Porsch v. LLR, Inc.

380 F. Supp. 3d 418
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 30, 2019
Docket18cv9312(DLC)
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 380 F. Supp. 3d 418 (Porsch v. LLR, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Porsch v. LLR, Inc., 380 F. Supp. 3d 418 (S.D. Ill. 2019).

Opinion

DENISE COTE, District Judge:

Defendants LLR, Inc. and LuLaRoe, LLC (collectively "LLR" or "Defendants") have moved to dismiss the second amended complaint ("SAC") filed by plaintiff Lauren Porsch ("Porsch" or "Plaintiff")

*422pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), Fed. R. Civ. P, and to strike the class allegations in the SAC. That motion is denied.

Background

The following facts are alleged in the SAC and are assumed to be true for the purpose of addressing this motion. LLR is a "multi-level marketing company" that sells clothing under the brand name "LuLaRoe" at wholesale prices to independent retailers ("Retailers") in all fifty states. The Retailers resell this merchandise to consumers at retail prices through social media. LLR collects and remits sales taxes for each retail purchase on behalf of its Retailers.

When a buyer and a seller reside in different states, and the seller ships the purchased goods to the buyer's state, the tax laws of the buyer's state govern the transaction. New York State exempts clothing sold for less than $ 110 from state sales tax. Certain local jurisdictions in New York also exempt clothing under $ 110 from local sales tax. This action is brought on behalf of consumers who purchased less than $ 110 of LLR merchandise from Retailers outside New York, and had those purchases shipped into New York. Plaintiff alleges that she and the class she seeks to represent were charged sales tax on these purchases -- that is, they were charged sales tax based on the tax laws of the jurisdiction in which the Retailer was located, rather than exempted from paying sales tax under the laws of New York.

In 2015, LLR implemented a point-of-sale ("POS") system called "Audrey." LLR required its Retailers to use Audrey to calculate, collect, and remit sales taxes on purchases by consumers. Audrey allowed Retailers to turn off sales tax charges when they made sales into tax-free jurisdictions. In early 2016, LLR discovered that Audrey was remitting sales taxes on each sale to the Retailer's taxing jurisdiction, even where sales tax had not been collected by the Retailer because the purchaser lived in a non-tax jurisdiction. Thus, LLR was remitting sales taxes that it had never collected and did not owe.

In April 2016, LLR reprogrammed Audrey to charge sales tax on all purchases pursuant to the tax law of the Retailer's jurisdiction, regardless of the purchaser's location. After implementing this tax policy, LLR issued a "sales tax memorandum" and a "white paper" to all of its Retailers. Porsch alleges that these memoranda incorrectly told Retailers that the new tax policy, which required that taxes be charged based on the location of the Retailer, was "proper and legal."

In 2016, the Attorneys General of Pennsylvania and Minnesota contacted LLR about the improper collection of sales tax. LLR acknowledged the problem and represented that "its software development team is currently correcting the electronic invoicing system, which will calculate sales tax based on the address of the ultimate customer." Despite these acknowledgments, LLR continued to incorrectly charge sales taxes until it implemented a new POS system in January 2017 called "Bless." The transition to Bless was not fully completed until June 1, 2017, at which point Audrey was disabled.

Porsch, a resident of New York City, made thirteen purchases through Facebook from LLR Retailers located outside New York between December 2016 and February 2017. Porsch received invoices for each of those purchases that included charges labeled "tax," adding up to a total of $ 50.63 across the thirteen purchases.1

*423LLR Retailers, relying on guidance from LLR, explained to Porsch and other consumers that purchasing through Facebook was analogous to purchasing directly from the Retailer at his or her home, and that the tax laws of the Retailer's jurisdiction therefore applied. Porsch alleges that "her purchasing behavior changed" in response to LLR's practices. She alleges, for example, that she spent time and effort to identify Retailers located in low-tax jurisdictions or those that had made the switch from Audrey to Bless.

LLR never remitted any of the $ 50.63 that Porsch paid in "tax" to any New York state or municipal taxing authority. Rather, LLR remitted those funds to the taxing jurisdiction of the Retailer who was responsible for the sale. In total, LLR charged sales tax on about 104,144 transactions shipped into non-taxing jurisdictions in New York between April 2016 and June 1, 2017.

A class action challenging LLR's sales tax practices was filed in the Western District of Pennsylvania on February 17, 2017, under the caption Webster v. LLR, Inc., 2:17-cv-00225 (DSC). Porsch alleges that, prior to the commencement of the Webster action, LLR had only refunded taxes on 38 of the 2.5 million nationwide transactions on which it had improperly charged sales tax. Only one of those refunds went to a consumer located in New York. At the time the instant action was commenced, LLR had refunded $ 329,922.83 of improperly charged sales tax to New York consumers including Porsch, without interest.

On August 20, 2018, class certification was denied in the Webster action because of variation in the laws of the eleven states in which the class members were located. Thereafter, plaintiffs who were members of the Webster class filed putative class actions, including this action, in district courts around the country challenging LLR's sales tax collection practices under the laws of various states.

This action was filed on October 11, 2018. A First Amended Complaint ("FAC") was filed on November 28. Defendants moved to dismiss the FAC on December 12. On January 7, 2019, Porsch filed her Second Amended Complaint ("SAC"), thereby mooting the December 12 motion. The SAC contains two causes of action for deceptive acts and practices in violation of New York General Business Law § 349 and for conversion under New York law. Defendants renewed their motion to dismiss on January 28. That motion became fully submitted on March 14.

Discussion

I. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

LLR has moved to dismiss the SAC for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), asserting that Porsch lacks constitutional standing to sue under Article III of the United States Constitution. That motion is denied.

When moving to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, a defendant may either challenge the pleading as facially deficient, "based solely on the allegations of the complaint," or may "make a fact-based Rule 12(b)(1) motion, proffering evidence beyond the Pleading." Carter v. HealthPort Tech., LLC, 822 F.3d 47, 56-57 (2d Cir. 2016) ; see also Katz v. Donna Karan Co., L.L.C., 872 F.3d 114, 119 (2d Cir. 2017).

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Bluebook (online)
380 F. Supp. 3d 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/porsch-v-llr-inc-ilsd-2019.