VIRGINIA EMERSON HOPKINS, District Judge.
The defendant (Insight) has filed a Motion to Dismiss. It seeks to dismiss all claims the plaintiff (Ms. McCollough) filed in her original and Amended Complaint.
Insight is a "payday" lender that extended a series of short-term loans to Ms. McCullough over the course of 2011-12. Ms. McCullough claims that Insight's conduct during this period violated the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA),
In its present Motion, Insight argues that Ms. McCullough has failed to state any facts that — even if true — would secure her legal relief. The court disagrees in part. Ms. McCullough has plausibly alleged a misleading disclosure in violation of TILA. However, she has otherwise misconstrued the statute, and her other two allegations under it are invalid. She has also misinterpreted federal and Alabama law regarding injunctions and deferred presentment arrangements of the kind she voluntarily entered. Finally, she has not plausibly claimed that Insight defrauded her in any way. The court will therefore
Generally, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require only that the complaint provide "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a). However, to survive a motion to dismiss brought under Rule 12(b)(6), a complaint must "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly (Twombly), 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007).
A claim has facial plausibility "when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Ashcroft v. Iqbal (Iqbal), 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). That is, the complaint must include enough facts "to raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (citation and footnote omitted). Pleadings that contain nothing more than "a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action" do not meet Rule 8 standards, nor do pleadings suffice that are based merely upon "labels or conclusions" or "naked assertion[s]" without supporting factual allegations. Id. at 555, 557 (citation omitted).
Once a claim has been stated adequately, however, "it may be supported by showing any set of facts consistent with the allegations in the complaint." Id. at 563 (citation omitted). Further, when ruling on a motion to dismiss, a court must "take the factual allegations in the complaint as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff." Pielage v. McConnell, 516 F.3d 1282, 1284 (11th Cir. 2008) (citing Glover v. Liggett Group, Inc., 459 F.3d 1304, 1308 (11th Cir. 2006)).
Before the court may consider Insight's Motion, it must first discern the scope of its analysis. Ms. McCullough claims that she entered into roughly 40 "Alabama Deferred Presentment Arrangements" with Insight between January 2011 and October 2012. See, e.g., Doc. 1 ¶ 13(b). She has attached a timeline to her Complaint that lists the dates on which these agreements were formed. Doc. 1-1 at 11.
Ms. McCullough filed her Complaint on August 22, 2013. Doc. 1. She alleges that Insight violated TILA through the disclosures it made — or failed to make — on these agreements
In her Complaint, Ms. McCullough claims that Insight violated TILA in three respects: (1) by inaccurately stating in the loan agreements that it was holding her personal checks as security; (2) by misrepresenting its identity on these agreements; and (3) by disclosing excessive information in these agreements. The court finds that only the first claim is plausible.
TILA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601-67f, "is a consumer protection statute that seeks to `avoid the uninformed use of credit' through the `meaningful disclosure of credit terms,' thereby enabling consumers to become informed about the cost of credit." Tribble v. Deutsche Bank Nat. Trust Co., No. 13-80938-CIV, 2014 WL 186126, at *2 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 6, 2014) (quoting 15 U.S.C. § 1601(a)); see also Mourning v. Family Publ'ns Serv., Inc., 411 U.S. 356, 377 (1973) ("The Truth in Lending Act reflects a transition in congressional policy from a philosophy of `Let the buyer beware' to one of `Let the seller disclose.'"). "Besides imposing criminal liability, TILA creates a private cause of action for actual and statutory damages for certain disclosure violations." Tribble, 2014 WL 186126, at *2 (citing 15 U.S.C. § 1640(a)). "In essence, a creditor is liable under TILA if the disclosure of the credit terms is inaccurate or misleading." Hahn v. McKenzie Check Advance of Ill., LLC, 61 F.Supp.2d 813, 815 (C.D. Ill. 1999). "[A]n objective standard is used in determining violations of TILA." Smith v. Chapman, 614 F.2d 968, 971 (5th Cir. 1980).
Ms. McCullough claims that Insight violated TILA's disclosure requirements in the loan agreement forms the lender had her sign. In an outlined box at the top of each of the four relevant contracts, a line reads as follows:
Doc. 1-1 at 7-10. According to Ms. McCullough, because the Deferred Presentment Services Act (DPSA) forbids holding her check as security, this statement is a misleading disclosure in violation of TILA. Doc. 1 ¶ 13(a). Given the strict compliance standard outlined above, this claim is sufficiently plausible to survive Insight's dismissal motion.
The second part of the above loan statement is accurate: under Alabama law, Insight legally could have taken Ms. McCullough's check in return for extending her a loan. The plausible inaccuracy arises when that statement is juxtaposed next to the term "SECURITY." Why that is so requires a brief review of both federal and Alabama law on this subject. Regulation Z, 12 C.F.R. §§ 226.1-226.59, implements TILA's dictates. TILA, through Regulation Z, "requires creditors to disclose accurately any security interest taken by the lender and to describe accurately the property in which the interest is taken" Smith v. Cash Store Mgmt., Inc., 195 F.2d 325, 328 (7th Cir. 1999) (citing 15 U.S.C. § 1638; 12 C.F.R. § 226.18). Regulation Z defines a "security interest" as "an interest in property that secures performance of a consumer credit obligation and that is recognized by state or federal law." 12 C.F.R. § 226.2(a)(25). Alabama law, in turn, defines a "security interest" as:
Ala. Code § 7-1-201(35).
While this language might encompass personal checks in certain situations, the DPSA apparently does not consider checks to be security interests in the context of deferred presentment transactions. One may infer this from its competing provisions. One section of the statute defines a deferred presentment transaction as
Ala. Code § 5-18A-2(3). The statute sanctions this type of arrangement, which evidently depicts the one formed between Ms. McCullough and Insight. Yet, another provision prohibits a deferred presentment vendor from "requir[ing] a customer to provide security for the transaction or requir[ing] the customer to provide a guaranty from another person." Ala. Code § 5-18A-13(k). Reading these provisions together, the court concludes that the DPSA does not regard a personal check given in a deferred presentment transaction as a security interest.
This conclusion underscores the plausible inaccuracy in the contracts Insight offered to Ms. McCullough. Insight's statement that it was taking and holding her checks under the DPSA was itself a legally accurate statement. But, placing this statement next to the term "SECURITY" misleadingly suggested that Insight was taking a security interest in her checks when the company was not (and could not). Although this is a technical construction of the language at issue, TILA demands such a construction.
In its Motion to Dismiss, Insight confirms that it was not holding Ms. McCullough's checks as security for the loans it issued her. Doc. 6 at 3. It claims that its contracts did not state such but instead faithfully tracked the DPSA's language. Id. at 5-6. In its defense, Insight cites the district court's decision in Butler v. First Credit, Inc., No. 4:07-CV-01908-UWC (N.D. Ala. Nov. 13, 2008). However, Butler actually undermines Insight's argument. That case did involve a deferred presentment arrangement. But, the analogous contract provision in the case differed in material respects from the present one. In Butler, the relevant provision read:
Doc. 6-1 at 3 (citation omitted). The creditor in that case thus
Ms. McCullough also alleges that Insight illegally failed to disclose its identity on the agreements it had her sign. Doc. 1 ¶ 13(b). She specifically complains that Insight only identified itself as her creditor by one of its licensed trademarks, "Easy Money Cash Center." Id. According to Ms. McCullough, Insight's failure to list its true corporate name on the contracts violated TILA. Id.
She provides no legal authority for this notion. Regulation Z simply requires the disclosure of "the identity of the creditor making the disclosures." 12 C.F.R. § 226.18(a). TILA defines a "creditor" as "the person to whom the debt arising from the consumer credit transaction is initially payable on the face of the evidence of indebtedness or, if there is no such evidence of indebtedness, by agreement." 15 U.S.C. § 1602(g). And, Federal Reserve Board staff interpretations of Regulation Z suggest that a creditor satisfies its legal obligations by merely providing its name, address, and/or telephone number. See 12 C.F.R. Pt. 226, Supp. I, Subpt. C; see also Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Milhollin, 444 U.S. 555, 566-68 (1980) (advising courts to give special deference to interpretations of TILA and Regulation Z issued by the Federal Reserve Board and its staff). Further, Ms. McCullough does not cite any case law in which a court has found that an incorporated entity violates TILA by only disclosing its licensed trademark. In short, there does not seem to be any legal basis for her proffered disclosure requirement.
Moreover, contrary to Ms. McCullough's insinuations otherwise, Insight's corporate title
Id. Insight thus disclosed its authentic name to Ms. McCullough
In Count Four, Ms. McCullough claims that Insight violated Regulation Z by "including disclosures that are not related to the terms of the loan agreement." Doc. 17 ¶ 24 (citing 12 C.F.R. § 226.17(a)(1)). She asserts generically that Insight disclosed "overinclusive" information that was "totally unrelated" to mandatory disclosures that it was required to make regarding annual percentage rates, finance charges, and finance amounts. Id. She specifically cites Insight's "relating of facts in the loan agreements that the checks could be used for criminal prosecution purposes." Id. In the contracts at issue, the referenced disclaimer appeared in the following manner:
E.g., Doc. 1-1 at 7.
Regulation Z "requires lenders to accurately disclose, inter alia, the amount financed, an itemization of the amount financed, the finance charge, the annual percentage rate of the loan, and the payment schedule." Pendleton v. Am. Title Brokers, Inc., 754 F.Supp. 860, 863 (S.D. Ala. 1991) (citing 12 C.F.R. § 226.17). There are certain requirements as to how this information is presented. "First, the disclosure[s] must be made clearly and conspicuously, and second, the disclosures must be grouped together, segregated from everything else and not contain information not directly related to the required disclosures." Id. (quoting In re Cook, 76 B.R. 661, 663 (Bankr. C.D. Ill. 1987)). "The terms `amount financed,' `finance charge,' `annual percentage rate,' a[nd] `total of payments' must appear on the disclosure document." Id. (quoting 12 C.F.R. § 226.18(b), (d), (e), and (h)). "Further, the `finance charge' and `annual percentage rate' must be made `more conspicuous than any other disclosure.'" Id. (quoting 12 C.F.R. § 226.17(a)(2)). The sufficiency of these disclosures must be examined from the "standpoint of an ordinary consumer, not the perspective of a Federal Reserve Board member, federal judge or English professor." In re Jones, 06-81987-JAC-13, 2007 WL 1725593, at *5 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. June 13, 2007) (quoting Lifanda v. Elmhurst Dodge, Inc., 237 F.3d 803, 806 (7th Cir. 2001)), aff'd, 279 F. App'x 825 (11th Cir. 2008) (unpublished).
Federal Reserve Board staff interpretations of Regulation Z have further clarified these requirements. These interpretations specify that the "clear and conspicuous" injunction means that the disclosures must:
12 C.F.R. Pt. 226, Supp. I, Subpt. C. Additionally, the disclosures "may be grouped together and segregated from other information in a variety of ways." Id. They may appear on a separate sheet of paper or may otherwise be set apart by:
Id. Finally — and most importantly — these staff interpretations provide examples of information that is "directly related" to these mandatory disclosures. These include, inter alia:
Id.
Ms. McCullough's vague allegation that Insight violated Regulation Z's mandates in this arena is implausible because Insight's agreements with her evidently complied with them. In the contracts at issue — under the sub-title, "Federal Truth-in-Lending Disclosure" — Insight disclosed the required material in segregated, outlined boxes that contained legible script larger than the information found below and outside the boxes. Doc. 1-1 at 7-10. The disclosures were thus "clear and conspicuous" as that term has been construed by the official commentary.
The segregated disclosures also did not contain extraneous material. Every item of information found within the outlined boxes disclosed information required by Regulation Z:
Doc. 1-1 at 7-10.
This leaves Ms. McCullough's specific allegation concerning Insight's aforementioned disclaimer regarding the possibility of criminal penalties. This disclaimer — appearing where and how it did within the agreements at issue — did not plausibly violate Regulation Z. The issue might be different if the disclaimer appeared within the segregated portion of the agreements. It did not. It appeared far below this section of the various documents. The mandates established by 12 C.F.R. § 226.17 — and interpreted above by the Federal Reserve Board staff —
Ms. McCullough's next claim involves an injunction supposedly issued by a state court against Insight in in an unrelated case involving a separate plaintiff. Doc.
1 ¶¶ 15-19. Insight — via "Easy Money Cash Centers" — was the defendant in an action brought in 2009 in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama. Doc. 1-1 at 1-2. The plaintiff, Ms. Ame Cherie Thomas, apparently alleged that Insight had violated the DPSA. On September 9, 2009, the matter was referred to arbitration in the Consumer Arbitration Tribunal of the American Arbitration Association. Id. at 9. On October 22, 2009, Mr. Allen Schrieber, the presiding arbitrator, found — among other things — that Insight had violated the DPSA by taking Ms. Thomas's checks as security interests. Id. at 4. Mr. Schrieber also entered an order for Insight to "cease and desist from violating the rule against obtaining a security interest pursuant to the Alabama Deferred Presentment Act." Id. at 4. On May 3, 2011, Judge Caryl P. Privett of the Jefferson County Circuit Court entered an Order making this arbitration award "a FINAL JUDGMENT in accordance with the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure." Id. at 2. Notably, Judge Privett stated in this Order the following disclaimer: "The Court specifically declines to make any finding as to the effect of the injunctive language contained therein." Id.
In her Complaint, Ms. McCullough claims that Insight has violated Judge Privett's Order by failing to "cease and desist" the taking of checks as security. Doc. 1 ¶ 16. She presently requests that
In Count Six, Ms. McCullough claims that Insight committed "fraud and fraudulent suppression of material facts" in violation of Alabama Code § 6-5-102. Doc. 17 ¶¶ 29-38. She alleges that Insight violated this statutory provision in the following ways:
Id. ¶¶ 30-31. Regarding this final accusation, Ms. McCullough specifically complains that Insight failed to disclose to her that the DPSA protected her from criminal prosecution if the checks she gave to Insight bounced. Id. ¶¶ 33-35.
Under the Alabama Code, "Suppression of a material fact which the party is under an obligation to communicate constitutes fraud. The obligation to communicate may arise from the confidential relations of the parties or from the particular circumstances of the case." Ala. Code § 6-5-102. Thus, in order to establish a cause of action for fraudulent suppression, the plaintiff must show that:
Jewell v. Seaboard Indus., Inc., 667 So.2d 653, 658 (Ala. 1995) (citing Interstate Truck Leasing, Inc. v. Bender, 608 So.2d 716 (Ala. 1992)).
Insight denies that it had any duty to disclose material facts to Ms. McCullough outside of those TILA required it to divulge to her. Doc. 21 at 8-9. Whether such a duty exists is for the court to decide as a matter of law. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Owen, 729 So.2d 834, 839 (Ala. 1998). As suggested from the statutory language above, a duty to disclose "can arise from a confidential relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant, from the particular circumstances of the case, or from a request for information, but mere silence in the absence of a duty to disclose is not fraudulent." Jewell, 667 So. 2d at 658 (citations omitted). "In the absence of a fiduciary relationship, courts have discretion to consider the value of the non-disclosed information, the relative knowledge and bargaining power of the parties, and other factors that may be appropriate." Shutter Shop, Inc. v. Amersham Corp., 114 F.Supp.2d 1218, 1225 (M.D. Ala. 2000) (citing Hines v. Riverside Chevrolet-Olds, Inc., 655 So.2d 909, 918 (Ala.1994)). "In commercial transactions involving parties to arm's length negotiations, however, a bright line rule generally applies: The parties have no general obligation to disclose." Id. (citing Simpson v. Sto Corp., 951 F.Supp. 202, 205-06 (M.D. Ala. 1996)). Nevertheless, "each has an affirmative duty to respond `truthfully and accurately' to direct questions from the other." Id. (quoting Ex parte Ford Motor Credit Co., 717 So.2d 781, 787 (Ala.1997)).
During her interactions with Insight, Ms. McCullough apparently did not ask direct questions to the lender regarding any ramifications that might arise if her checks bounced. She instead maintains that Insight's duty to disclose this information to her arose from either a fiduciary relationship between them, or Insight's superior knowledge on the subject. Doc. 17 ¶ 37. Neither argument is persuasive. The court has been unable to find any Alabama authority supporting the notion that a payday lender forms a fiduciary relationship with a customer when it extends her a payday loan — and neither does Ms. McCullough cite any such authority. Instead, as Insight points out, Alabama courts "have traditionally viewed the relationship between a bank and its customer as a creditor-debtor relationship that does not impose a fiduciary duty on the bank." Flying J Fish Farm v. Peoples Bank of Greensboro, 12 So.3d 1185, 1191 (Ala. 2008) (quoting K & C Dev. Corp. v. AmSouth Bank, 597 So.2d 671, 675 (Ala.1992)). However, "a fiduciary duty may arise when the customer reposes trust in the bank and relies on the bank for financial advice, or in other special circumstances." Id.
Ms. McCullough does not claim that she reposed any trust in Insight or relied on it for financial advice. Moreover, no special circumstances apply. There are certainly knowledge disparities between payday lenders and their customers — a dynamic that may be prone to abuse. However, Congress has acknowledged this phenomenon by enacting TILA. The statute already designates specific information that payday lenders must disclose in closed-end transactions. This court is unwilling to superimpose any further obligations onto these existing disclosure duties. Because Ms. McCullough engaged in a series of arms-length transactions with Insight, Insight had no duty to disclose material facts to her on any subject outside of those mandated by TILA. For this reason, the court will grant Insight's Motion to Dismiss Ms. McCullough's fraudulent suppression claim.
In Count Seven, Ms. McCullough claims that Insight violated Alabama Code § 6-5-101 by negligently, wantonly, willfully, maliciously, and recklessly misrepresenting information to her. Doc. 17 ¶ 40. According to Ms. McCullough, Insight did this "for no reason other than to create an impression and bring forward to the mind of the borrower the potential for criminal activity with respect to the checks she was issuing and particularly knowing that the checks she was giving were not sufficient to be cashed." Id. Under this statutory provision, "Misrepresentations of a material fact made willfully to deceive, or recklessly without knowledge, and acted on by the opposite party, or if made by mistake and innocently and acted on by the opposite party, constitute legal fraud." Ala. Code § 6-5-101. In order to make a prima facie claim under this section, a plaintiff must prove the following elements:
Applin v. Consumers Life Ins. Co. of N.C., 623 So.2d 1094, 1097-98 (Ala. 1993), overruled on other grounds by Boswell v. Liberty Nat. Life Ins. Co., 643 So.2d 580, 582 (Ala. 1994).
Even with the most generous construction put on her Complaint, Ms. McCullough has not satisfactorily plead these elements. She first does not clarify with any coherence what material fact Insight misrepresented to her. From other parts of the Complaint, the court infers that she is referring to the criminal penalties disclaimer language already referenced above. Assuming that she has plausibly claimed a misrepresentation here, she makes
Ms. McCullough's final cause of action is for "Money Had and Received." Doc. 17 ¶ 42-44. "An action for money had and received is founded upon the equitable principle that no one ought justly to enrich himself at the expense of another, and is maintainable in all cases where one has received money under such circumstances that in equity and good conscience he ought not to retain it because in justness and fairness it belongs to another." Jewett v. Boihem, 23 So.3d 658, 661 (Ala. 2009) (quotation and internal alterations omitted). As a cause of action, it is "less restricted and fettered by technical rules and formalities than any other form of action. It aims at the abstract justice of the case, and looks solely to the inquiry, whether the defendant holds money, which belongs to the plaintiff." Id. (citation and internal alterations omitted).
In her Complaint, Ms. McCullough claims this cause of action applies in her case because "the loan agreements and money paid to Defendant thereunder were in violation of the State Court Injunction." Doc. 17 ¶ 43. She also claims the cause of actions applies because "[t]he proceeds of the loan agreements retained and held by Defendant are the product of fraud and misrepresentation." Id. The court has found that the antecedent claims from which this claim derives are invalid as a matter of law. For this reason, the court will dismiss this claim as well.
For the foregoing reasons, the court will