Robledo v. City of Chicago

252 F.R.D. 639, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78263, 2008 WL 4472284
District Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided October 6, 2008·No. No. 05 C 0335·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ELAINE E. BUCKLO, District Judge.

Plaintiffs/Counter-Defendants Celso Robledo, Maria Robledo, Manuel Robledo, Walter Kopec, and Jeffrey Martin, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated (“plaintiffs”), have brought a motion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), (b)(6) and (f) to dismiss counterclaims for set-off and unjust enrichment brought by defendants/counter-plaintiffs the City of Chicago and Bea Reyna-Hickey (together, the “City”), or in the alternative to strike portions of the defendants’/counter-plaintiffs’ requests for relief. For the following reasons, plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss is granted and their motion to strike is denied as moot.

I.

In January of 2005, plaintiffs brought a class action suit, filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming the City violated their right to procedural due process by disposing of their vehicles without adequate notice or providing a hearing at which they could raise objections to such disposal. The plaintiff class, consisting of “those persons whose vehicles were towed, impounded, and disposed of by defendants, such sale or destruction having occurred no more than two years from the filing of this lawsuit,” was certified on August 9, 2006. (Class Cert. Order at 21, 27, Aug. 9, 2006.)

Three years into this case, the City filed an amended answer alleging new counterclaims [640] for set-off and unjust enrichment, seeking remedy for alleged outstanding debts owed by the putative class members. (Am. Answer at 33-37.) The City states in its pleading that the putative class is coextensive with the plaintiff class. Id. at 35. The City alleges that (1) each putative class member violated one or more sections of the Traffic Code (Chapters 9-4 through 9-100 of the Chicago Municipal Code), ignored citations, accumulated several determinations of liability, and failed to timely pay their debts to the City, which subjected them to additional fees for towing and storage; (2) these debts are still owed to the city; and (3) any award of damages, costs and fees should be set-off against any outstanding debt owed to the City. Id. at 35-36.

Plaintiffs have moved to dismiss the counterclaims pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) and (6), and in the alternative, to strike certain portions of the City’s requested remedies.

II.

In assessing the motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and (6), I must accept all well-pled facts in the counterclaims as true, and view all the allegations in the light most favorable to the defendants. Thompson v. Illinois Dep’t of Prof'l Regulation, 300 F.3d 750, 753 (7th Cir.2002); Gomez v. Illinois State Bd. of Educ., 811 F.2d 1030, 1039 (7th Cir.1987). However, “[fjactual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1965, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); E.E.O.C. v. Concentra Health Servs., Inc., 496 F.3d 773, 776-77 (7th Cir.2007).

Plaintiffs move to dismiss the City’s counterclaims on the ground that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a) and (c). Plaintiffs argue that since the underlying debts at issue are not related to their due process claims, the City’s counterclaims do not qualify for supplemental jurisdiction. All that is needed for supplemental jurisdiction of the City’s counterclaims is a “loose” factual connection and I find there is one here. Plaintiffs’ violations of the Traffic Code caused the debts sought by the City, which caused the destruction of plaintiffs’ vehicles in violation of due process. This factual connection is enough to support the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction under § 1367(a). See Channell v. Citicorp Nat’l Servs., Inc., 89 F.3d 379 (7th Cir.1996). However, supplemental jurisdiction over a claim otherwise allowed by § 1367(a) may be declined (1) if the claim substantially predominates over the claim or claims over which the district court has original jurisdiction; or (2) in “exceptional circumstances” where there are “other compelling reasons for declining jurisdiction.” Id. at 386; 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(2),(4). In this case, both exceptions apply.

The City contends that the putative class is coextensive with the certified plaintiff class. At the time the plaintiff class was certified, the number of members was estimated at lS^M.1 In its counterclaims, the City cites the entire Traffic Code as predicate to the violations at issue in their set-off claim for those 18,000 + class members. (Am. Answer at 33-34.) In other words, there are about 18,000+ people who violated any number of traffic laws and incurred fines, fees, penalties, and interest, under any number of code sections.

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Robledo v. City of Chicago, 252 F.R.D. 639, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78263, 2008 WL 4472284 (N.D. Ill. 2008).

252 F.R.D. 639 (Robledo v. City of Chicago) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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