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24 FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT & JURY DEMAND - 1

Susan M. Rotkis

Arizona Bar No. 032866

Consumer Litigation Associates West, PLLC

382 S. Convent Ave. 

Tucson, AZ 85701

520-622-2481tel

520-844-6706 fax

srotkis@clalegal.com

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 

TUCSON DIVISION

CHRISTIAN MAGOUNDI,

Plaintiff,

vs.

RECEIVABLES MANAGEMENT, LLC,

SERVE: REGISTERED AGENT

R&T TAXES LLC 

15765 91 ST TERRACE

JUPITER, FL 33478

NATIONAL MANAGEMENT RECOVERY 

CORP., 

SERVE: REGISTERED AGENT

JILL STANZIONE KATZ

5571 N. UNIVERSITY DR.

CORAL SPRINGS, FL 33067

ADAM J. KATZ, P.A.,

SERVE: 

ADAM J. KATZ

5571 N. UNIVERSITY DR.

CORAL SPRINGS, FL 33067

Defendants

Case No.: 4:18CV155

FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT & JURY 

DEMAND

Case 4:18-cv-00155-CKJ Document 7 Filed 04/10/18 Page 1 of 11
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24 FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT & JURY DEMAND - 2

FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT

Christian Magoundi, the Plaintiff in this action, by counsel, alleges for his 

Complaint that the Defendants herein have violated the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices 

Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., (“FDCPA”).

INTRODUCTION

1. This is an individual action brought by an Arizona consumer alleging 

statutory damages, actual damages, additional damages as the court may allow as provided in 15 

U.S.C. § 1692k(a)(a)(B), attorneys’ fees and costs for the defendant’s violations of the Fair Debt 

Collections Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. §1692 et seq., which prohibits debt collectors 

from engaging in abusive, deceptive, and unfair collection practices.

JURISDICTION

2. This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1331 and the FDCPA, 

15 U.S.C. §1682k(d).

PARTIES

3. Plaintiff, Christian Magoundi, is a natural person and a resident of the City 

of Tucson, Arizona, located in Pima County. He resides within the District of Arizona and is a 

consumer within the meaning of the FDCPA, as defined at 15 U.S.C. §1692a(3).

4. Defendant, RECEIVABLES MANAGEMENT, LLC, (hereafter, “RM”) is 

a foreign corporation that regularly conducts business in Arizona. RM is a limited liability 

company organized under the laws of Florida has a business address 5571 University Dr. #204, 

Coral Springs, FL, 33067. 

5. RM’s principal business purpose is the collection of debts.

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24 FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT & JURY DEMAND - 3

6. RM is not registered to conduct business or prosecute legal actions in 

Arizona. 

7. RM regularly collects or attempts to collect debts owed or due or asserted 

to be owed or due another and is a “debt collector” within the meaning of the FDCPA, as defined 

at 15 U.S.C. §1692a(6). RM attempts to collect and does collect alleged debts from Arizona

consumers. 

8. RM is owned and operated by Jill Stanzione a.k.a. Jill Stanzione Katz. 

9. Defendant NATIONAL MANAGEMENT RECOVERY CORP., (hereafter, 

“NMRC”) is a foreign corporation that regularly conducts business in Arizona. NMRC is a 

corporation organized under the laws of Florida has a business address 5571 University Dr. #204, 

Coral Springs, FL, 33067.

10. NMRC’s principal business purpose is the collection of debts.

11. NMRC is not registered to conduct business or prosecute legal actions in 

Arizona. 

12. NMRC regularly collects or attempts to collect debts owed or due or 

asserted to be owed or due another and is a “debt collector” within the meaning of the 

FDCPA, as defined at 15 U.S.C. §1692a(6). NMRC attempts to collect and does collect 

alleged debts from Arizona consumers. 

13. NMRC is owned and operated by Jill Stanzione a.k.a. Jill Stanzione Katz. 

14. Adam J. Katz, P.A. is a foreign corporation that regularly conducts business 

in Arizona through its affiliated/controlled entities RM and NMRC. It is a professional association

organized under the laws of Florida. 

15. Adam J. Katz, PA’s principal business purpose is the collection of debts.

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24 FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT & JURY DEMAND - 4

16. Adam Jeffrey Katz, is an attorney and a member of the bar of Florida. He 

is the principal of a law firm, Adam J. Katz, P.A., which also has as its business address 5571 

University Dr. #204, Coral Springs, FL, 33067. 

16. Adam J. Katz, PA is not registered to conduct business or prosecute legal 

actions in Arizona. 

17. Adam J. Katz, PA through its affiliated/controlled entities RM and NMRC 

regularly collects or attempts to collect debts owed or due or asserted to be owed or due another 

and is a “debt collector” within the meaning of the FDCPA, as defined at 15 U.S.C. §1692a(6).

Adam J. Katz, PA attempts to collect and does collect alleged debts from Arizona consumers. 

18. Adam J. Katz is the general counsel for NMRC and RM, and holds himself 

out to be a debt collector that is knowledgeable about the FDCPA, which doesn’t “litigate” every 

account, rather uses pre-litigation techniques to collect. 

19. Mr. Katz and Defendant Stanzione Katz are husband and wife. 

20. Defendant Stanzione Katz at all times relevant hereto is the principal of 

NMRC and RM, who upon information and belief

(a) engages regularly, both directly and indirectly, in the collection of consumer 

debts; 

(b) is personally involved in the debt collection functions of the co-defendants, 

including the collection of debts from Mr. Magoundi

(c) directs the daily operations, management, policy making, and processes 

utilized by RM and NMRC to collect consumer debts; 

(d) exercised total control over the activities of RM and NMRC; 

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(e) trained, supervised, authorized and encourage the illegal activities of the 

debt collection employees of RM and NMRC; 

(f) was personally enriched by the debt collection activities of RM and NMRC, 

including the debt collection directed at Mr. Magoundi. 

21. Although RM, NMRC, Adam J. Katz, PA are organized separately under 

Florida law, they are all and each of them working in concert to collect debts from consumers,

including Mr. Magoundi, under the control of Defendant Stanzione Katz and her husband, Adam 

J. Katz. 

22. The address used by each and all Defendants is exactly the same, the owners 

and controllers of the companies are exactly the same. Even the different phone numbers used by 

each entity actually ring to a common switchboard that answers “law offices.” The activities of 

each and all of the Defendants are in complete concert so as to defeat any fiction that they are 

separate entities. 

STATEMENT OF FACTS

23. On or about August of 2017, Mr. Magoundi was contacted on his cell 

phone by a caller who identified herself as “Simone Cox” or a similar sounding name, from

telephone number 855-246-5850. 

24. Cox (or similarly named person) asked for Mr. Magoundi. She informed 

him that he owed money to Ace Cash Express or Ace Cash Advance, allegedly for a debt 

incurred primarily for personal, family or household purposes, and that he had to pay right away 

or he would be charged with a felony. 

25. Cox (or similarly named person) additionally told Mr. Magoundi that if he 

was charged with a felony, he would be unable to have a job. 

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26. Although Mr. Magoundi did not recognize the alleged debt, he was fearful 

of being charged with a felony, losing his job, or being unable to get a job. 

27. Fearful that he would be imprisoned based on what Cox (or similarly 

named person) had told him on the phone, Mr. Magoundi said that he had some money to pay 

her but not enough. 

28. Mr. Magoundi is a young father with two children under the age of three. 

Although Mr. Magoundi is a naturalized citizen and speaks English, he and his wife are 

originally from Congo and are native French speakers. Mr. Magoundi earns his living as an Uber 

driver. He is the primary caregiver for his children while his wife is in school. 

29. While Mr. Magoundi did not have the amount of money that Cox (or 

similarly named person) demanded over the phone, she convinced him to pay a substantial 

amount -- $200 – right away in order to avoid criminal charges. On August 8, 2017, Mr. 

Magoundi electronically transferred $200 from his bank account to RM, leaving him with only 

$5.04 in his bank account. 

30. Cox (or similarly named person) continued to contact Mr. Magoundi by 

phone to get him to pay money. On August 16, 2017, Mr. Magoundi electronically transferred 

$353.39 from his bank account to RM. 

31. Still in fear of being charged with a felony, Mr. Magoundi resolved that he 

would have to use money that he planned to pay the $758 rent to get Cox (or similarly named 

person) to stop calling him and to avoid leaving his family destitute or without a father. 

32. Two days later, on August 18, 2017, Mr. Magoundi electronically 

transferred another $200 to RM, leaving them without the money necessary to pay the next 

month’s rent. 

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24 FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT & JURY DEMAND - 7

33. Cox (or similarly named person) collected the consumer debt from Mr. 

Magoundi in her capacity as a debt collector at RM and/or NMRC, under the control of 

Stanzione Katz and/or Adam J. Katz, PA. 

34. RM, NMRC, Stanzione Katz, and Adam J. Katz, PA, are debt 

collectors that use the telephone to collect money allegedly due to another, namely Ace Cash 

Advance and/or Ace Cash Express. 

35. The debt collection activities of RM, NMRC, Stanzione Katz, and Adam 

J. Katz, PA, are indistinguishable from one another. 

36. The calls placed by the Defendants to Mr. Magoundi were placed within 

one year preceding the date of this Complaint. 

37. The statements made by Defendants to Mr. Magoundi that he would be 

guilty of a felony and that he could not have a job if he had a felony were made within one year 

preceding the date of this Complaint. 

38. Under the Arizona Constitution, there shall be no imprisonment for debt 

such as the alleged consumer debt Defendants sought to collect from Mr. Magoundi. Thus, 

threatening him with “a felony” is a threat to do something that could not be legally done and 

was action that the Defendants had no intention of or means to effectuate. 

39. Under the Arizona Revised Statutes, extortion by defamation libel is a 

crime in which a person attempts to extort money from an individual by accusing him of a crime 

or threatening a criminal action when none exists. Because imprisonment for a debt is against 

the Arizona Constitution, no felony could so lie. Therefore, Defendants have not only threatened 

to take action that they could not possibly take, they also violated the ARS § 13-1804. 

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24 FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT & JURY DEMAND - 8

40. The FDCPA was enacted to eliminate abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt 

collection practices by debt collectors and to promote consistent state action to protect 

consumers against debt collection abuses. 15 U.S.C. § 1692(a)&(e). 

41. Congress found that abusive debt collection practices harmed consumers 

by increasing personal bankruptcy, marital instability, loss of employment, and invasion of 

privacy. 

42. In this case, the abusive collection practice by the Defendants harmed Mr. 

Magoundi in exactly the way that Congress envisioned in enacting the statute. He suffered 

marital stress as a result of the Defendant’s conduct by telling him he would be a “felon” if he 

didn’t pay immediately, causing him to borrow from the family rent to pay the debt collector.

43. As a result of Defendant telling Mr. Magoundi that he would be a “felon,” 

Mr. Magoundi feared the loss of employment as the sole provider for his young family, and 

suffered the physical and emotional effects of that real fear. 

44. The Defendants did not have permission to call Mr. Magoundi, yet they 

did call him on his cell phone, invading his personal privacy in order to level false threats of 

criminality against him and to disgrace him. 

45. Defendants knew what they were doing and intended to do so when 

repeatedly calling Mr. Magoundi without his permission on his cell phone to annoy and harass 

him into paying more and more money. 

46. Defendants knew what they were doing and intended to do so when falsely 

representing that Mr. Magoundi could be accused of a felony. 

47. Defendants knew what they were doing and intended to do so when they 

threatened to take action that could not legally be taken and which they did not intend to take. 

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48. Upon information and belief, the Defendants utilize these tactics as a 

matter of course when attempting to collect debts from consumers such as Mr. Magoundi. When 

Mr. Magoundi realized – too late—that the Defendants had used such illegal tactics, he called 

Defendants to report the abusive conduct. 

49. The person to whom Mr. Magoundi spoke indicated that she had listened 

to the recordings of the phone calls with him. She acknowledged that the debt collector had 

utilized illegal methods to get money from him. The illegal actions were not a mistake and, upon

information and belief, Defendants do not maintain procedures reasonably adapted to avoid such 

conduct. 

COUNT 1: VIOLATION OF FDCPA “False or Misleading Representations”

15 U.S.C. § 1692e(2)(A)

50. Mr. Magoundi incorporates all foregoing paragraphs. 

51. Defendants violated the FDCPA by falsely representing the legal status of 

the debt as one in which a criminal penalty may attach. The representation was made knowingly 

and with the intent to deceive and coerce the least sophisticated consumer. 

52. As a result of Defendants’ actions, Mr. Magoundi suffered an injury in 

fact, including but not limited to physical injuries resulting from emotional distress; economic 

losses; lost time from work. He is entitled to recover actual damages, statutory damages, 

declaratory relief, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and costs. 

COUNT 2: VIOLATION OF FDCPA “False or Misleading Representations”

15 U.S.C. § 1692e(4)

53. Mr. Magoundi incorporates all foregoing paragraphs. 

54. Defendants’ violated the FDCPA by falsely implying that non payment of 

a debt may result in Mr. Magoundi’s arrest or imprisonment when such action was not only not 

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intended, but it was not lawful. The representation was made knowingly and with the intent to 

deceive and coerce the least sophisticated consumer. 

55. As a result of Defendants’ actions, Mr. Magoundi suffered an injury in 

fact, including but not limited to physical injuries resulting from emotional distress; economic 

losses; lost time from work. He is entitled to recover actual damages, statutory damages, 

declaratory relief, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and costs. 

COUNT 3: VIOLATION OF FDCPA “False or Misleading Representations”

15 U.S.C. § 1692e(7)

56. Mr. Magoundi incorporates all foregoing paragraphs. 

57. Defendants violated the FDCPA by falsely representing or implying that 

Mr. Magoundi’s had committed a crime or illegal act in order to disgrace him. The 

representation was made knowingly and with the intent to disgrace the least sophisticated 

consumer. 

58. As a result of Defendants’ actions, Mr. Magoundi suffered an injury in 

fact, including but not limited to physical injuries resulting from emotional distress; economic 

losses; lost time from work. He is entitled to recover actual damages, statutory damages, 

declaratory relief, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and costs. 15 U.S.C. § 1692k

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff requests the Court enter judgment in his favor and 

against each and all Defendants as follows: 

A. Declaratory relief that Defendant’s conduct violates the FDCPA;

B. Statutory damages pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1692k(a)(2)(B);

C. Injunctive relief prohibiting the Defendant’s continued conduct in 

violation of the FDCPA; 

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D. Attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses and costs of suit pursuant to 15 

U.S.C.§1692k(a)(3); and 

E. Such other or further relief as the Court deems proper.

TRIAL BY JURY IS DEMANDED.

/s/ Susan M. Rotkis

Susan M. Rotkis

Arizona Bar No. 032866

Consumer Litigation Associates West, PLLC

382 S. Convent Ave. 

Tucson, AZ 85701

520-622-2481tel

520-844-6706 fax

srotkis@clalegal.com

Case 4:18-cv-00155-CKJ Document 7 Filed 04/10/18 Page 11 of 11