Stickrath v. Globalstar, Inc.

527 F. Supp. 2d 992, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73763, 2007 WL 2790727
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedSeptember 25, 2007
DocketC07-1941 TEH
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 527 F. Supp. 2d 992 (Stickrath v. Globalstar, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stickrath v. Globalstar, Inc., 527 F. Supp. 2d 992, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73763, 2007 WL 2790727 (N.D. Cal. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

THELTON E. HENDERSON, District Judge.

This matter came before the Court on Monday, September 17, 2007, on Defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint. After carefully considering the parties’ written and oral arguments, the Court GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART Defendant’s motion at the conclusion of the hearing. The Court now issues this written order to provide additional reasoning behind its rulings.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs Kenneth and Sharan Stiekrath seek to represent a class of all individuals who purchased satellite telephone service from Defendant Globalstar, Inc. between March 2003 and the present. The Stick-raths subscribed to the service “from approximately 2004 through 2006 so that they would have the ability to keep their family advised of their location while they were traveling at sea in the Bahamas. The Service proved unreliable initially and only became worse.” 1 Am. Compl. ¶ 23. Plaintiffs further allege that they “experienced numerous dropped calls when attempting to use the service. Often, the phone signal meter would show a good signal and then the call would be dropped. Frequently there was no signal at all.” Id. ¶ 24.

Plaintiffs complain that Defendant unlawfully failed to disclose material information regarding the quality of its satellite *995 telephone services and that Defendant also made affirmative misrepresentations, such as claims that the service “[w]orks virtually ANYWHERE you can see Sky.” Am. Compl. ¶ 25a. Plaintiffs contend that such conduct is unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent in violation of California’s unfair competition law (“UCL”), California Business and Professions Code § § 17200 et seq., and that it constitutes prohibited practices under two sections of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”): “[Representing that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or quantities which they do not have,” Cal. Civ.Code § 1770(a)(5), and “[Representing that goods or services are of a particular standard, quality, or grade ... if they are of another,” Cal. Civ.Code § 1770(a)(7). Defendant moves to dismiss Plaintiffs’ amended complaint on a variety of grounds, each of which the Court addresses in turn below.

LEGAL STANDARD

Dismissal is appropriate under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) when a plaintiffs allegations fail “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). In evaluating the sufficiency of a complaint’s allegations, a court must assume the facts alleged in the complaint to be true unless the allegations are controverted by exhibits attached to the complaint, matters subject to judicial notice, or documents necessarily relied on by the complaint and whose authenticity no party questions. Lee v. City of Los Ange-les, 250 F.3d 668, 688-89 (9th Cir.2001). In addition, a court need not “accept as true allegations that are merely concluso-ry, unwarranted deductions of fact, or unreasonable inferences.” Sprewell v. Golden State Warriors, 266 F.3d 979, 988 (9th Cir.2001), amended on other grounds by 275 F.3d 1187 (9th Cir.2001). A court should not grant dismissal unless the plaintiff has failed to plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, — U.S. —, —, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1974, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Moreover, dismissal should be with leave to amend unless it is clear that amendment could not possibly cure the complaint’s deficiencies. Steckman v. Hart Brewing, Inc., 143 F.3d 1293, 1296 (9th Cir.1998).

Defendant also moves to dismiss this case for lack of jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Because Defendant does not seek to rely on any external facts, this is a facial rather than factual challenge to the court’s jurisdiction. See Wolfe v. Strankman, 392 F.3d 358, 362 (9th Cir.2004) (distinguishing between facial and factual jurisdictional attacks). Consequently, this Court applies a similar standard to Defendant’s Rule 12(b)(1) motion as to its Rule 12(b)(6) motion: Dismissal is appropriate only if the complaint’s allegations, which are assumed to be true, are insufficient to support a finding of jurisdiction. Id.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether Plaintiffs Have Adequately Alleged Standing

Defendants first move to dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims for lack of standing. To satisfy the constitutional requirements of standing, “the plaintiff must have suffered an ‘injury in fact’ — an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.” Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) (citations and internal quotations omitted). In addition, the plaintiffs “injury in fact” must be fairly traceable to the challenged conduct of the defendant, and “it must be likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.” Id. at 560-61, 112 S.Ct. 2130 (citation and inter *996 nal quotations omitted). Similarly, both the UCL and CLRA protect only plaintiffs who have suffered harm “as a result of’ defendants’ unlawful or unfair practices. Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code § 17204(UCL); Cal. Civ.Code § 1780 (CLRA). Defendant contends that Plaintiffs have failed to plead causation and have also failed to plead facts giving rise to standing to sue for injunctive relief.

A. Causation

In their opposition, Plaintiffs claim that they were injured by Defendant’s alleged misrepresentations and omissions because they would not have purchased Defendant’s services, or would have done so only at a reduced cost, had all material information been disclosed. However, no such allegations appear in the complaint. The only paragraphs of the complaint that Plaintiffs cite as allegations of causation state that, “[a]s a result of Defendant’s unfair and deceptive practices, Plaintiffs and the Class members purchased satellite phones and the Service for the purpose of placing and receiving calls in remote places.” Am. Compl. ¶¶ 49, 62. Plaintiffs further allege that their “injuries were directly and proximately caused by Globalstar’s conduct.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Edwards v. Apple, Inc.
N.D. California, 2025
Kapil v. Apple, Inc.
N.D. California, 2025
Heck v. Amazon.com Inc
W.D. Washington, 2025
TAYLOR v. CARRIER GLOBAL CORPORATION
M.D. North Carolina, 2022
Brown v. Madison Reed, Inc.
N.D. California, 2022
Hodgson v. Roper
E.D. California, 2020
Krommenhock v. Post Foods, LLC
255 F. Supp. 3d 938 (N.D. California, 2017)
Abramson v. Marriott Ownership Resorts, Inc.
155 F. Supp. 3d 1056 (C.D. California, 2016)
Weisblum v. Prophase Labs, Inc.
88 F. Supp. 3d 283 (S.D. New York, 2015)
Frenzel v. Aliphcom
76 F. Supp. 3d 999 (N.D. California, 2014)
MacKinnon v. IMVU CA6
California Court of Appeal, 2014
Kelly v. Electronic Arts, Inc.
71 F. Supp. 3d 1061 (N.D. California, 2014)
Abbit v. ING USA Annuity & Life Insurance
999 F. Supp. 2d 1189 (S.D. California, 2014)
Gerash v. Verizon Online CA2/5
California Court of Appeal, 2013
Gerash v. Verizon Onlin CA2/8
California Court of Appeal, 2013
Stanwood v. Mary Kay, Inc.
941 F. Supp. 2d 1212 (C.D. California, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
527 F. Supp. 2d 992, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73763, 2007 WL 2790727, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stickrath-v-globalstar-inc-cand-2007.