Perry v. Household Retail Services, Inc.

953 F. Supp. 1365, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20298, 1996 WL 777058
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedAugust 5, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 95-D-45-N
StatusPublished

This text of 953 F. Supp. 1365 (Perry v. Household Retail Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perry v. Household Retail Services, Inc., 953 F. Supp. 1365, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20298, 1996 WL 777058 (M.D. Ala. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

DE MENT, District Judge.

Before the court is defendant Best Reception Systems, Inc.’s motion for summary judgment filed October 31, 1995.1 In ruling on said motion, the court has considered the parties’ respective briefs, as well as the replies and responses thereto. After careful consideration of the arguments of counsel, the relevant case law and the record as a whole, the court finds that the defendant’s motion is due to be granted in part and denied in part.

JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 because the amended complaint alleges violations of the Federal Truth-in-Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1601, et seq. (“TILA”) and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961 et seq. (“RICO”). The plaintiff also alleges violations of Alabama and Illinois statutory and common law. These pm-ported violations transpired during the same transaction and occurrence as the alleged constitutional deprivations; therefore, the court may assert supplemental jurisdiction over the plaintiffs state law claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a).2 Personal jurisdiction and venue are not contested.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

On a motion for summary judgment, the court is to construe the evidence and factual inferences arising therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Summary judgment can be entered on a claim only if it is shown “that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). - As the Supreme Court has explained the summary judgment standard:

[T]he plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential'to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. In such a situation, there can be no genuine issue as to any material fact, since a complete failure of proof concerning an essential element of the non-moving party’s case necessarily renders all other facts immaterial.

Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The trial court’s function at this juncture is not “to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (citations omitted). A dispute about a material fact is genuine if the evidence is such [1367]*1367that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. at 2510; see also Barfield v. Brierton, 888 F.2d 923, 933 (11th Cir.1989).

The party seeking summary judgment has the initial burden of informing the court of the basis for the motion and of establishing, based on relevant “portions of ‘the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions in the file, together with affidavits, if any,’ ” that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. at 2552-53. Once this initial demonstration under Rule 56(c) is made, the burden of production, not persuasion, shifts to the nonmoving party. The nonmoving party must “go beyond the pleadings and by [his] own affidavits, or by the ‘depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,’ designate ‘specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.’” Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553; see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e).

In meeting this burden the nonmoving party “must do more than simply show that there is a metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). That party must demonstrate that there is a “genuine issue for trial.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. at 1356. An action is void of a material issue for trial “[w]here the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party.” Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. at 1356; see also Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. at 2510-11.

FINDINGS OF FACT

This action seeks relief from the practices of Household Retail Services, Inc. (“HRSI”), Household Bank (Illinois), N.A. (“HBI”), Household International, Inc. (“HI”), Best Reception Systems, Inc. (“Best”) and Home Video Electronics, Inc. (“Home Video”) concerning the financing of satellite television dishes. As a result of these practices, consumers allegedly were deprived of critical information to which they were entitled under TILA

The plaintiff, Shelly Perry, purchased a satellite dish system from defendant Home Video in August, 1994. Pl.’s Amend.Compl. at ¶¶ 11-13 & Exh. A thereto. The plaintiff entered into an agreement with defendant Best, a distributor of satellite dish equipment for whom Home Video is one of its dealers, to finance the purchase of the satellite dish, a warranty and a subscription to a magazine for satellite dish owners. Id. at ¶¶ 11-14 & Exhs. A & C thereto.

The dishes were financed through private label credit cards issued by a joint venture between HRSI and HBI, subsidiaries of HI. Essentially, HRSI has purchased accounts from various Best dealers and purchased the plaintiffs account from Home Video. This private label credit card, entitled a “Power-line Card,” purports to be a “credit card” for purchases of products and services only from Best distributors.

In connection with the transaction, Home Video, as the retail dealer, had the plaintiff execute a standardized credit application form, a document entitled “Retail Installment Credit Agreement.” The Retail Installment Credit Agreement classified the transaction as an “open end credit arrangement.” Id. at 14-23 & Exhs. A & C thereto.

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Bluebook (online)
953 F. Supp. 1365, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20298, 1996 WL 777058, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perry-v-household-retail-services-inc-almd-1996.