Steven Calderone v. Sonic Houston JLR, L.P.

879 F.3d 577
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 9, 2018
Docket17-20029
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 879 F.3d 577 (Steven Calderone v. Sonic Houston JLR, L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Steven Calderone v. Sonic Houston JLR, L.P., 879 F.3d 577 (5th Cir. 2018).

Opinion

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Steven Calderone, a former employee of Sonic Houston JLR, L.P. (“Sonic”), claims he was unlawfully terminated under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (“CFPA”) for reporting racial discrimination in the extension of credit. Calderone appeals an adverse summary judgment. We affirm,

L

Sonic, a car dealership, employed Cal-derone as., a salesman. Calderone alleges that Sonic refused to extend financing or sell' cars to customers who were members of racial minorities. Calderone reported the discrimination to supervisors, managers, and eventually the human resources department and was allegedly terminated for those actions.

Calderone brought several claims against Sonic, only one of which, the CFPA claim, is the subject of this appeal. The CFPA, part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street.-Reform and Consumer Protection Act, prohibits “covered, person[s]” and “service provider[s]” from terminating or discriminating against any ■ “covered employee” who provides information regarding a violation of federal law subject to the jurisdiction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “the Bureau”). 1-2 U.S.C; § 5567(a).

Sonic’s actions, if covered, allegedly would violate a section of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1691 et seq., which prohibits creditors 1 from, discriminating.against “any. applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction—on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or marital status, or age (provided the applicant has the capacity to contract),” id. § 1691(a)(1). The ECOA is a statute within generally the jurisdiction of the Bureau. 12 U.S.C. § 5481(12)(D).

The district court granted summary judgment to Sonic, holding that, as an automobile dealer, Sonic is excluded from the CFPB’s jurisdiction by 12 U.S.C. § 5519(a). Sonic provided an affidavit from its financial director stating that it is “predominantly engaged in the sale, leasing, and servicing of motor vehicles. The dealership helps customers obtain retail credit or retail leases from third-party lenders. However, the dealership does not approve (or deny) financing or provide financing or leases directly to customers.”

We agree that Sonic fits under- the § 5519(a) automobile dealer exclusion. This does not ultimately end the inquiry, however, as Calderone points out on appeal. But because § 5481(12) extends the dealer exclusion to the laws subject to the jurisdiction of the Bureau, we affirm.

II.

, The anti-retaliatory termination provision on which Calderone sues reads as follows:

No covered person or service provider shall terminate. or in any other way discriminate against, or cause to be terminated or discriminated against,, any covered employee or any authorized representative of covered employees by reason of the fact that such employee or representative, whether at the initiative of the employee or in the ordinary ' course of the duties of the employee (or any person acting pursuant to a request of the employee), has—provided, caused to be provided, or is about to provide or cause to be provided, information to the employer, the Bureau, or any other State, local, or Federal, government authority or law enforcement agency relating to any violation .of, or any act or omission that the employee reasonably believes to be a violation of, any provision of this title or any other provision of law that is subject to the jurisdiction of the Bureau, or any rule, order, standard, or prohibition prescribed by the Bureau....

12 U.S.C. § 5567(a)(1) '(emphasis added). To determine whether Sonic unlawfully terminated Calderone, then, we must ask which provisions of law are subject to the jurisdiction of the Bureau. Those are found at 12 U.S.C. § 5481(12), which reads, “Except as otherwise specifically provided in section 5519 of this title, subtitle G or subtitle H, the term ‘enumerated consumer laws’ means ... the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.”

The exception noted is the automobile dealer exclusion, which provides, Except as permitted in subsection (b), the Bureau may not exercise any rulemaking, supervisory, enforcement or any other authority, including any authority to order assessments, over a motor vehicle dealer that is predominantly engaged in the sale and servicing of motor vehicles, the leasing and servicing of motor vehicles, or both.

12 U.S.C. § 5519(a). The exclusion goes on to state that it does not apply to dealers that directly extend financing to consumers and that it is not meant to modify, limit, or supersede the authority of any other federal agencies related to automobile dealers. § 5519(b)—(c).

A.

Calderone contends that Sonic is a service provider subject to the anti-retaliation provision in § 5567(a). He explains that automobile dealers that do not provide direct financing to consumers are exempt from the CFPB’s regulatory and enforcement authority but are not exempt from consumer protection laws otherwise under the CFPB’s jurisdiction. Under Calder-one’s theory, even if Sonic is excepted as an entity from the CFPB’s authority, it still could be covered by § 5567(a) because that provision regards laws subject to the CFPB’s jurisdiction, not persons. Because the Secretary of Labor, and not the CFPB, enforces § 5567, the CFPB’s regulatory authority does not matter. §§ 5567(c), 5519(c).

Sonic uses the automobile dealer exclusion to claim that automobile dealers are exempt from § 5567(a) as an entity outside the Bureau’s jurisdiction. That does not follow. Importantly, § 5519(c) expressly reserves the power of other federal agencies over automobile dealers. And it is the Department of Labor, not the CFPB, that enforces § 5567(a). Thus, nothing in § 5519(a) precludes the Department of Labor, a separate federal entity, from enforcing the anti-retaliation provision against dealers even though the CFPB could not. 2

B.

We look to the plain language and statutory structure. 3 Section 5567(a) forbids covered persons and service providers from terminating employees who report information about violations of laws subject to the CFPB’s jurisdiction. The statute enumerates these laws in § 5481 and includes the ECOA, the statute Calderone believes Sonic violated. Given the above, we must examine § 5481(12) to decide which laws are subject to the Bureau’s jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
879 F.3d 577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steven-calderone-v-sonic-houston-jlr-lp-ca5-2018.