Pauletta v. Diehl

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 17, 2024
Docket1:23-cv-01759
StatusUnknown

This text of Pauletta v. Diehl (Pauletta v. Diehl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pauletta v. Diehl, (M.D. Pa. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

ROBERT PAULETTA,

Plaintiff, CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:23-cv-01759

v. (SAPORITO, C.M.J.)

CRAIG DIEHL, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM This is a fee-paid civil action, brought by the plaintiff, Robert Pauletta, against two federal governmental entities, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), and against a private-sector bank, Adams County National Bank (“ACNB”), and two of its executive officers, James Helt and Barry Dillman.1 The plaintiff’s second amended complaint asserts state-law claims of negligent supervision against the FDIC and OCC, brought

1 The plaintiff also previously asserted state-law breach-of- fiduciary-duty claims against a private-practice lawyer, Craig Diehl, and his business, the Law Offices of Craig Diehl, based on Diehl’s representation of Pauletta in connection with a bankruptcy case. But all claims against Diehl and his business have been voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff. “Precept,” Doc. 44; Order of Mar. 13, 2024, Doc. 45. pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1346,2 and

state-law claims of negligence, fraud, and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty against ACNB, Helt, and Dillman, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367.3 , 704 F.3d

239, 244–46 (3d Cir. 2013) (discussing a federal court’s obligation to liberally construe the filings of litigants). For relief, Pauletta seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.

2 The second amended complaint suggests that, rather than bringing his claims against the FDIC and OCC under the FTCA, he has brought these tort claims under a statutory provision granting the FDIC the power to “sue and be sued,” 12 U.S.C. § 1819(a). But, as discussed below, the FTCA provides the remedy for state-law tort claims against federal agencies, such as the FDIC and the OCC. 28 U.S.C. § 2769(a); , 8 F. Supp. 2d 387, 393 (D.N.J. 1998). 3 The second amended complaint suggests that we may exercise original jurisdiction over his claims against the bank and its officers because ACNB is a “federally chartered financial institution.” But the bank’s mere status as a national bank does not confer federal jurisdiction over claims against it; the proper inquiry is whether plaintiff’s claims arise under federal law, which they do not. 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question jurisdiction); , 546 U.S. 303, 309–10 (2006) (“When Congress first authorized national banks in 1863, it specified that any suits, actions, and proceedings by and against them could be had in federal court. . . . Congress ended national banks’ automatic qualification for federal jurisdiction in 1882.”); , No. 22-4508, 2023 WL 2572381, at *2 (D.N.J. Mar. 20, 2023). We further note that diversity jurisdiction over these claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 does not exist because the plaintiff, the bank, and the bank officers are all citizens of Pennsylvania. On February 20, 2024, ACNB, Helt, and Dillman filed a motion to

dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, together with a brief in support. Doc. 40; Doc. 41.

On February 21, 2024, FDIC and OCC filed their own motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Doc. 42. On

March 6, 2024, FDIC and OCC filed a brief in support of their motion. Doc. 43. The plaintiff had filed no response whatsoever to the defendants’

motions to dismiss. I. BACKGROUND The second amended complaint is fairly unintelligible. But

based on publicly available court records,4 we are able to ascertain the

4 In addition to the vague and confusing allegations of the second amended complaint itself, we have considered the voluminous publicly available docket records of bankruptcy and state court proceedings involving Pauletta and his company, Ream, including: , No. 15-bk-02980 (Bankr. M.D. Pa. filed July 15, 2015); , No. 323 MDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Ct. filed Feb. 23, 2017); , No. 1063 MDA 2017 (Pa. Super. Ct. filed July 3, 2017); , No. CP-22-CR-0007111- following background facts:

2015 (Dauphin Cnty. (Pa.) Ct. Com. Pl. filed Dec. 18, 2015); , No. 2015-CV-00466-DJ (Dauphin Cnty. (Pa.) Ct. Com. Pl. filed Jan. 22, 2015); , No. 2014-CV-03178-CV (Dauphin Cnty. (Pa.) Ct. Com. Pl. filed Apr. 8, 2014); , No. 2013-CV-10851-NT (Dauphin Cnty. (Pa.) Ct. Com. Pl. filed Dec. 13, 2013); , No. 2012-07363 (Cumberland Cnty. (Pa.) Ct. Com. Pl. filed Dec. 5, 2012); , No. 2011-CV-05054-CV (Dauphin Cnty. (Pa.) Ct. Com. Pl. filed May 17, 2011); and , No. MJ-12106- CV-0000320-2014 (Dauphin Cnty. (Pa.) Magis. Dist. Ct. filed Dec. 10, 2014). We have also considered publicly available court opinions filed in some of these same cases: , No. 15-bk-02980, 2017 WL 405613 (Bankr. M.D. Pa. Jan. 30, 2017) (granting summary judgment against Ream in two adversary proceedings seeking to enjoin state court proceedings against Pauletta personally and seeking an award of damages for violations of automatic bankruptcy stay based on the same state court proceedings); , No. 15-bk-02980, 2017 WL 122985 (Bankr. M.D. Pa. Jan. 9, 2017) (granting motion for relief from automatic stay to permit the Hamiltons to litigate a state court action against Pauletta as co-guarantor of a loan to Ream); , 299 A.3d 936 (table), 2023 WL 3736813 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2023) (affirming dismissal of Pauletta’s claims against ACNB alleging improper assignment of a note to the Hamiltons); , No. 323 MDA 2017, 2018 WL 818624 (Pa. Super. Ct. Feb. 12, 2018) (affirming civil contempt order and sanctions against Pauletta arising from his repeated filing of pleadings on behalf of Ream in defiance of multiple trial court orders); , No. 1063 MDA 2017, 2017 WL 5499329 (Pa. Super. Ct. Nov. 16, 2017) (dismissing appeal and affirming judgment against Pauletta on a note assigned to the Hamiltons by ACNB). A district court, of course, may properly take judicial notice of state and federal court records. Fed. R. Evid. 201; , 502 F.3d 263, 268 (3d Cir. 2007); , 108 F.3d 486, 498–99 (3d Cir. 1997); , 373 F.2d 771, 778 (3d Cir. 1967). Pauletta is or was the sole member of limited liability company

Ream Properties, LLC (“Ream”). In April 2008, Ream entered into an agreement with Thomas and Theresa Hamilton to acquire, rehabilitate, and resell real properties. In May 2011, Ream entered into a loan

agreement with ACNB, which was guaranteed both by Pauletta and by the Hamiltons, who pledged their personal residence as collateral for the loan. At some point thereafter, the business relationship between

Pauletta and the Hamiltons soured. Ream defaulted on the loan, and ANCB obtained a confessed judgment on the note in November 2012.5 To satisfy their obligation as

guarantors, the Hamiltons took assignment of the ACNB/Ream note in April 2013.

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

Related

Malone v. Bowdoin
369 U.S. 643 (Supreme Court, 1962)
United States v. Testan
424 U.S. 392 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Carnegie-Mellon University v. Cohill
484 U.S. 343 (Supreme Court, 1988)
United States v. Gaubert
499 U.S. 315 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Federal Deposit Insurance v. Meyer
510 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Lane v. Pena
518 U.S. 187 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Wachovia Bank, National Ass'n v. Schmidt
546 U.S. 303 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Kelley Mala v. Crown Bay Marina
704 F.3d 239 (Third Circuit, 2013)
Patrick McGrogan v. Commissioner of Internal Reven
718 F.3d 216 (Third Circuit, 2013)
Sands v. McCormick
502 F.3d 263 (Third Circuit, 2007)
Cna v. United States
535 F.3d 132 (Third Circuit, 2008)
Dilg v. United States Postal Service
635 F. Supp. 406 (D. New Jersey, 1986)
Merando v. United States
517 F.3d 160 (Third Circuit, 2008)
Biase v. Kaplan
852 F. Supp. 268 (D. New Jersey, 1994)
Boyd v. United States
482 F. Supp. 1126 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1980)
McMillan v. Department of the Interior
907 F. Supp. 322 (D. Nevada, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Pauletta v. Diehl, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pauletta-v-diehl-pamd-2024.