Filed: Jun. 03, 2014
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 13-2270 JANICE FONTELL, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. TODD HASSETT, Individually and in his Official Capacity as director of Properties of the Management Group Associates, Inc.; JEFF GATLING, Individually and in his Official Capacity as president of the Management Group Associates, Inc.; THE MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSOCIATES, INC.; NORBECK GROVE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC., c/o The Management Group Associates, Inc., Defendants - Appelle
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 13-2270 JANICE FONTELL, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. TODD HASSETT, Individually and in his Official Capacity as director of Properties of the Management Group Associates, Inc.; JEFF GATLING, Individually and in his Official Capacity as president of the Management Group Associates, Inc.; THE MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSOCIATES, INC.; NORBECK GROVE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC., c/o The Management Group Associates, Inc., Defendants - Appellee..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 13-2270
JANICE FONTELL,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
TODD HASSETT, Individually and in his Official Capacity as
director of Properties of the Management Group Associates,
Inc.; JEFF GATLING, Individually and in his Official
Capacity as president of the Management Group Associates,
Inc.; THE MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSOCIATES, INC.; NORBECK GROVE
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC., c/o The Management Group
Associates, Inc.,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt. Alexander Williams, Jr., District
Judge. (8:10-cv-01472-AW)
Submitted: May 30, 2014 Decided: June 3,2014
Before SHEDD, WYNN, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Janice Fontell, Appellant Pro Se. Richard E. Schimel, BUDOW &
NOBLE, PC, Bethesda, Maryland, for Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Janice Fontell appeals the district court’s denial of
her motions for partial summary judgment and the denial of her
motion filed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) and 60(b). Fontell
claims that the district court erred in several respects when
disposing of her claims that Todd Hassett, Jeff Gatling, The
Management Group Associates, Inc. (“TMGA”), and the Norbeck
Grove Community Association, Inc. (“NGCA”) (collectively,
“Appellees”), violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act,
15 U.S.C. § 1692 to 1692p (2012) (“FDCPA”), the Maryland
Consumer Debt Collection Act, Md. Code Ann., Com. Law §§ 14-201
to 14-204 (LexisNexis 2013) (“MCDCA”), and the Maryland Consumer
Protection Act, Md. Code Ann., Com. Law §§ 13-101 to 13-501
(LexisNexis 2013) (“MCPA”), when trying to collect from Fontell
unpaid homeowner’s association dues. Finding no error, we
affirm.
Fontell suggests first that the district court should
have granted her summary judgment on several of her claims.
Summary judgment is appropriate where “there is no genuine
dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to
judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). We review
de novo a district court’s order granting or denying summary
judgment. Bonds v. Leavitt,
629 F.3d 369, 380 (4th Cir. 2011);
see Shaw v. Stroud,
13 F.3d 791, 798 (4th Cir. 1994).
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However, we cannot accept Fontell’s suggestion that
the district court should have granted her summary judgment on
her claim that NGCA violated the MCDCA by knowingly filing a
lawsuit that was ultimately found to be untimely. Fontell has
not identified evidence sufficient to indicate, as a matter of
law, that NGCA knew of or recklessly disregarded its lawsuit’s
potential futility. See Lembach v. Bierman, 528 F. App’x 297,
304 (4th Cir. 2013) (Nos. 12-1723, 12-1746) (unpublished).
We also reject Fontell’s claim that the district court
should have granted her summary judgment on several of her FDCPA
claims because Appellees are “debt collectors.” * Excluded from
the FDCPA’s definition of debt collectors, see 15 U.S.C.
§ 1692a(6) is “any person collecting or attempting to collect
any debt . . . to the extent such activity . . . concerns a debt
which was not in default at the time it was obtained by such
person.”
Id. § 1692a(6)(F)(iii). Thus, a property management
company, like TMGA, is not a debt collector where it becomes
responsible for collecting the subject debt before it was in
default. See Carter v. AMC, LLC,
645 F.3d 840, 843-44 (7th Cir.
2011); De Dios v. Int’l Realty & Invs.,
641 F.3d 1071, 1073-75
(9th Cir. 2011). Although “default” is not defined by the
*
Because we agree that Appellees do not qualify as debt
collectors, we need not address the timeliness of Fontell’s
FDCPA claims.
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FDCPA, a default generally does not occur immediately upon a
debt becoming due, unless the terms of the parties’ relevant
agreement dictate otherwise. See Alibrandi v. Fin. Outsourcing
Servs., Inc.,
333 F.3d 82, 86-87 & n.5 (2d Cir. 2003); see also
McKinney v. Cadleway Props., Inc.,
548 F.3d 496, 502 n.2 (7th
Cir. 2008).
Here, it is clear that TMGA was responsible for
collecting the unpaid homeowner’s association dues from
Fontell’s condominium association well before the association or
Fontell arguably defaulted on that debt. Accordingly, the
district court properly found that TMGA was not operating as a
“debt collector.”
Finally, Fontell contends that the district court
erred in failing to consider and grant her summary judgment on
her claim that Gatling violated the MCDCA, the MCPA, and the
FDCPA when he engaged in the unlicensed practice of law by
securing a lien against her condominium. We have carefully
reviewed the record, however, and agree with the district
court’s assessment that Fontell never properly alleged or argued
such claims. See Cloaninger ex rel. Estate of Cloaninger v.
McDevitt,
555 F.3d 324, 336 (4th Cir. 2009). Accordingly, the
district court did not abuse its discretion in the district
court’s refusal to consider them for the first time following
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its final judgment. Robinson v. Wix Filtration Corp.,
599 F.3d
403, 407 (4th Cir. 2010) (supplying standard of review).
Based on the foregoing, we affirm the district court’s
orders. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials
before this court and argument would not aid the decisional
process.
AFFIRMED
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