Pasoon v. Equifax Information Services LLC

• Court: District Court, N.D. California
• Decided: April 17, 2024
• Docket: 3:24-cv-00072
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 MIRWISS PASOON, Case No. 24-cv-00072-AMO

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S 9 v. MOTION TO DISMISS

10 EQUIFAX INFORMATION SERVICES Re: Dkt. Nos. 11, 16 LLC, 11 Defendant.

12 13 Before the Court is Plaintiff Mirwiss Pasoon’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule 14 of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2). The matter is fully briefed and suitable for decision without oral 15 argument. Accordingly, the hearing set for April 25, 2024 is VACATED. See Civil L.R. 7-6. 16 Having read the parties’ papers and carefully considered their arguments and the relevant legal 17 authority, and good cause appearing, the Court hereby GRANTS Plaintiff’s motion to dismiss for 18 the following reasons. 19 I. BACKGROUND 20 On November 20, 2023, Plaintiff Mirwiss Pasoon filed a complaint in Alameda County 21 alleging two claims: (1) violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. and 22 (2) violation of the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1785.1 23 et seq. ECF 1-2 at 10. Defendant Equifax Information Services LLC (“Equifax”) removed the 24 case to federal court on January 4, 2024, ECF 1, and answered the complaint on January 25, 2024, 25 ECF 10. On February 12, 2024, Equifax filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings. ECF 11. 26 On the same day, Plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil 27 Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i). ECF 12. The Court entered an order explaining that Pasoon could not 1 ECF 13. On March 11, 2024, Pasoon moved to dismiss the entire case without prejudice pursuant 2 to Rule 41(a)(2). ECF 16. Equifax opposes the motion, arguing that the Court should dismiss the 3 case with prejudice and grant Equifax its attorneys’ fees and costs through February 12, 2024. 4 ECF 18. 5 II. LEGAL STANDARD 6 “Generally, Rule 41(a)(2) grants a district court discretion to dismiss a case with or without 7 prejudice.” Kamal v. Eden Creamery, LLC, 88 F.4th 1268, 1279 (9th Cir. 2023). In the Ninth 8 Circuit, “[a] district court should grant a motion for voluntary dismissal under Rule 41(a)(2) unless 9 a defendant can show that it will suffer some plain legal prejudice as a result.” Smith v. Lenches, 10 263 F.3d 972, 975 (9th Cir. 2001); see Kamal, 88 F.4th at 1279 n.5 (citing cases). “[L]egal 11 prejudice” means “prejudice to some legal interest, some legal claim, some legal argument.” 12 Smith, 263 F.3d at 976 (citing Westlands Water Dist. v. United States, 100 F.3d 94, 97 (9th Cir. 13 1996)). If a court dismisses a case without prejudice, the Federal Rules provide that the court may 14 dismiss on terms it considers proper. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(2). 15 III. DISCUSSION 16 A. Motion to Dismiss 17 Equifax argues that the Court should dismiss the matter with prejudice because Pasoon’s 18 claims cannot survive Equifax’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. ECF 18 at 8. However, 19 even if that were true, Equifax does not show that it would face “prejudice to some legal interest, 20 some legal claim, some legal argument” if the Court were to dismiss the matter without prejudice. 21 See Kamal, 88 F.4th at 1283 (quoting Westlands Water Dist., 100 F.3d at 97). Indeed, the Ninth 22 Circuit has rejected arguments that a defendant is prejudiced due to its “effort and expense 23 involved in preparing for trial.” Id. at 1282; see Westlands Water Dist., 100 F.3d at 97. 24 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the matter without prejudice. 25 B. Request for Attorney’s Fees 26 Equifax included a request for attorneys’ fees in its opposition. See ECF 18 at 9-10 and 27 Hodsen Decl. (ECF 18-1) ¶ 6. The Court DENIES this request without prejudice for failure to 1 reasonable, and failure to comply with Civil Local Rule 54-5, which requires counsel to meet and 2 || confer prior to filing requests for attorneys’ fees. 3 |} IV. CONCLUSION 4 For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Pasoon’s motion to dismiss and DENIES 5 without prejudice Equifax’s request for attorneys’ fees and costs. The Court TERMINATES AS 6 MOOT Equifax’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. 7 8 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 || Dated: April 17, 2024 11 ol □ □ 12 ARACELI MARTINEZ-OLGUIN 13 United States District Judge

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