PAMELA K. CHEN, District Judge.
On January 4, 2019, Plaintiff Daniel Navon filed this putative class action against two debt collectors,
Prior to filing this action, Plaintiff incurred an unspecified amount of personal credit card debt to Citibank, N.A.
Plaintiff was confused by the reference to "payments and/or credits," and he did not understand what the $73.39 payment and/or credit amount was attributable to, so he called Schachter on December 12, 2018.
Plaintiff initiated this action on January 4, 2019. (See id.) Cavalry filed an answer on February 28, 2019. (See First Cavalry Answer, Dkt. 17.) On the same day, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint, attaching as exhibits the various letters that he had received from Defendants. (See Am. Compl., Dkt. 18.) On March 14, 2019, Cavalry filed its answer to the amended complaint. (See Operative Cavalry Answer, Dkt. 21.) The Honorable Cheryl L. Pollak granted an extension of time for Schachter to answer the amended complaint (see March 14, 2019 Order), and on March 26, 2019, Schachter filed a letter motion for a pre-motion conference in anticipation of filing a motion to dismiss (see Schachter Br., Dkt. 26). The Court construed Schachter's letter as its motion to dismiss and set a briefing schedule. (See April 4, 2019 Order.) Schachter's motion was fully briefed on May 9, 2019. (See Schachter Reply, Dkt. 31.)
To survive a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), "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)); see also Hogan v. Fischer, 738 F.3d 509, 514 (2d Cir. 2013). "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." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; see also Hogan, 738 F.3d at 514. "The plausibility standard is not akin to a `probability requirement,' but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; see also Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. ex rel. St. Vincent Catholic Med. Ctrs. Ret. Plan v. Morgan Stanley Inv. Mgmt. Inc., 712 F.3d 705, 729-30 (2d Cir. 2013). Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief is "a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679 (citation omitted).
In considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, courts "may consider the facts alleged in the complaint, documents attached to the complaint as exhibits, and documents incorporated by reference in the complaint." DiFolco v. MSNBC Cable L.L.C., 622 F.3d 104, 111 (2d Cir. 2010). "[T]he tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; see also Pension Benefit Guar. Corp., 712 F.3d at 717 ("Although for the purposes of a motion to dismiss we must take all of the factual allegations in the complaint as true, we are not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation." (internal quotation marks omitted)). "While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations." Pension Benefit Guar. Corp., 712 F.3d at 717 (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679).
Plaintiff asserts that Schachter violated the FDCPA by "lumping together `payments and/or credits' without explaining that this was not done with the involvement of Plaintiff, because it creates a false record with respect to events that might (a) restart the statute of limitations and (b) constitute[] an admission of debt." (Pl. Supp., Dkt. 30, at 2.) Plaintiff also argues that Schachter's November 19 letter failed to clearly and effectively state the amount of the debt owed. (See id.) Schachter responds that Plaintiff's "idiosyncratic and illogical interpretation" of its letters cannot support a valid claim under the FDCPA. (Schachter Supp., Dkt. 29, at 2.) The Court agrees with Schachter.
By enacting the FDCPA, Congress sought "to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses." 15 U.S.C. § 1692(e). To that end, "[t]he FDCPA establishes certain rights for consumers whose debts are placed in the hands of professional debt collectors for collection, and requires that such debt collectors advise the consumers whose debts they seek to collect of specified rights." Kropelnicki v. Siegel, 290 F.3d 118, 127 (2d Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks omitted). Debt collectors are generally forbidden "from engaging in unfair, deceptive, or harassing behavior," id., and are strictly liable for such behavior, "meaning that a consumer need not show intentional conduct by [a] debt collector to be entitled to damages," Easterling v. Collecto, Inc., 692 F.3d 229, 234 (2d Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). A debt collector may be held liable for even a single, isolated violation of the FDCPA. See Ellis v. Solomon & Solomon, P.C., 591 F.3d 130, 133 (2d Cir. 2010).
"[T]he question of whether a communication complies with the FDCPA is determined from the perspective of the `least sophisticated consumer.'" Jacobson v. Healthcare Fin. Servs., Inc., 516 F.3d 85, 90 (2d Cir. 2008) (citation omitted). "[T]he least sophisticated consumer may lack `the astuteness of a Philadelphia lawyer or even the sophistication of the average, everyday, common consumer,' [but] he can nonetheless `be presumed to possess a rudimentary amount of information about the world and a willingness to read a collection notice with some care." Kolbasyuk v. Capital Mgmt. Servs., LP, 918 F.3d 236, 239 (2d Cir. 2019) (internal citation omitted).
Plaintiff's claim that Schachter's letters were misleading is brought under 15 U.S.C. § 1692e, which provides, in relevant part, that:
"Section 1692e mainly targets practices that take advantage of a debtor's naivete or lack of legal acumen." Arias v. Gutman, Mintz, Baker & Sonnenfeldt LLP, 875 F.3d 128, 136 (2d Cir. 2017). "A representation is `deceptive' under [§] 1692e if it is `open to more than one reasonable interpretation, at least one of which is inaccurate.'" Id. at 135 (quoting Easterling, 692 F.3d at 233).
Even if a representation is deceptive within the meaning of § 1692e, it must be a material misrepresentation in order to give rise to liability. Gabriele v. Am. Home Mortg. Servicing, Inc., 503 F. App'x 89, 94 (2d Cir. 2012) (summary order) (collecting citations recognizing that courts generally read a materiality requirement into the FDCPA's prohibition on false, deceptive, or misleading debt collection practices); see also Lane v. Fein, Such & Crane LLP, 767 F.Supp.2d 382, 389-90 (E.D.N.Y. 2011) (finding that a misstatement was "not materially false or misleading" under the FDCPA). "The materiality inquiry focuses on whether the false statement would `frustrate a consumer's ability to intelligently choose his or her response.'" Cohen v. Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates, P.C., 897 F.3d 75, 86 (2nd Cir. 2018). Accordingly, "`mere technical falsehoods that mislead no one' are immaterial" and do not give rise to liability under § 1692e. Id. (quoting Donohue v. Quick Collect, Inc., 592 F.3d 1027, 1034 (9th Cir. 2010)).
"To state a claim under section 1692e(2)[,] a consumer must allege that the [representation] by the collector is incorrect." Dick v. Enhanced Recovery Co., LLC, No. 15-CV-2631 (RRM) (SMG), 2016 WL 5678556, at *7 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2016). Plaintiff hinges his Section 1692e(2) claim on the notion that, by listing "payments and/or credits" together, Schachter created a "false record" that "might" later be used in debt collection litigation to extend the statute of limitations by "creat[ing] the impression on a judge . . . that the $73.39 is somehow attributable to Plaintiff." (Pl. Supp., Dkt. 30, at 3.) Plaintiff's § 1692 claim, then, is that Schachter's letters contained a "false representation of the . . . legal status" of Plaintiff's debt. See 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(2)(A). This claim is far-fetched and meritless.
New York law provides a six-year limitations period for actions to collect on a debt. Espinal v. AFNI, Inc., No. 17-CV-3439 (KPF), 2018 WL 2733366, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. June 7, 2018) (citing N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213). This limitations period may be extended pursuant to the "partial payment exception," which "has the effect of extending or renewing the statute of limitations period" when there is "a payment of a portion of an admitted debt, made and accepted as such, accompanied by circumstances amounting to an absolute and unqualified acknowledgement by the debtor of more being due." McNeary v. Charlebois, 95 N.Y.S.3d 421, 424 (3d Dep't 2019) (internal quotation marks omitted). Based on this exception, Plaintiff contrives a theory that the allegedly false representation in a debt notice that partial payment was made (so as to extend the statute of limitations in a later debt collection litigation) violates § 1692e(2)'s requirement that a debt notice accurately represent the "legal status" of the debt.
Aside from the absence of any legal support for this theory, discussed supra, as a factual matter, Plaintiff has not alleged—indeed, cannot allege—that Schachter's letters falsely or inaccurately represented the legal status of Plaintiff's debt: As stated in the letters, the amount of the debt "due as of charge-off" was $6,331.07, but the "total amount of debt" owed by Plaintiff was less, $6,257.68, and that any difference was "due to the application of credits to [the] account prior to the date of [the] letter." (Cavalry Letter, Dkt. 18-2, at ECF 2.) Plaintiff, in fact, confirmed, by calling Schachter at the telephone number provided in the letters, that the credits referred to the removal of post-charge-off interest and not a partial payment by Plaintiff. Thus, there is no factual allegation in Plaintiff's complaint that supports Plaintiff's theory that Schachter's letters created a "false record" regarding the legal status of Plaintiff's debt.
Furthermore, even assuming arguendo that the Schachter letters erroneously represented, intentionally misrepresented, or misleadingly suggested that Plaintiff had made a partial payment on the debt that was credited against the charge-off amount, there is no legal support for Plaintiff's convoluted theory that this conduct constitutes a material violation of § 1692e(2). See Cohen, 897 F.3d at 85 (defining a material misstatement as one "capable of influencing the decision of the least sophisticated consumer" (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted)). The letters' reference to the "application of credits" to the debt amount could not be read by the "least sophisticated consumer" as a claim that the limitations period was being, or could be, in effect, extended.
Accordingly, Plaintiff's claim under § 1692e(2) is dismissed.
Plaintiff's claim under Section 1692e(10) is similarly meritless. As discussed supra, Section 1692e(10) prohibits "[t]he use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a consumer." 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(10). While Plaintiff may be correct that the use of a "false record" in debt collection litigation to try to extend the statute of limitations would violate § 1692e(10), that scenario has nothing to do with the representations made to Plaintiff in the debt collection letters that Schachter sent. See Sykes v. Mel S. Harris and Associates LLC, 780 F.3d 70, 96-97 (2d Cir. 2015) (considering allegations that the defendants had filed false affidavits in court and distinguishing such false representations to a court from false representations to a debtor). Here, it cannot plausibly be inferred that, by sending letters informing Plaintiff of credits applied to his debt amount, Schachter had engaged in a deceptive means of debt collection. Rather, the allegations in the complaint establish that Schachter simply conveyed information about the amount due on the debt and the manner in which that amount was calculated. Viewed most charitably, Plaintiff's § 1692e(10) claim is a premature and speculative attack on a deceptive debt collection practice that might arise in a future debt collection action, rather than a viable claim for relief based on a past means of debt collection that is false or deceptive on its face.
Accordingly, Plaintiff's claim for relief under § 1692e(10) is dismissed.
Plaintiff also seeks relief under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a)(1), which provides, inter alia, that "[w]ithin five days after the initial communication with a consumer in connection with the collection of any debt, a debt collector shall . . . send the consumer a written notice containing . . . the amount of the debt." Plaintiff claims that Schachter's November 19 letter violated this provision because its reference to a $73.39 "payment and/or credit" was confusing, causing the letter to "fail[] to clearly and effectively state the amount of the debt." (Am. Compl., Dkt. 18, ¶¶ 42, 46.) He argues that "[w]hether or not the amount Schachter alleges is due in its letter is accurate in hindsight," the letter's inclusion of different amounts for the "amount of the debt due as of charge-off," the amount of "payments and/or credits," and the "amount of the debt due" failed to clearly and effectively communicate the required information. (Id.; see also November 19, 2018 Letter, Dkt. 18-3.)
Plaintiff's claim is without merit. Schachter's letter clearly stated: "Total amount of the debt due: $6,257.68." (November 19, 2018 Letter, Dkt. 18-3.) The information required by § 1692g(a), i.e., "the amount of the debt," is stated unambiguously. The additional amounts, which indicate that the debt was $6,331.07 at the time of charge-off and later reduced by a $73.39 "payment and/or credit," simply clarify how the total amount of the debt was calculated. Though Plaintiff claims that the inclusion of these amounts was "confusing," the FDCPA does not impose liability based on unreasonable misinterpretations of collection notices. See Eades v. Kennedy, PC Law Offices, 799 F.3d 161, 173 (2d Cir. 2015). As even the least sophisticated consumer is capable of "making basic, reasonable[,] and logical deductions and inferences," Dewees v. Legal Servicing, LLC, 506 F.Supp.2d 128, 132 (E.D.N.Y. 2007) (internal quotation marks omitted), Plaintiff's claim under § 1692g(a) fails.
For the reasons stated, the Court grants Schachter's motion to dismiss. Schachter Portnoy, L.L.C.
SO ORDERED.