NOEL L. HILLMAN, District Judge.
This matter having come before the Court by way of motion [Doc. No. 50] of Defendant, Bank of New York, as Trustee for the Holders of Asset-Backed Certificate Series 2001-1F (hereafter, "BONY"), which motion is also filed by Bank of America Corporation (hereafter, "Bank of America"), EquiCredit Corporation of America (hereafter, "EquiCredit"), and Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc. (hereafter, "Select"), seeking to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint or, alternatively, for a more definite statement; and the Court having considered the submissions of the parties; and having decided this matter pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 78; and
IT APPEARING AS FOLLOWS:
1. On September 28, 2011, Plaintiff filed a complaint in this matter against Defendant BONY pursuant to the "Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Title 12 of the Delaware Code, and the 1968 Charter Act (Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae)." (Compl. [Doc. No. 1] 1.)
2. Plaintiff did not timely serve the complaint, and the Court granted Plaintiff multiple extensions of time to effect service of process pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m).
3. On May 8, 2013, before serving the complaint on Defendant BONY, Plaintiff filed an untitled document [Doc. No. 24] which the Clerk of the Court construed as a "Proposed Amended Complaint." The document purported to add three new defendants: Bank of America, EquiCredit and Select.
4. Shortly thereafter, on May 21, 2013, Plaintiff filed an "Amended Complaint" in which he also named Bank of America, EquiCredit and Select as defendants.
5. In a Memorandum Opinion dated December 31, 2013, the Court found that the "Proposed Amended Complaint" and the "Amended Complaint" were not properly filed and had no legal effect. (Mem. Op. [Doc. No. 45] 14, Dec. 31, 2013.) Accordingly, these documents were stricken. (
6. Also in the December 31, 2013 Opinion, the Court found good cause "for granting Plaintiff another extension of time within which to properly effect service of the summons and the
7. The Court thus issued an Order dated December 31, 2013, in which it granted Plaintiff an additional sixty (60) days to effect proper service upon Defendant BONY in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Delaware Code. (Order [Doc. No. 46] 2, Dec. 31, 2013.)
8. On March 12, 2014, Plaintiff filed proof of service indicating that service had finally been effected on Defendant BONY. Specifically, Plaintiff filed a proof of service form executed by Alex E. Nepon, Special Process Server with O'Rourke Investigative Associates, Inc., which indicates that Amy McLaren, operations manager at Corporation Trust Company, was served on February 27, 2014. According to the proof of service form, Ms. McLaren is authorized to accept service of process on behalf of BONY. (Proof of Service [Doc. No. 47].)
Additionally, Plaintiff filed an affidavit of service completed by Connie Asaro, an agent of O'Rourke Investigative Associates, Inc., in which she states that she personally served Tom McCauley with the initial complaint on February 28, 2014. (Affidavit of Service [Doc. No. 48].) The Affidavit further provides that Mr. McCauley "stated that he is authorized to accept service on behalf of the defendant." (
9. BONY, Bank of America, EquiCredit and Select now seek dismissal of the complaint for failure to effect service of process. However, as noted above, Bank of America, EquiCredit and Select are not parties to this action, as the "Proposed Amended Complaint" and the "Amended Complaint" which purported to add these entities as defendants were stricken. (
10. In the motion, Defendant BONY contests service upon Ms. Hatfield or the Corporation Trust Company because this individual and entity are not authorized to accept service on behalf of BONY. (Def.'s Joint Mot. to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for More Definite Statement (hereafter, "Def.'s Mot.") ¶ 12.) Defendant contests service upon Mr. McCauley because "Plaintiff did not serve Mr. McCauley with a copy of the Amended Complaint . . . [.]" (
11. Defendant's argument is premised on the flawed assumption that Plaintiff was required to serve the amended complaint. As noted above, the amended complaint was stricken by the Court, and Plaintiff was specifically granted an extension of time to serve the
12. As Defendant raises no other challenge to service of process, the Court finds that Plaintiff at this time has properly served process upon Defendant. Defendant's motion to dismiss for insufficient service of process will therefore be denied.
13. Defendant's remaining arguments seek dismissal of the amended complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) (6).
14. Because Defendant seeks to dismiss the allegations in the amended complaint, which has been stricken and is not the operative pleading in this matter, the motion to dismiss will be denied.
15. The Court notes that the original complaint also purports to assert claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Defendant's arguments concerning the statute of limitations may apply equally to some of the claims in the original complaint. However, in the Third Circuit, the Court may only dismiss a complaint on statute of limitations grounds under Rule 12(b) (6) where "the bar is . . . apparent on the face of the complaint."
16. Defendant has not addressed whether the facts, as alleged in the original complaint, demonstrate that Plaintiff's claims are time-barred. Additionally, while Plaintiff in opposition to the present motion raises a number of factual issues extraneous to the pleadings as to why he did not discover the nature of his claims until 2011, he does not address the proper standard in determining when a statute of limitations begins to run. The statute of limitations does not begin to run when a plaintiff actually knew of an injury; rather, it begins to run when a reasonable person should have known that a violation of law occurred.
17. Because the statute of limitations issue has not been properly framed by either party, the Court will not consider the pending motion to dismiss as applied to the original complaint. To the extent Defendant believes that it is clear from the allegations in the original complaint that the claims asserted therein are time-barred, Defendant may file another motion and raise its arguments with specific reference to the allegations in the original complaint.
18. The Court also notes that Plaintiff's opposition to the pending motion to dismiss contains a request that the Court enter summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. (Pl.'s Response to Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss [Doc. No. 54] 8-10.)
19. Summary judgment is appropriate where the Court is satisfied that "`the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,' . . . demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact" and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.
20. Here, although Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment refers to various documents — including "repeated communications from the Defendant . . . requiring [Plaintiff] to purchase insurance," "negative credit rating information reported by the defendant," the "chattels mortgage," and "the assignment of partial interest of the aforesaid to the defendant" — Plaintiff has submitted no documents, affidavits, admissions, or other evidence in support of his motion. Nor has he described the content of these documents with any degree of particularity. Accordingly, the Court cannot determine based on the current record whether there is a genuine issue of fact or whether Plaintiff is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
ACCORDINGLY, for the reasons set forth above and for good cause shown:
IT IS on this