Perry v. Household Retail Services, Inc.

180 F.R.D. 423, 1998 WL 271808
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedMarch 29, 1998
DocketCiv.A. No. 95-D-45-N
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 180 F.R.D. 423 (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., 180 F.R.D. 423, 1998 WL 271808 (M.D. Ala. 1998).

Opinion

[427]*427 ORDER

DE MENT, District Judge.

This cause is now presented to the court on the Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge, filed April 1, 1997, Defendants’ objections thereto, filed April 14, 1997, Plaintiffs’ objections thereto, filed April 14,1997, Plaintiffs’ renewed objection thereto, filed January 9, 1998, and the various supplemental submissions of authority filed by the Parties.

The court has carefully read the Magistrate’s Recommendation and considered the objections of counsel, and is of the opinion that said Recommendation is well taken and is due to be adopted, approved, and affirmed. It is, therefore, CONSIDERED and ORDERED that:

1. Plaintiffs’ objections be, and the same are hereby, OVERRULED;

2. Defendants’ objections be, and the same are hereby, OVERRULED;

3. The Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge in this cause be, and the same is hereby, ADOPTED, APPROVED, and AFFIRMED;

4. The Motion for Class Certification, filed by the Plaintiffs on November 27, 1995, be and the same is hereby GRANTED in part and DENIED in part, as further described above.

RECOMMENDATION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE

I. INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The plaintiff, Shelly Perry, filed this action against a series of defendants alleging that the actions of the defendants with regard to the sale and financing of a satellite dish violated various state and federal laws.

On November 27, 1995, Perry, through counsel, filed a motion for class certification seeking certification of a class of all persons, located anywhere within the United States, who satisfy the following criteria:

(A) They entered into a consumer credit transaction with a merchant whose business was the selling of satellite dishes which was financed by Household Retail Services, Inc. of Household Bank (Illinois) N.A.; and

(B) The transaction(s) occurred within (i) one year prior to the filing of the original complaint for purposes of the Truth in Lending Act (“TILA”) claim, (ii) four years for the purposes of the RICO claim, and (iii) three years for the purposes of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act.

Perry also sought certification of a subclass of all persons who satisfy the following criteria:

(A) They entered into a consumer credit transaction with a merchant whose business was the selling of satellite dishes which was financed by Household Retail Services, Inc. or Household Bank (Illinois), N.A.;

(B) The transactions occurred within two years prior to the filing of the original complaint for purposes of the fraud by suppression; and

(C) The contract was signed within the period beginning December 28,1990.

The initial hearing on the motion for class certification was held on January 7, 1997. By the time of the class certification hearing, Shelly Perry had died. His daughter, as administratrix of his estate, has been substituted as the plaintiff. The court conducted an additional hearing by conference call on February 24, 1997. The parties have also provided the court with extensive evidentiary submissions and briefs.

II. FACTS

At some time in the past, Household Retail Services, Inc. (HRSI) and Household Bank (Illinois) N.A. (HBI) embarked upon a joint venture to provide consumer financing for satellite dish purchases. That joint venture revolved around the use of private label credit cards developed for distribution by satellite dish wholesalers. The private label credit card at issue in this case is the “Powerline Card” developed by HRSI for Best Reception Systems. Best is a wholesale distributor of satellite dishes and related equipment. Best allows its dealers to use the Powerline Card program to obtain financing for persons who seek to purchase satellite dishes. Gus Zacharias, Best’s Director of Consumer Fi[428]*428nancing, described the process during his deposition as follows:

Q. (Counsel) Let’s go through this whole transaction.
A. (Mr. Zaeharias) Uh-huh.
Q. From beginning to end now. You’ve got a dealer signed up contractually to make sales, and he goes out and sells someone a satellite dish, and I assume at what point he would take a credit application; is that correct?
A. Actually the salesman of the dealer would, yes.
Q. The salesman of the dealer. He takes a credit application. Take me through the whole process from that point on the financing?
A. Okay. The salesman would get a credit application from the customer. The credit application would be sent back to the dealer. The dealer would then send that credit application to us, Best Reception. We would send that information to Household Retail Services. They would render a decision on the credit worthiness of the customer, whether they’re approved, whether they’re declined, and how much their credit limit would be. Household Retail Services would communicate back to Best Reception. Best Reception would communicate that back to the dealer, and the dealer would then know if the customer had sufficient credit to consummate the transaction.

The evidence before the court shows that the private label credit card business generated millions of dollars for HRSI.

The process which led to the financing and purchase of the satellite dish at issue in this case began sometime in the summer of 1994 when Jerome Knowles, a salesman for Alabama DBS Programming, Inc., knocked on the door of the trailer where Shirley Canady and her father, Shelly Perry, were living. Mr. Perry was seriously ill and confined to a wheelchair. His sole source of income was a monthly Social Security check. Knowles explained that he was taking credit applications for satellite dish purchases and that the payments would be $58.00 per month. He told Ms. Canady and Mr. Perry that they would get approximately 100 channels on the dish and a year’s subscription to Orbit Magazine. Mr. Perry said that he would think about it and Knowles said he would come back. Knowles did, in fact, come back to the trailer. He told Canady and Perry that the dish system would cost approximately $4000.00 and again said that the monthly payments would be $58.00. Mr. Perry, on the second visit, agreed to purchase the system. Knowles filled out an order form which showed the cost of the system, an extended warranty, and an Orbit magazine subscription to be $4046.00. According to the order form, the monthly payments were to be $68.78. Canady saw this order form and the proposed monthly payment when Knowles visited the trailer the second time to close the deal. According to Canady, Knowles told them that they would be receiving a credit card in the mail. Knowles also said that the card could be used toward the purchasing of the satellite dish and to activate additional channels.

The order form was eventually given to Tom Tanneyhill, the owner of Alabama DBS Cable Programming, Inc. Tanneyhill then contacted Wayne Fields, the president of Home Video in Douglasville, Georgia. Tanneyhill told Fields that he had sold a satellite dish system but that he had not been approved as a dealer for Best Reception Systems and, thus, needed assistance finding a financing source. He asked Fields to help obtain financing for Mr. Perry’s purchase.

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Related

Jacqueline Turner v. Beneficial Corporation
236 F.3d 643 (Eleventh Circuit, 2000)
Canaday v. Household Retail Servs., Inc.
119 F. Supp. 2d 1258 (M.D. Alabama, 2000)
Pickett v. IBP, Inc.
197 F.R.D. 510 (M.D. Alabama, 2000)
Christ v. Beneficial Corp.
195 F.R.D. 684 (M.D. Alabama, 2000)
Ex Parte Household Retail Services, Inc.
744 So. 2d 871 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
180 F.R.D. 423, 1998 WL 271808, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perry-v-household-retail-services-inc-almd-1998.