Samms v. Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP

163 F. Supp. 3d 109, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24230, 2016 WL 791271
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 27, 2016
Docket15-cv-2741 (JSR)
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 163 F. Supp. 3d 109 (Samms v. Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Samms v. Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP, 163 F. Supp. 3d 109, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24230, 2016 WL 791271 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JED S. RAKOFF, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.

Plaintiff Larry Samms brought this action against the law firm of Abrams, Fen-sterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara & Wolf, LLP (“Abrams”), alleging two violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) and one violation of N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349. The Court now has cross-motions for summary judgment before it: Samms moves for summary judgment on liability on all of his claims; Abrams moves for partial summary judgment on the first FDCPA claim and on the § 349 claim. The Court grants Samms’s motions with respect to the FDCPA violations and denies his motion with respect to the state law claim. The Court denies Abrams’s motions.

The facts of this case are set out in greater detail in the Court’s opinion denying in part and granting in part defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. Memorandum Order dated July 7, 2015, at 1-3, ECF No. 21. By way of background, Abrams filed an action in New York State Supreme Court in West-chester County on behalf of its client the Bishop Charles W. Maclean Episcopal Nursing Home (the “Nursing Home”). The state court complaint alleged that Samms owed the Nursing Home a debt of $21,000 for services rendered. Samms brought the present action alleging that the state court proceeding against him violated the FDCPA and GBL § 349. Samms’ first FDCPA claim is a “distant venue” claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1692i(a)(2): Abrams filed the lawsuit against Samms in Westchester County, but Samms resides in Bronx County. Samms’s second FDCPA claim is based on the request in the debt collection lawsuit for attorneys’ fees, which Samms alleges was without legal basis in violation of 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692e, 1692f(l). Samms also claims that the baseless request for attorneys’ fees was a deceptive business practice under GBL § 349.

A court grants a party’s motion for summary judgment when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 56(a). With respect to Samms’s first claim, there are no material facts in dispute. 15 U.S.C. § 1692i states in relevant part that “[a]ny debt collector who brings any legal action on a debt against any consumer shall ... bring such action only in the judicial district ... in which such consumer resides at the commencement of the action.” However, 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c) sets out a “bona fide error” defense to FDCPA violations: “[a] debt collector may not be held liable in any [FDCPA] action ... if the debt collector shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error.”

Abrams concedes that it filed its debt collection lawsuit against Samms in West-chester County on April 9, 2014. See [113]*113Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eis-man, Formato, Ferrara, & Wolf, LLP Statement of Material Facts in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment ¶ 23, ECF No. 58. Invoking § 1692k(c), Abrams argues that it filed the suit with a good faith belief that Samms resided in Westchester County and pursuant to internal procedures designed to prevent FDCPA violations. The facts marshalled by Abrams demonstrating its good faith belief and internal procedures are not material because Abrams also concedes that it served Samms through “nail-and-mail” service at his residence in Bronx County on June 26, 2014. Id. ¶ 38; Declaration of Anthony Genovesi, Esq. in Opposition to Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment Ex. 0, ECF No. 60. “Nail-and-mail” service requires a summons to be affixed to an individual’s residence or place of business, and Abrams does not claim that it had confused Samms’s home with a business. N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 308(4); Declaration of Anthony Genovesi, Esq. in Opposition to Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment Ex. O, ECF No. 60 (identifying the site of service in the Bronx as “Larry Samms’s ... residence”). Therefore, by June 26, 2014, Abrams must have believed that Samms resided in Bronx County.

In light of these undisputed facts, the dispositive question is one of law: when and where did Abrams “bring” its action against Samms for purposes of 15 U.S.C. § 1692i by filing the lawsuit in Westchester County in April but serving Samms in Bronx County in June? The Second Circuit has spoken approvingly of, although not outright adopted, the Fifth Circuit’s rule that a lawsuit is “brought” for purposes of § 1692i when a debtor receives notice of the suit. See Benzemann v. Citibank N.A., 806 F.3d 98, 102-03 (2d Cir.2015); Serna v. Law Office of Joseph Onwuteaka, P.C., 732 F.3d 440, 445-46 (5th Cir.2013); see also Johnson v. Riddle, 305 F.3d 1107, 1113 (10th Cir.2002)(holding that FDCPA violation occurs when a plaintiff has been served for purposes of statute of limitations provision).1 The Serna court explained that “ ‘tying a violation to the mere filing of a complaint does not serve the statute’s remedial purpose,’ because ‘no harm immediately occurs’ upon the filing of the complaint.” Benzemann, 806 F.3d at 102 (quoting Serna, 732 F.3d at 445). Serna’s reasoning applies here. The harms the FDCPA was designed to prevent do not occur until a debtor receives notice of a collection lawsuit. Accordingly, the lawsuit against Samms was not “brought” within the meaning of § 1692i until he was served on June 26, 2014.

The question of when a lawsuit is brought is only half the puzzle: the question of where a lawsuit is brought within the meaning of § 1692i must also be considered. Notice cannot serve the same purpose in determining the location of a lawsuit as opposed to its timing. Were the Serna notice rule to be applied to the location of a lawsuit, the FDCPA would require that debt collection actions be served within a debtor’s district of residence. This would invalidate many acceptable methods and locations of service, such as, in New York, personal service on a debtor outside of the debtor’s county of residence. See N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 308(1). The purpose of the FDCPA is not to ob[114]*114struct valid debt collection lawsuits but to prevent abusive debt collection practices. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692. The abusive debt collection practices addressed by § 1692i’s venue requirements are the costs and inconveniences imposed on debtors by responding to lawsuits in faraway places.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
163 F. Supp. 3d 109, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24230, 2016 WL 791271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/samms-v-abrams-fensterman-fensterman-eisman-formato-ferrara-wolf-nysd-2016.