Turner v. Government Employees Financial Corp.

351 F. Supp. 181, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10830
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 6, 1972
DocketCiv. A. No. 72-399
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 351 F. Supp. 181 (Turner v. Government Employees Financial Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Turner v. Government Employees Financial Corp., 351 F. Supp. 181, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10830 (W.D. Pa. 1972).

Opinion

OPINION

WEBER, District Judge.

This is a diversity action alleging an invasion of privacy and interference with plaintiff’s employment rights. Plaintiff’s complaint alleges that he became delinquent to the extent of three monthly payments to defendant on an installment loan contract, and that the defendant sent letters to plaintiff’s employer (the United States Internal Revenue Service) advising it of the plaintiff’s delinquency. (While plaintiff’s complaint and brief recite letters, the evidentiary materials display only one letter).

Plaintiff asserts that this is an invasion of his right of privacy and that defendant’s action was an unreasonable interference with that right because it was an attempt to bring the pressure of the federal government to bear on him and to force payment of the debt.

Plaintiff alleges damages involving emotional distress and possible interference with his future employment prospects.

Defendant has moved to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12 for failure of the complaint to state a cause of action, and for failure to meet the required jurisdictional minimum. Evidentiary materials in support of and in opposition to the motion have been submitted and, therefore, under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12 we treat this as a motion for summary judgment.

Although this is a diversity action, controlled by the law of Pennsylvania, we have not only examined the Pennsylvania cases but also reported cases from other jurisdictions covering this cause of action. This cause of action is of recent historical growth and the text writers and the opinions of other jurisdictions give some guidance in the matter.

No Pennsylvania case and none from any other jurisdiction has held that a communication from a creditor to a debtor’s employer informing him of the debtor’s default, delinquency or failure to pay a debt constitutes an unreasonable invasion of the creditor’s privacy. In fact cases from various jurisdictions have specifically rejected such a communication as the basis of a cause of action for invasion of privacy. In Cunningham v. Securities Investment Co. of St. Louis, 278 F.2d 600 [5th Cir. 1960] the court affirmed the granting of a summary judgment in a case involving invasion of privacy where the creditor placed one telephone call to the debtor’s doctors. The court said:

“ . . . [A] creditor has a right to take reasonable, that is non-oppressive, action to pursue his debtor and persuade payment, although the steps taken may result in actual but not actionable invasion of the debtor’s privacy.” (P. 604)

While the Restatement Torts, Vol. 4, See. 867 [1939] defines the cause of action for invasion of privacy as “A person who unreasonably and seriously interferes with another’s interest in not having his affairs known to others or his likeness exhibited to the public is liable to the other” the text writers have limited this somewhat. In Prosser, Law of Torts [3d ed. 1963] invasion of privacy is more limited:

“Some limits of this branch of the right of privacy appear to be fairly marked out. The disclosure of the private facts must be a public disclosure, not a private one; there must [183]*183be, in other words, publicity. It is an invasion of his rights to publish in a newspaper that the plaintiff does not pay his debts, or to post a notice to that effect in a window on the public street, or to cry it aloud in the highway, but not to communicate the fact to the plaintiff’s employer (citing cases) or to any other individual, or even to a small group, unless there is some breach of contract, trust or confidential relation which will afford an independent basis for relief.” (p. 835).

In Household Finance Corp. v. Bridge, 252 Md. 531, 250 A.2d 878 [1969] the court reversed a jury verdict for the plaintiff and entered judgment for the defendant stating that two or three telephone calls to the debtor’s employer was not enough to constitute an invasion of privacy.

Two federal district courts have granted summary judgments based on factual situations similar to the instant case. In Harrison v. Humble Oil & Refining Co., 264 F.Supp. 89 [S.C.1967] the facts established that the creditor made one call to plaintiff’s employer. The court held that:

“The mere communication to the debt- or’s employer of the existence of the debt is not an unreasonable intrusion and will not support an action.” (P. 92)

In Berrier v. Beneficial Finance, Inc., 234 F.Supp. 204 [N.D.Ind.1964] the court granted summary judgment when the facts disclosed that the creditor made two telephone calls and wrote one letter to the plaintiff’s employer asking the employer to speak with the debtor to get her to pay the debt. The court found the defendant creditor’s actions reasonable as a matter of law.

The facts in the case at bar do not prove an unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of the plaintiff. In response to the defendant’s motion, plaintiff has produced no facts that would place the present communication outside the bounds of reasonable efforts to collect a debt. There is no evidence of harassment, oppression or malice. Although plaintiff alleged that letters (sic) were sent to the employer, the evidentiary material reveals one letter only. Despite the allegation of plaintiff’s complaint that the defendant did not communicate in any way with plaintiff regarding the alleged delinquency prior to sending the aforesaid letters (sic) to plaintiff’s employer, the evidence shows that repeated delinquency notices were sent to plaintiff’s residence, were received by either him or his wife, and in one instance acknowledged telephonically by plaintiff.

Plaintiff argues that defendant did not inform him at the time of signing the loan agreement that it would notify his employer of any delinquency. We cannot see the relevance of this allegation, as the evidentiary materials submitted here show that several other creditors of plaintiff have also had to resort to notices to plaintiff’s employer in aid of collection. Plaintiff was well aware of this practice.

Plaintiff also argues that defendant’s action is oppressive because in dealing with government employees it was aware that notices of debt delinquency with regard to employees of the Internal Revenue Service could lead to oral or written reprimand, denial of advancement or pay increase, suspension and discharge, under the Rules of Conduct prescribed for employees of the Internal Revenue Service. While this is a bare allegation of plaintiff, we may accept it as a fact inference from the evidence that defendant is an organization which specializes in credit and financing services to government employees. Presumably these are considered good credit risks because of such regulations.

The motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action will be granted.

With respect to the required showing of the jurisdictional amount the plaintiff’s initial response to defendant’s motion was inadequate to carry his burden. When challenged the burden of establishing the requisite jurisdictional amount falls upon the plaintiff who as[184]

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Related

Turner v. Government Employees Financial Corporation
481 F.2d 1400 (Third Circuit, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
351 F. Supp. 181, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-government-employees-financial-corp-pawd-1972.