Sykes v. Mel Harris & Associates, LLC

285 F.R.D. 279, 2012 WL 3834802, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125336
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 4, 2012
DocketNo. 09 Civ. 8486 (DC)
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 285 F.R.D. 279 (Sykes v. Mel Harris & Associates, LLC) 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
Sykes v. Mel Harris & Associates, LLC, 285 F.R.D. 279, 2012 WL 3834802, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125336 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

CHIN, Circuit Judge.

In this case, four plaintiffs allege that a debt-buying company, a law firm, a process service company, and others engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain default judgments against them and more than 100,000 other consumers in state court. Defendants allegedly acted in concert to defraud these consumers in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the “FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq., New York General Business Law (“GBL”) § 349, and New York Judiciary Law § 487. Plaintiffs seek injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and damages on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated individuals. They move for class certification.

The motion is granted. The record before the Court establishes that defendants obtained tens of thousands of default judgments in consumer debt actions, based on thousands of affidavits attesting to the merits of the action that were generated en masse by sophisticated computer programs and signed by a law firm employee who did not read the vast majority of them and claimed to, but apparently did not, have personal knowledge of the facts to which he was attesting. The record also shows that on hundreds of occasions the defendant process servers purported to serve process at two or more locations at the same time. As discussed more fully below, defendants’ unitary course of conduct purportedly to obtain de[283]*283fault judgments in a fraudulent manner presents common questions of law and fact that can be resolved most efficiently on a class-wide basis.

BACKGROUND

A. The Facts

I make the following findings of fact based upon the depositions, declarations, and exhibits submitted by the parties in connection with this motion. I resolve factual disputes to the extent necessary to decide the class certification issue.1 See In re Initial Pub. Offering (“IPO”) Sec. Litig., 471 F.3d 24, 27, 41-42 (2d Cir.2006) (when adjudicating motion for class certification, “all of the evidence must be assessed as with any other threshold issue”; “the judge [must] resolve factual disputes” relevant to class certification). Certain factual assertions relate to the merits; I do not resolve these factual issues now, but state them as the parties’ assertions.

1. The Parties

Plaintiffs Monique Sykes, Rea Veeraba-dren, Kelvin Perez, and Clifton Armoogam are New York City residents who were each sued by various defendants in debt collection actions commenced in New York City Civil Court between 2006 and 2010. {See Jain Deck Exs. A, E, I, M; Third Arm Compl. ¶¶ 10-13). Each denies being served with a summons and complaint in their respective action. {See Third Am. Compl. ¶¶ 117, 138, 169, 201). Defendants, nevertheless, were able to obtain default judgments against them. {See Jain Deck Exs. D, H, L, P).

Defendants are: (1) various subsidiaries of Leucadia National Corporation (“Leucadia”) that purchase and collect consumer debt; (2) Mel S. Harris and Associates LLC (“Mel Harris”), a law firm specializing in debt collection litigation; (3) Samserv, Inc. (“Sam-serv”), a process service company; and (4) various affiliates and associates of each of the foregoing entities (the “Leucadia defendants,” the “Mel Harris defendants,” and the “Samserv defendants,” respectively).2 {See Third Am. Compl. ¶¶ 14-38).

2. The Alleged Scheme

Plaintiffs allege that the Leucadia and Mel Harris defendants entered into joint ventures to purchase debt portfolios, and then filed debt collection actions against the alleged debtors with the intent to collect millions of dollars through fraudulently-obtained default judgments. (Third Am. Compl. ¶¶ 1, 3-7, 91). The Leucadia and Mel Harris defendants regularly hired Samserv to serve process. {Id. ¶¶ 4, 92). According to plaintiffs, Samserv routinely engaged in “sewer service” whereby it would fail to serve the summons and complaint but still submit proof of service to the court. {Id. ¶¶ 4, 92-93). After a debtor failed to appear in court for lack of notice of the action, the Leucadia and Mel Harris defendants would then apply for a default judgment by providing the court with, inter alia, an “affidavit of merit” attesting to their personal knowledge regarding the defendant’s debt and an affidavit of service as proof of service. {Id. ¶¶ 4, 6, 92-94). The Leucadia and Mel Harris defendants had limited proof to substantiate the claims made in their affidavits of merit because they typically did not possess documentation of the underlying debt, and moreover, because the affiant lacked “personal knowledge” of such claims, contrary to what is stated in the [284]*284affidavit. (Id. ¶¶ 104-10). Plaintiffs further allege that the affidavits of service were also false because defendants regularly engaged in sewer service. (Id. ¶¶ 93-94).

3. Default Judgments3

Between 2006 and 2009, various Leucadia entities filed 124,838 cases in New York City Civil Court. (De Jesus Deck ¶¶3-4). In 99.63 percent of those cases, Mel Harris defendants acted as counsel. (Id.). The “vast majority” of such cases were adjudicated without appearance by the defendant debtors, indicating the likelihood that a default judgment was entered. (Id. ¶ 5). Between 2007 and 2010 various Leucadia entities obtained default judgments in 49,114 cases in New York City Civil Court. (Coffey Deck ¶¶ 3-7).

4. Service of Process

Between January 2007 and January 2011, Samserv defendants performed service of process in 94,123 cases filed by Mel Harris in New York City Civil Court, 59,959 of which were filed on behalf of Leucadia defendants. (7/31/11 Egleson Deck ¶¶ 2-4). Records maintained by defendants reveal hundreds of instances of the same process server executing service at two or more locations at the same time. (Id. ¶¶ 9 — 11, Ex. A). On 517 occasions, defendants Mosquera, Lamb, and Andino, alone, claimed to be have performed service in two or more places at the same time. (Id. ¶ 11, Ex. A). For example, Mos-quera claimed to have performed service at four different locations at 1 p.m. on September 17, 2008. (Id. ¶ 10). Lamb claimed to have performed service at two different locations at 6:59 p.m. on November 28, 2007. (Id.). Andino claimed to have performed service at nine different locations at 4 p.m. on March 29, 2007. (Id.). There were also many other occasions where multiple services were purportedly made so close in time that it would have been impossible for the process server to travel from one location to the other as claimed. (Id. ¶¶ 13-23, Ex. B).

These facts, together with the high number of default judgments obtained by defendants, provide substantial support for plaintiffs’ assertion that defendants regularly engaged in sewer service.

5.

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285 F.R.D. 279, 2012 WL 3834802, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sykes-v-mel-harris-associates-llc-nysd-2012.