state a claim is proper where the 12 claim “lacks a cognizable legal theory or sufficient facts to support a cognizable legal 13 theory.” Mendiondo v. Centinela Hosp. Med. Ctr., 521 F.3d 1097, 1104 (9th Cir. 2008); 14 see Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. v. Fed. Ins. Co., 869 F.3d 795, 800 (9th Cir. 2017). 15 In reviewing a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a district court must “accept the 16 factual allegations of the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable 17 to the plaintiff.” Los Angeles Lakers, 869 F.3d at 800 (quoting AE ex rel. Hernandez v. 18 Cty. of Tulare, 666 F.3d 631, 636 (9th Cir. 2012)). 19 If the court dismisses a complaint for failure to state a claim, it must then determine 20 whether to grant leave to amend. See Doe v. United States, 58 F.3d 494, 497 (9th Cir. 21 1995); Telesaurus VPC, LLC v. Power, 623 F.3d 998, 1003 (9th Cir. 2010). Courts may 22 deny leave to amend where the “allegation of other facts consistent with the challenged 23 pleading could not possibly cure the deficiency.” Telesaurus, 623 F.3d at 1003 (quoting 24 Schreiber Distrib. Co. v. Serv-Well Furniture Co., 806 F.2d 1393, 1401 (9th Cir. 1986)). 25 II. Analysis 26 A. Ninth Circuit Precedent 27 PHEAA argues all of Plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed because they are 28 foreclosed by Ninth Circuit precedent as articulated in Walls v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 1 276 F.3d 502 (9th Cir. 2002). (Doc. No. 10 at 4–5.) As such, PHEAA argues, Plaintiff 2 may only challenge PHEAA’s conduct in the bankruptcy court via a contempt proceeding. 3 (Id.) But Plaintiff’s FDCPA and Rosenthal Act claims present two distinct theories, only 4 one of which is precluded by Walls. Further, the Court declines to apply Walls to Plaintiff’s 5 TCPA, FCRA, and intrusion upon seclusion claims. 6 “[A] debtor may not pursue an FDCPA claim based on a violation of the discharge 7 order.” Brown v. Transworld Sys., Inc., 73 F.4th 1030, 1038 (9th Cir. 2023) (citing Walls, 8 276 F.3d at 510–11). Such claims are precluded by the Bankruptcy Code. Walls, 273 F.3d 9

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Miraglia v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miraglia-v-pennsylvania-higher-education-assistance-agency-casd-2024.