[DO NOT PUBLISH]

In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-11898

Non-Argument Calendar

____________________

WILLIAM PAUL DEBOSKEY, 

Plaintiff-Appellant,

versus

STATEBRIDGE COMPANY, LLC, 

RED STICK ACQUISITIONS, LLC, 

SOKOLOF REMTULLA, PLLC, 

OWEN HARVEY SOKOLOF, 

SHAFIN A. REMTULLA, et al., 

Defendants-Appellees,

USCA11 Case: 23-11898 Document: 25-1 Date Filed: 01/24/2024 Page: 1 of 7
2 Opinion of the Court 23-11898

DONALD ST. JOHN,

Defendant.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Florida

D.C. Docket No. 8:22-cv-02427-WFJ-AAS

____________________

Before JILL PRYOR, BRANCH, and DUBINA, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Appellant William DeBoskey appeals from the district 

court’s order granting the appellees/defendants’ (collectively the 

“appellees”) motion to dismiss his pro se second amended complaint, alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 

(“FDCPA”) and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act 

(“FCCPA”), and dismissing the complaint with prejudice. DeBoskey argues on appeal that the district court erred in dismissing his 

complaint because the claims within it were not time-barred and it 

stated sufficiently specific facts to state a claim. Having read the 

parties’ briefs and reviewed the record, we affirm the district 

court’s order of dismissal.

I.

USCA11 Case: 23-11898 Document: 25-1 Date Filed: 01/24/2024 Page: 2 of 7
23-11898 Opinion of the Court 3

We review a district court’s application of the statute of limitations de novo. NE 32nd Street, LLC v. United States, 896 F.3d 1240, 

1243 (11th Cir. 2018). We “give liberal construction to the pleadings of pro selitigants, [but] ‘nevertheless [require] them to conform 

to procedural rules.’” Albra v. Advan, Inc., 490 F.3d 826, 829 (11th 

Cir. 2007) (quoting Loren v. Sasser, 309 F.3d 1296, 1304 (11th Cir. 

2002)).

II.

DeBoskey is a Florida resident who owns a homestead property in Hernando County. In 2005, DeBoskey refinanced the property through a mortgage and promissory note that was assigned to 

Goshen Mortgage. Goshen Mortgage filed a foreclosure action 

against the property in the state circuit court, and later, Red Stick 

Acquisitions, LLC was substituted for Goshen Mortgage in the 

foreclosure action. Red Stick filed an amended complaint in the 

state court foreclosure action in 2018. At this point, DeBoskey alleges that Red Stick began directing its agents to make false claims 

about his debt and make threats to foreclose on the property. 

These agents allegedly include Statebridge Company, a current appellee in this appeal, which serviced the mortgage, and two attorneys who represent Red Stick in the pending foreclosure action and

are also named appellees.

In 2021, after amending and filing four answers in the foreclosure action, DeBoskey moved for leave to amend his answer to 

include a counterclaim against the appellees for violations of the 

FDCPA and the FCCPA. The state circuit court denied his motion 

USCA11 Case: 23-11898 Document: 25-1 Date Filed: 01/24/2024 Page: 3 of 7
4 Opinion of the Court 23-11898

for leave to amend, explaining that DeBoskey failed to show sufficient cause to permit the filing of a fifth answer and new counterclaim in an action that had been pending for over five years.

While the foreclosure action remained pending, DeBoskey 

filed the federal suit, raising the same FDCPA claim against appellees that the state court had prohibited him from raising in the foreclosure action. On January 5, 2023, approximately three months 

after DeBoskey filed the federal action, the state circuit court entered an order setting the foreclosure action for trial on February 8, 

2023. Six days later, DeBoskey filed an amended complaint in the 

federal court action, raising three claims that were all related to the 

foreclosure proceedings: (1) an FDCPA claim; (2) an FCCPA claim; 

and (3) a declaratory judgment action. The district court granted 

the appellees’ first motion to dismiss but allowed DeBoskey to file 

a second amended complaint. Upon the appellees’ request for dismissal of the second amended complaint, the district court ordered 

that it be granted and dismissed the case with prejudice.

III.

“A statute of limitations bar is ‘an affirmative defense, and 

. . . plaintiff[s] [are] not required to negate an affirmative defense in 

[their] complaint.’” La Grasta v. First Union Sec., Inc., 358 F.3d 840, 

845 (11th Cir. 2004) (omission and alterations in original) (quoting 

Tregenza v. Great Am. Commc’ns Co., 12 F.3d 717, 718 (7th Cir. 1993)), 

abrogated on other grounds by Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 

(2007). “[O]ur cases say that a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal on statute of 

limitations grounds is appropriate only if it is ‘apparent from the 

USCA11 Case: 23-11898 Document: 25-1 Date Filed: 01/24/2024 Page: 4 of 7
23-11898 Opinion of the Court 5

face of the complaint’ that the claim is time-barred.” Id. (quoting 

Omar v. Lindsey, 334 F.3d 1246, 1251 (11th Cir. 2003)).

An action alleging a violation of the FDCPA must be filed 

“within one year from the date on which the violation occurs.” 15 

U.S.C. § 1692k(d). “The FDCPA limitations period begins to run 

on the date the alleged FDCPA violation actually happened.” Rotkiske v. Klemm, 589 U.S. ___, 140 S. Ct. 355, 360 (2019). An action 

alleging a violation of the FCCPA must be filed “within 2 years after the date the alleged violation occurred.” Fla. Stat. Ann. 

§ 559.77(4).

“A complaint is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim 

if the allegations, taken as true, show the plaintiff is not entitled to 

relief.” Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 215, 127 S. Ct. 910, 920 (2007). A 

complaint need not have “‘detailed factual allegations,” but it must 

have “more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmedme accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 

1949 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 

S. Ct. 1955, 1966 (2007)). “A pleading that offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action 

will not do.’ Nor does a complaint suffice if it tenders ‘naked assertion[s]’ devoid of ‘further factual enhancement.’” Id. (alteration 

in original) (citation omitted) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 

557, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 1966).

IV.

The record demonstrates that the district court did not err 

in dismissing DeBoskey’s complaint with prejudice. The district 

USCA11 Case: 23-11898 Document: 25-1 Date Filed: 01/24/2024 Page: 5 of 7
6 Opinion of the Court 23-11898

court explained that DeBoskey’s claims were untimely because he 

received service of the complaint in the foreclosure action in 2018 

and filed the federal suit four years later. The district court noted 

that DeBoskey’s second amended complaint was almost identical 

to the first amended complaint, and that DeBoskey’s attempts to 

skirt the statute of limitations in the FDCPA and FCCPA actions

were unavailing. The district court further stated that DeBoskey 

failed to provide any facts to support his vague allegations, which 

amounted to nothing more than the appellees’ participation and 

maintenance of the foreclosure action. Thus, the district court dismissed the second amended complaint with prejudice.

We conclude, from the record, that the district court did not 

err by dismissing DeBoskey’s second amended complaint because 

it was either time-barred by the statute of limitations or failed to 

state a claim. The complaint could be interpreted two ways: the 

first is that the complaint alleges that the appellees violated the 

FDCPA and the FCCPA in relation to the state court foreclosure 

proceedings. Although DeBoskey states on appeal that he did not 

allege that the filing of the foreclosure action itself was a violation 

of the FDCPA and the FCCPA, he alleges that the appellees filed 

papers and announced the false claims to third parties. This appears to refer to that foreclosure action. Further, DeBoskey alleges 

that the appellees also made threats to foreclose his property, asserted rights to enforce a lien on his property, and asserted rights 

to hold some interest in or against his property. These allegations 

refer to the foreclosure action and are time-barred because DeBoskey received service of the foreclosure action in 2018, which is 

USCA11 Case: 23-11898 Document: 25-1 Date Filed: 01/24/2024 Page: 6 of 7
23-11898 Opinion of the Court 7

more than two years before the filing of the second amended complaint.

The second way that the complaint can be construed is that 

it alleges violations of the FDCPA and the FCCPA unrelated to the 

foreclosure action, as DeBoskey argues is the correct assertion in 

his complaint. However, if we construe the complaint this way, the 

district court’s order of dismissal would still be correct because the 

complaint failed to state a claim based on factual specificity. See 

Jones, 549 U.S. at 215, 127 S. Ct. at 920; Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S. 

Ct. at 1949. DeBoskey did not reference in his complaint any specific actions of the appellees other than the foreclosure suit and 

those actions within his general accusations relating to the mortgage. As such, the district court properly dismissed his complaint 

because it contained “naked assertion[s]” devoid of “further factual 

enhancement.” Jones, 549 U.S. at 215; Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678.

Accordingly, based on the aforementioned reasons, we affirm the district court’s order dismissing DeBoskey’s complaint 

with prejudice.

AFFIRMED.

USCA11 Case: 23-11898 Document: 25-1 Date Filed: 01/24/2024 Page: 7 of 7