Filed: Apr. 14, 2020
Latest Update: Apr. 14, 2020
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS APR 14 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT KELLY WOODWARD, No. 19-55296 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:18-cv-05715-VAP-AFM v. COLLECTION CONSULTANTS OF MEMORANDUM* CALIFORNIA, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Virginia A. Phillips, Chief District Judge, Presiding Submitted April 3, 2020** Pasadena, California Before: WARDLAW, MURGUIA,
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS APR 14 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT KELLY WOODWARD, No. 19-55296 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 2:18-cv-05715-VAP-AFM v. COLLECTION CONSULTANTS OF MEMORANDUM* CALIFORNIA, Defendant-Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Virginia A. Phillips, Chief District Judge, Presiding Submitted April 3, 2020** Pasadena, California Before: WARDLAW, MURGUIA, a..
More
NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS APR 14 2020
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
KELLY WOODWARD, No. 19-55296
Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No.
2:18-cv-05715-VAP-AFM
v.
COLLECTION CONSULTANTS OF MEMORANDUM*
CALIFORNIA,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Virginia A. Phillips, Chief District Judge, Presiding
Submitted April 3, 2020**
Pasadena, California
Before: WARDLAW, MURGUIA, and MILLER, Circuit Judges.
Kelly Woodward appeals the district court’s dismissal of her claims under the
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692b, 1692e, and
1692f, and the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“RFDCPA”), Cal. Civ.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
Code §§ 1788.1–1788.33. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we
affirm.
Woodward filed a complaint against Collection Consultants of California
(“CCOC”), alleging that CCOC sent her a collection letter that violates the FDCPA
and RFDCPA because it included an offer to “resolve” her past-due accounts without
stating that the debt was time-barred or that a payment could revive the statute of
limitations and permit CCOC to sue on the debt. The district court granted judgment
on the pleadings in favor of CCOC. For the first time on appeal, Woodward also
argues that CCOC’s letter is unfair and unconscionable under § 1692f of the FDCPA.
“We review a judgment dismissing a case on the pleadings de novo.” Dunlap
v. Credit Prot. Ass’n.,
419 F.3d 1011, 1012 n.1 (9th Cir. 2005) (per curiam) (citing
Turner v. Cook,
362 F.3d 1219, 1225 (9th Cir. 2004)). “A judgment on the pleadings
is properly granted when, taking all the allegations in the pleadings as true, the
moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
Id. (quoting Owens v.
Kaiser Found. Health Plan, Inc.,
244 F.3d 708, 713 (9th Cir. 2001)).
1. When the district court issued its decision in this case, we had not
directly addressed whether an attempt to collect a time-barred debt violates the
FDCPA by misleading consumers about the legal status of the debt. However, we
issued our published opinion in Stimpson v. Midland Credit Management, Inc.,
944
F.3d 1190 (9th Cir. 2019) while this appeal was pending.
2
The reasoning of Stimpson is controlling here. First, Stimpson held that “a
debt collector is entitled to collect a lawful, outstanding debt even if the statute of
limitations has run, so long as the debt collector does not use means that are
deceptive or misleading and otherwise complies with legal requirements.”
Id. at
1194 (emphasis added). Here, CCOC’s letter provides an offer to “resolve”
Woodward’s past-due accounts without mentioning that the statute of limitations has
expired, but it is not misleading or deceptive in any way, and it complies with all
legal requirements.
Second, Stimpson held that “nothing in the FDCPA requires debt collectors to
make disclosures that partial payments on debts may revive the statute of limitations
in certain states.”
Id. at 1198. Therefore, CCOC’s letter is not misleading even if,
under California law, making a payment on the debt would revive the statute of
limitations. Moreover, Woodward’s case is even less compelling than the plaintiff’s
case in Stimpson because in California, a debtor does not revive the statute of
limitations by making a payment on a time-barred debt. See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code §
360 (“[N]o such payment of itself shall revive a cause of action once barred.”).
2. Woodward waived her argument that CCOC’s letter was unfair and
unconscionable under § 1692f of the FDCPA because she did not sufficiently raise
this argument before the district court. See Armstrong v. Brown,
768 F.3d 975, 981
(9th Cir. 2014) (“Although no bright line rule exists to determine whether a matter
3
[h]as been properly raised below, an issue will generally be deemed waived on
appeal if the argument was not raised sufficiently for the trial court to rule on it.”
(quoting Ruiz v. Affinity Logistics Corp.,
667 F.3d 1318, 1322 (9th Cir.
2012))). Therefore, we need not decide the merits of Woodward’s § 1692f claim.
3. Finally, Woodward presents no independent argument for her
RFDCPA claim, so it too fails.
AFFIRMED.
4