ROBERT S. LASNIK, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on "Defendants CACH, LLC, Squaretwo Financial Corporation and Squaretwo Financial Commercial Funding Corporation's Motion to Compel Arbitration." Dkt. # 40. Defendants seek to enforce the arbitration provisions in credit card agreements with plaintiffs. Plaintiffs do not dispute that their claims are within the scope of the relevant arbitration clauses. They instead oppose arbitration on two grounds: (1) that defendants waived the arbitration provisions by initiating lawsuits to collect debts against plaintiffs and participating in this action and (2) that defendants have not adequately demonstrated through admissible evidence that the arbitration clauses bind these plaintiffs and defendants. Having reviewed the parties' memoranda, declarations, and exhibits, the Court finds as follows:
Plaintiff Denise Cage's credit card account with Bank of America (FIA Card Services) includes a provision that states: "Any claim or dispute (`Claim') by either you or us against the other, or against the employees, agents or assigns of the other, arising from or relating in any way to this Agreement . . . shall, upon election by either you or us, be resolved by binding arbitration." Decl. of Christie Coston (Dkt. # 41-2), Ex. 4 at 52. "We" and "us" is defined to include the successors, assigns, purchasers, and their agents.
Pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act, a written agreement to arbitrate a dispute "shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract." 9 U.S.C. § 2. Although the right to arbitration can be waived, "waiver of the right to arbitration is disfavored because it is a contractual right."
Plaintiffs argue that defendants have taken two sets of actions that are inconsistent with their right to arbitrate. First, plaintiffs assert that defendants acted inconsistently with their right to arbitrate by filing debt collection lawsuits against plaintiffs, therefore electing "to litigate instead of arbitrate." Response (Dkt. # 53) at 9-10. However, plaintiffs misquote the law and rely on authority that is not applicable in this case.
Second, plaintiffs point out that defendants "have engaged in discovery and motions practice in this case," which plaintiffs assert constitutes a waiver. However, defendants' participation in this litigation is not inconsistent with the right to arbitrate. The only "motions practice" that defendants have engaged in before moving to compel arbitration involves an unopposed motion for an extension of time,
Plaintiffs also challenge the arbitration agreement by asserting that defendants cannot demonstrate through admissible evidence that plaintiffs' credit card accounts were assigned to defendants. Defendants offer multiple exhibits supported by the declaration of Christie Coston, a records custodian of defendant CACH, to prove the assignment of plaintiff Cage's account from FIA Card Services, N.A. directly to CACH and plaintiff King's account from Citibank South Dakota, N.A. directly to CACH.
Under the business records hearsay exception, a business's records custodian or other qualified witness may authenticate documents from transactions in which the business was involved, even if that witness did not personally witness the transaction.
The Court finds that the exhibits showing the assignment of plaintiffs' accounts to defendants qualify as business records because Coston's declaration provides an adequate foundation for the records. Coston asserts that she is an agent of CACH and was appointed as a records custodian by the manager. She is familiar with the CACH's recordkeeping systems, has reviewed CACH's business records relating to these transactions, and asserts that the records represented in Exhibits 2-9 were created from information transmitted by a person with knowledge near the time of the event and kept in defendant CACH's regular course of business. Decl. of Coston (Dkt. # 41), at 2. Plaintiffs provide no specific reason to doubt the trustworthiness or reliability of the records other than the fact that they were adopted from another business. Although some of the records were originally created by businesses other than CACH, "records a business receives from others are admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6) when those records are kept in the regular course of business, relied upon by that business, and where that business has a substantial interest in the accuracy of the records."
Finally, plaintiffs summarily assert that the arbitration provision does not bind plaintiffs because defendants have failed to submit authenticated credit card agreements containing the arbitration provisions. Response (Dkt. # 53) at 13. However, as the Court has discussed, defendants have sufficiently authenticated the business records that defendant CACH into its own records through the assignment of plaintiffs' accounts. These records include the credit card agreements that plaintiffs entered into with FIA and Citibank South Dakota, N.A., respectively. Decl. of Coston (Dkt. # 41), at 3, 5. Although plaintiffs have not signed the credit card agreements, their signatures are not necessary to bind plaintiffs to the agreements. Use of a credit card and the failure to invoke an opt out provision is sufficient to bind plaintiffs to those agreements.
For all of the foregoing reasons, the motion to compel arbitration is GRANTED. Plaintiff's claims are hereby DISMISSED. The pending "Motion for Class Certification" (Dkt. # 44) and "Motion to Stay Motion for Class Certification" (Dkt. # 50) are DENIED as moot. The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment in the above-captioned matter.