VanHuss v. Kohn Law Firm S.C.

127 F. Supp. 3d 980, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116465, 2015 WL 5123699
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedSeptember 1, 2015
DocketNo. 14-cv-839-wmc
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 127 F. Supp. 3d 980 (VanHuss v. Kohn Law Firm S.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
VanHuss v. Kohn Law Firm S.C., 127 F. Supp. 3d 980, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116465, 2015 WL 5123699 (W.D. Wis. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

WILLIAM M. CONLEY, District Judge.

Invoking the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et sect., and the Wisconsin Consumer Act (“WCA”), Wis. Stat. § 421 et sect., plaintiffs allege that defendants Kohn Law Firm and Discovery Bank engaged in unlawful and unfair practices by garnishing funds to which they had no legal right. Specifically, according to the complaint, defendant Discovery Bank, through its counsel Kohn Law Firm S.C. (“Kohn”), filed a lawsuit against plaintiff Patricia VanHuss and obtained a judgment against her. It then filed a Non-Earnings Garnishment against Patricia VanHuss “DBA Joint Effects,” changing the case’s caption so that it appeared the judgment was not only against VanHuss but also against Joint Effects, a partnership she ran with plaintiff Loretta LoMastro.

Several motions are currently pending before the court, including plaintiffs’ motions to strike defendants’ bona fide error defense (dkt. # 17) and to quash defendants’ subpoena duces tecum of third-party Citibank, N.A. (dkt. #25), as well as defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings (dkt. #27). For the reasons stated below, the court will deny plaintiffs’ motions, while granting in part and denying in part defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.1

OPINION

I. Motion to Strike

In answering the complaint, defendants pled a number of affirmative defenses, including that “[a]ny alleged violations were [983]*983not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error.” (Answer (dkt. # 15) 5, ¶ 9.) This partial defense is recognized in 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(c), which provides:

A debt collector may not be held liable in any action brought under this sub-chapter if the debt collector shows by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error.

The WCA contains a similar provision that insulates a defendant from specific statutory penalties if the defendant’s violation was unintentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of preventative procedures. Wis. Stat. § 425.301(3).

Plaintiffs motion to strike the bona fide error defense takes the position that defendants had not pled “with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b). In response, defendants filed an amended answer, which added the following allegations:

Any alleged violations were not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error notwithstanding the maintenance of procedures reasonably adapted to avoid any such error. At the time of the garnishment, the defendants reasonably believed that Joint Effects was a sole proprietorship rather than a partnership based upon statements and representations made by VanHuss. Specifically, during a pre-trial conference in the underlying Sauk County state court proceeding held on July 2, 2013, VanHuss stated that she was a sole proprietor. The defendants have processes and procedures in place to avoid the filing of bank garnishments that would knowingly result in the attachment of funds to which the defendants are not entitled, and those processes and procedures were in place at the time of the events allegedly giving rise to this lawsuit.

(Am. Answer (dkt. # 21) 5, ¶ 9.) Plaintiffs have to date refused to withdraw their motion to strike, however, arguing that defendants have still not pled sufficient facts to know what specific procedures were in place to ensure that they did not file unlawful garnishments.

Motions to strike affirmative defenses are generally disfavored because they frequently serve only to delay. Heller Fin., Inc. v. Midwhey Powder Co., 883 F.2d 1286, 1294 (7th Cir.1989). Accordingly, a motion to strike is generally appropriate only where the challenged defense “is frivolous or clearly presents no bona fide issue of fact or law.” Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. v. Marine Nat’l Exchange Bank, 55 F.R.D. 436, 438 (E.D.Wis.1972). Similarly, before granting a motion to strike, courts generally “must ‘be convinced that there are no questions of fact, that any questions of law are clear and not in dispute, and that under no set of circumstances could the defense succeed.’” In re Midway Airlines, Inc., 175 B.R. 239, 242 (Bankr. N.D.Ill.1994) (applying Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f) (quoting Lirtzman v. Spiegel, Inc., 493 F.Supp. 1029, 1031 (N.D.Ill.1980))).

On the other hand, the Seventh Circuit has recognized that affirmative defenses are “subject to all pleading requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedúre.” Heller, 883 F.2d at 1294. Ordinarily, this requires that the pleading party set forth a “short and plain statement” of the defense. Id. (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a); Bobbitt v. Victorian House, Inc., 532 F.Supp. 734, 737 (N.D.Ill.1982)).

Here, the defense at issue is one of bona fide error — that is, “a genuine mistake.” Kort v. Diversified Collection Servs., Inc., 394 F.3d 530, 538 (7th Cir.2005). Alleging [984]*984mistake requires a party to state the circumstances constituting the mistake “with particularity.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b). At least one court has held, albeit without extensive analysis, that the bona fide error defense is subject to the heightened pleading requirements of Rule 9(b). See Lowe v. Diversified Consultants, Inc., No. 12 C 2009, 2012 WL 3776715, at *1 (N.D.Ill. Aug. 30, 2012). Although there is a real question as to whether requiring a party to plead its own mistake with particularity makes sense in light of the purposes behind the heightened pleading standard,2 the plain language would appear to require it, and so the court will assume Rule 9(b) applies.

Rule 9(b) requires defendants to plead the “who, what, when, where, and how” of the alleged mistake. DiLeo v. Ernst & Young, 901 F.2d 624, 627 (7th Cir.1990). Here, defendants have done exactly that. According to defendants, VanHuss made an erroneous statement at a pre-trial conference on July 2, 2013, that she was a “sole proprietor.” This alone suffices to establish the “when, where and how” of the alleged mistake, as well as who precipitated it. Defendants have also alleged what

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127 F. Supp. 3d 980, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116465, 2015 WL 5123699, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vanhuss-v-kohn-law-firm-sc-wiwd-2015.