KENDALL J. NEWMAN, Magistrate Judge.
Presently before the court is defendant Navient Solutions, Inc.'s ("defendant") motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), or, in the alternative, for a more definite statement pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(e). (ECF No. 5.) Plaintiff filed an opposition and defendant filed a reply. (ECF Nos. 7, 8.) The court heard this matter on its January 5, 2017 law and motion calendar. Plaintiff appeared on her own behalf. Attorney Christopher Fredrich appeared telephonically on behalf of defendant. The undersigned has fully considered the parties' briefs, oral arguments, and appropriate portions of the record. For the reasons that follow, defendant's motion to dismiss is granted and the complaint is dismissed, but with leave to amend.
Plaintiff's complaint consists of a letter from plaintiff to defendant dated October 21, 2016, and a form complaint from the Small Claims Division of the Sacramento County Superior Court filled out by plaintiff.
A motion to dismiss brought pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) challenges the sufficiency of the pleadings set forth in the complaint.
In considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the court accepts all of the facts alleged in the complaint as true and construes them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.
In ruling on a motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), the court "may generally consider only allegations contained in the pleadings, exhibits attached to the complaint, and matters properly subject to judicial notice."
Defendant argues that plaintiff's complaint should be dismissed because plaintiff's allegations fail to demonstrate that plaintiff has suffered a concrete injury in connection with defendant's alleged conduct, therefore meaning plaintiff lacks Article III standing to assert a claim in this court. Defendant argues further that plaintiff's complaint should be dismissed because it fails to state a cognizable claim.
Defendant argues as an initial matter that plaintiff fails to demonstrate that she has standing to sue defendant because the allegations of her complaint fail to show that she has suffered an injury in fact. In order to establish standing to sue under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff must, at a minimum, show that: (1) she has suffered an "injury in fact— an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized . . . and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical"; (2) there exists "a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of"; and (3) it is "likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision."
Defendant contends that plaintiff fails to meet the first standing requirement because the complaint does not contain allegations showing that she suffered a concrete and particularized invasion of a specific legally protected interest. The court agrees with defendant that the complaint contains little more than conclusory allegations that provide only a vague indication of the basis for plaintiff's apparent claims. However, when the allegations of the complaint are liberally construed in plaintiff's favor, they appear to indicate that defendant allegedly provided inaccurate information regarding plaintiff's accounts to an unidentified credit reporting agency, which caused plaintiff to suffer monetary damages. Although vague, these allegations may show that defendant engaged in conduct, i.e., provided inaccurate information regarding plaintiff's accounts to a credit reporting agency, which caused plaintiff to suffer monetary damages, a concrete and particularized harm.
Second, defendant argues that the complaint fails to provide factual details regarding plaintiff's claims for defamation and negligence sufficient to meet the pleading standards under
Under California law, "[t]he elements of a defamation claim are (1) a publication that is (2) false, (3) defamatory, (4) unprivileged, and (5) has a natural tendency to injure or causes special damage."
"The elements of a cause of action for negligence are (1) a legal duty to use reasonable care, (2) breach of that duty, and (3) proximate [or legal] cause between the breach and (4) the plaintiff's injury."
Defendant contends further that plaintiff's claims for defamation and negligence are preempted by 15 U.S.C. § 1681h(e) to the extent that they are based on information defendant allegedly furnished to a consumer reporting agency. Title 15 U.S.C. § 1681h(e) provides that "no consumer may bring any action or proceeding in the nature of defamation, invasion of privacy, or negligence with respect to the reporting of information against any consumer reporting agency, any user of information, or any person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency." To the extent that the court can ascertain from plaintiff's limited allegations, it appears that plaintiff's claims for defamation and negligence are based on defendant's supplying of unspecified inaccurate information to an unidentified credit reporting agency. If plaintiff is asserting her claims for defamation and negligence on such a factual basis, then it appears that those state law claims would be preempted by 15 U.S.C. § 1681h(e)'s prohibition on such actions against "person[s] who furnish[ ] information to a consumer reporting agency." However, given the paucity of factual allegations in the complaint as it is currently constructed, the court cannot definitively conclude at this juncture that plaintiff's defamation and negligence claims would be precluded by that federal statute if further factual details were provided. Accordingly, the court dismisses plaintiff's claims for defamation and negligence, but with leave to amend.
Defendant argues that plaintiff's complaint provides no indication as to which provisions of the FCRA defendant allegedly violated, therefore meaning any such claim should be dismissed. This argument is well taken. Nowhere in the complaint does plaintiff provide defendant or the court with any notice of the provision or provisions of the FCRA under which she is asserting her claim. When the scant allegations of the complaint are construed liberally, it appears that plaintiff is attempting to assert a claim for negligent violation of the FCRA under 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b). However, the complaint, as it is currently constructed, in no way alleges facts sufficient to sustain such a claim. Accordingly, plaintiff's claim under the FCRA is dismissed, but with leave to amend.
For the reasons discussed above, plaintiff's complaint fails to provide allegations sufficient to state a cognizable claim against defendant. Nevertheless, because it is still possible that an amendment to the complaint may be able to overcome the deficiencies outlined above with regard to each of plaintiff's apparent claims, the court grants plaintiff leave to amend her complaint.
Plaintiff is cautioned that if she elects to file an amended complaint, she must clearly articulate each of her claims against defendant and provide factual allegations with regard to each claim that address the deficiencies outlined above. More importantly, plaintiff must have a good faith basis for making such allegations.
Plaintiff is informed that the court cannot refer to the original complaint, briefs, exhibits, or other filings to make her amended complaint complete. Local Rule 220 requires that an amended complaint be complete in itself without reference to any prior pleading. Thus, once an amended complaint is filed, it supersedes the original complaint, which no longer serves any function in the case.
Plaintiff is further informed that she is not required to file an amended complaint. If plaintiff determines that she does not wish to pursue the action at this juncture or that she cannot in good faith allege any facts asserting cognizable claims against defendant that are not barred, she may instead file a request for voluntary dismissal of the action without prejudice pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i).
Based on the foregoing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. Defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint (ECF No. 5) is GRANTED.
2. Plaintiff's complaint is dismissed, but with leave to amend.
3. Within 60 days of the date of this order, plaintiff shall file either an amended complaint or a request for voluntary dismissal of the action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i).
IT IS SO ORDERED.