Spiegler v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.

552 F. Supp. 2d 1036, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33480
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedApril 9, 2008
DocketCase CV 07-4428 CAS (AJW)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 552 F. Supp. 2d 1036 (Spiegler v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spiegler v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 552 F. Supp. 2d 1036, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33480 (C.D. Cal. 2008).

Opinion

AMENDED ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS COMPLAINT UNDER FED. R. CIV. P. 9(b) and 12(b)(6)

CHRISTINA A. SNYDER, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On June 7, 2007, plaintiff Andrea Spie-gler (“Spiegler”), on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated, filed the instant putative class action in the Los An-geles County Superior Court against defendants Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., The Home Depot, Inc., Expo Design Center (the “Home Depot defendants”), and Does 1-100. On July 9, 2007, defendants removed the action to this Court. On September 24, 2007, the Court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b), with leave to amend.

On October 31, 2007, plaintiff filed a first amended complaint adding a second named plaintiff — Pnina Bouskila (“Bouski-la”) — and two defendants — U.S. Remode-lers, Inc. and U.S. Home Systems, Inc. (the “Home Systems defendants”).

By order dated November 26, 2007, based on a stipulation of the parties, the Court granted plaintiffs leave to file a second amended complaint (“SAC”). On December 21, 2007, plaintiffs filed their SAC asserting claims for (1) unfair and fraudulent business practices in violation of Cali *1040 fornia’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code §§ 17200 et seq.-, (2) violation of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”), Cal. Civ.Code §§ 1750 et seq.-, (3) breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; and (4) reformation of contract pursuant to Cal. Civ.Code § 3399.

On or about October 31, 2006, plaintiff Spiegler entered into a written contract with the Home Depot defendants. SAC ¶ 47. The Spiegler contract, as amended by two change orders dated in November 2006, is attached as Exhibit C to the SAC, and incorporated by reference. Id. ¶ 17, Ex C (Contract of Andrea Spiegler (“Spie-gler Contract”)). Pursuant to that contract, plaintiff Spiegler agreed to pay the Home Depot defendants $11,571 for cabinet refacing work at her home. SAC ¶ 17. The parties agreed that Home Depot would order and arrange for the delivery of special order merchandise, and that an independent contractor authorized by Home Depot, an employee of the Home Systems defendants, would install the merchandise in Spiegler’s home. Id. ¶¶ 18, 48^9. Spiegler paid defendants $11,571 for the refacing work and merchandise as required by the parties’ contract. Id. ¶¶ 48, 51.

On or about November 1, 2006, plaintiff Bouskila entered into a written contract with the Home Depot defendants. Id. ¶ 55. The Bouskila contract as amended by a change order dated November 3, 2006, is attached as Exhibit E to the SAC, and incorporated by reference. Id. ¶¶ 56-57, Ex. E (Contract of Pnina Bouskila (“Bouskila Contract”)). Pursuant to that contract, Bouskila agreed to pay the Home Depot defendants $12,610 for cabinet refacing work at her home. Id. ¶ 56. The parties agreed that Home Depot would order and arrange for the delivery of special order merchandise, and that an independent contractor authorized by Home Depot, an employee of the Home Systems defendants, would install the merchandise in Bouskila’s home. Id. ¶¶ 18, 56, 58. Bouskila paid defendants $12,610 for the refacing work and merchandise as required by the parties’ contract. Id. ¶ 58.

The gravamen of plaintiffs’ claims is that the Home Depot defendants overcharged plaintiffs for the home improvement goods and services provided to them under their contracts. Plaintiffs allege that defendants based their pricing to plaintiffs on an initial calculation made by one of defendants’ sales representatives, while unbeknownst to plaintiffs, defendants based the commission they paid to their sales representatives on a subsequent lower, and allegedly more accurate calculation, made by one of defendants’ “Measurement Technicians.” In addition, plaintiffs complain about the imposition of a $250 “Administrative Fee” included in their contract price, which was not separately itemized or disclosed in the contract. No portion of the commission paid to sales representatives is based on this $250 “Administrative Fee.” Plaintiffs contend that this dual pricing practice, which defendants routinely employ for all of their customers whose jobs are priced at their homes, results in an overcharge because they should have been charged a lower price based on the second calculation.

Plaintiffs claim, among other things, that charging them more than the total of the second calculated amount, excluding the $250 “Administrative Fee,” breached their contracts, or was an unfair and fraudulent business practice, and that if the contracts were not literally breached, they should be reformed to reflect plaintiffs’ understanding of what the parties intended, which defendants knew or suspected to be the case.

*1041 It appears, however, that the written contracts in question, which are on their face agreed to be integrated contracts, do not provide that the goods and services in question would be priced on a time and materials basis, or pursuant to some other formula. Instead, the contracts provide for a total agreed upon fixed-price for the goods and services in question. There is no allegation that what was ordered was not, in fact, delivered, installed, and performed as promised by the defendants. Furthermore, there is no allegation that defendants deviated from any pre-existing price schedule in calculating the price charged to plaintiffs. Rather, it appears that the difference in the calculated costs of the jobs is due to variations in the calculation made by the sales representative and the Measurement Technician about the amount of time and materials that would be needed to complete the job. For the reasons set forth more fully below, the fact that this second calculated amount is lower than the first calculated amount and was used to compute the sales representatives’ commissions does not give rise to any claim by plaintiffs against defendants. Plaintiffs have failed to indicate that, if given the opportunity, they could allege any additional facts to support their claims.

On January 25, 2008, the Home Depot defendants moved to dismiss the SAC pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b) and 12(b)(6), which was joined in by the Home Systems defendants. Plaintiffs filed their opposition on February 15, 2008. On March 10, 2008, the Home Depot defendants filed their reply to plaintiffs’ opposition, and an amended notice of motion and motion to dismiss, which was joined in by the Home Systems defendants. A hearing was held on March 24, 2008. Thereafter, the Court took the matter under submission. As noted above, the Court now concludes that this action should be dismissed without leave to amend. 1

II. BACKGROUND

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
552 F. Supp. 2d 1036, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33480, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spiegler-v-home-depot-usa-inc-cacd-2008.