VAUGHN, JR. v. ALLY FINANCIAL, INC.

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedSeptember 30, 2024
Docket1:24-cv-00006
StatusUnknown

This text of VAUGHN, JR. v. ALLY FINANCIAL, INC. (VAUGHN, JR. v. ALLY FINANCIAL, INC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
VAUGHN, JR. v. ALLY FINANCIAL, INC., (M.D.N.C. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

CARL DAVIS VAUGHN, JR., ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) 1:24-cv-6 ) ALLY FINANCIAL, INC. and ) BRADLEY J. BROWN, ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER OSTEEN, JR., District Judge Before this court is a motion to dismiss filed by Defendant Ally Financial, Inc. (“Defendant Ally”). (Doc. 7.) For the reasons stated herein, Defendant Ally’s motion will be granted. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The facts of this case are not completely clear. Based on the Plaintiff’s Complaint and its accompanying documents,1 it appears that this dispute arises from Defendant Ally issuing a loan to Plaintiff in order for him to purchase a vehicle. (See Doc. 4-1 at 7, 8, 10 (showing CarMax purchasing paperwork that notes Ally Financial as the “lienholder” and “loss-payee”).)

1 A court may consider documents “attached to the motion to dismiss, so long as they are integral to the complaint and authentic.” Six v. Generations Fed. Credit Union, 891 F.3d 508, 512 (4th Cir. 2018) (citation omitted). Around June 1, 2023, in what appears to be an attempt to discharge his debt, Plaintiff submitted a “remittance/payment coupon/Bill of Exchange/bill of credit” to Defendant Ally via U.S. Mail. (Doc. 4 at 3.) As Plaintiff notes, this was an attempt by Plaintiff to “utilize the Plaintiff’s redeemable credits/collateral securities that the Defendants received from the Plaintiff’s promissory note, that the Defendants are withholding in a Trust account purportedly on behalf of Plaintiff’s application/instrument/advancement.” (Id.)

Around August 23, 2023, Plaintiff sent another email to Defendant to follow up on his June 1 attempt and further requested that Defendant “fully disclose . . . the type of accounts . . . that were opened by the Defendants/Creditors in the Plaintiff’s name.” (Id. at 5.) On August 30, 2023, Plaintiff sent another email to Defendant Ally, further reminding Defendant Ally of his previous two emails (which apparently went unanswered) and providing Ally an “Opportunity to Cure” by providing Plaintiff the information he had previously requested and offsetting his debt. (Id. at 5 (requesting that Defendants “transfer the Principal’s balance to the Principal’s account . . . to balance out the accounting the Plaintiff’s account”).)

Finally, on September 4, 2023, Plaintiff sent an email entitled “Default Judgment” to Defendant Ally for not responding “to the claim of the Plaintiff’s redeemable credits.” (Id. at 6.) It does not appear from the face of the Complaint that Defendant responded to any of these emails. II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY Plaintiff originally filed a complaint in Durham County, North Carolina, but Defendant Ally removed the lawsuit to federal court on January 3, 2024. (Doc. 1.) Plaintiff filed his Complaint with this court on January 4, 2024. (Complaint (“Compl.”) (Doc. 4).) Defendant Ally filed its Motion to Dismiss

on January 10, 2024, (Def. Mot. to Dismiss (“Def. Mot.”) (Doc. 7)), and a supporting memorandum, (Def. Mem. of Law in Supp. of Mot. to Dismiss (“Def. Mem.”) (Doc. 8)). Plaintiff did not timely respond to Defendant’s motion to dismiss, but rather, filed a notice, entitled “Demand for the Bonds of All Parties Involved for the Injuries, Negligence, and Harm Caused” on March 28, 2024. (Pl. Notice (Doc. 11).) Defendant responded to this notice on April 18, 2024, (Def. Resp. to Pl. Notice (“Def. Resp.”) (Doc. 12)), and Plaintiff replied on May 21, 2024, (Pl. Reply to Def. Resp. (“Pl. Reply”) (Doc. 13)).

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible on its face if the plaintiff “pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable” and demonstrates “more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556–57). When ruling on a motion to dismiss, this court accepts the complaint’s factual allegations

as true. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. This court liberally construes “the complaint, including all reasonable inferences therefrom, . . . in the plaintiff’s favor.” Est. of Williams-Moore v. All. One Receivables Mgmt., Inc., 335 F. Supp. 2d 636, 646 (M.D.N.C. 2004) (citation omitted), but does not, however, accept legal conclusions as true, and “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. Federal courts must liberally construe pro se complaints, even “inartful” ones. See Boag v. MacDougall, 454 U.S. 364, 365 (1982). However, pro se plaintiffs are still required to plead facts that fairly put the defendant on notice of the nature of

the claims and “contain more than labels and conclusions.” See Giarratano v. Johnson, 521 F.3d 298, 304, 304 n.5 (4th Cir. 2008) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). IV. ANAYLYSIS Ascertaining what legal claims Plaintiff is attempting to pursue is difficult, given the relative incoherence and rambling nature of the Complaint.2 This court, in construing the Complaint liberally, finds that Plaintiff asserts the following claims for relief: 1) a claim under D.C. Code 28:3-303, 2) a claim under 12 U.S.C. § 1431, 3) a failure to disclose claim under the Truth in

Lending Act (TILA), 4) breach of fiduciary duties, 5) breach of contract, 6) discrimination in violation of the Consumer Credit Protection Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 7) a claim of “Piercing the Corporate Veil,” 8) a claim of “negligence,” and 9) a claim of “Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices.” (See generally Compl. (Doc. 4).) As an initial matter, Plaintiff’s claims all appear to be predicated upon the fact, as alleged, that Plaintiff attempted to “balance out the accounting on [his] account” with a “remittance/payment coupon/Bill of Exchange/bill of credit.” (See Compl. (Doc. 4) at 3, 5.) While Plaintiff may have sent

2 Plaintiff cites many statutes and legal doctrines throughout his Complaint. Many appear to simply provide definitions and not state causes of action. As such, this court has only identified the statutes and rules of law under which Plaintiff appears to pursue a cause of action. something to Defendant Ally that was titled “remittance/payment coupon/Bill of Exchange/bill of credit,” an allegation that this constituted a lawful manner to discharge a debt is implausible. First, the phrase “attempted to balance out the accounting,” is a conclusory description of Plaintiff’s actions and not entitled to any deference. See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 681. Second, Plaintiff’s description of the documents he used to attempt the “account-balancing” falls short of plausibly alleging an act by Defendant that might give rise to a cognizable claim. Absent

some other explanation, it is implausible to suggest that any debt could be discharged in the manner described by Plaintiff. A. Violation of District of Columbia Code 28:3-303 and 12 U.S.C.

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VAUGHN, JR. v. ALLY FINANCIAL, INC., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vaughn-jr-v-ally-financial-inc-ncmd-2024.