1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

Ballard Spahr LLP

1 East Washington Street, Suite 2300

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2555

Telephone: 602.798.5400

Brian Schulman (016008)

schulmanb@ballardspahr.com

Lorna B. Banister (030875)

banisterl@ballardspahr.com

BALLARD SPAHR LLP

1 East Washington Street, Suite 2300

Phoenix, AZ 85004-2555

Telephone: 602.798.5400

Facsimile: 602.798.5595

Attorneys for Defendant CitiFinancial 

Servicing, LLC

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

MICHELLE MANNING, 

Plaintiff, 

v.

CITIFINANCIAL INC., EQUIFAX 

INFORMATION SERVICES LLC, 

EXPERIAN INFORMATION 

SOLUTIONS, INC., AND TRANSUNION, 

LLC,

Defendants.

NO. ________________________

NOTICE OF REMOVAL OF

CITIFINANCIAL INC.

CitiFinancial Servicing, LLC (“CitiFinancial”), improperly pled as CitiFinancial,

Inc., files the within Notice of Removal and respectfully represents that:

1. On or about December 1, 2015, an action was commenced by Complaint

against CitiFinancial in the McDowell Mountain Justice Court, Maricopa County, State 

of Arizona, entitled MICHELLE MANNING v. CITIFINANCIAL INC., EQUIFAX 

INFORMATION SERVICES LLC, EXPERIAN INFORMATION SOLUTIONS, INC., 

AND TRANSUNION, LLC, Case No: 2015-223593. Copies of the Complaint and 

Summons issued on December 1, 2015, are attached hereto and identified as Exhibit A.

2. CitiFinancial received the Summons and Complaint on December 9, 2015. 

Removal is timely because thirty days have not expired since service of the state court 

pleadings on CitiFinancial.

Case 2:16-cv-00049-DKD Document 1 Filed 01/08/16 Page 1 of 3
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

2

Ballard Spahr LLP

1 East Washington Street, Suite 2300

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2555

Telephone: 602.798.5400

3. The above described action is a civil action over which this Court has 

original jurisdiction under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1441, because the action alleges

CitiFinancial “is willfully reporting derogatory and inaccurate information about Plaintiff 

to one or more consumer reporting agencies by continuing to report a balance on 

Account, as defined by 15 U.S.C. § 1681a.” Exhibit A. These factual allegations are a 

claim for violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. (the 

“FCRA”). The FCRA is a federal statute which gives rise to federal question jurisdiction 

in this Court. See 15 U.S.C. § 1681p.

4. Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 1681p and 28 U.S.C. § 1331, this Court has 

original jurisdiction over FCRA claims without regard to the amount in controversy. See

Lockard v. Equifax, Inc., 163 F.3d 1259, 1263-65 (11th Cir. 1998). 

5. There has been no trial or other final disposition of the Maricopa County 

Justice Court action.

6. A Notice of Filing of Notice of Removal, attaching a copy of this Notice of 

Removal, will be sent for filing to the Clerk of the Justice Court, Maricopa County. See

L.R. Civ. 3.6.

7. Equifax Information Services LLC, Experian Information Solutions, Inc. 

and TransUnion, LLC have not yet been served, therefore their consent to this Notice of 

Removal is not required.

WHEREFORE, Defendant CitiFinancial Servicing, LLC removes the 

above action now pending against it in the McDowell Mountain Justice Court, Maricopa 

County, State or Arizona to this Court.

BALLARD SPAHR LLP

By: /s/ Lorna B. Banister

Brian Schulman

Lorna B. Banister

1 East Washington Street, Suite 2300

Phoenix, AZ 85004-2555

Attorneys for Defendant CitiFinancial

Servicing, LLC

Case 2:16-cv-00049-DKD Document 1 Filed 01/08/16 Page 2 of 3
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

3

Ballard Spahr LLP

1 East Washington Street, Suite 2300

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2555

Telephone: 602.798.5400

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I certify that on the 8th day of January, 2016, I electronically transmitted a PDF 

version of this document to the Office of the Clerk of the Court, using the CM/ECF 

System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to all CM/ECF 

registrants listed for this matter and mailed a copy of the foregoing document to the 

following CM/ECF non-registrants:

Kevin Fallon McCarthy

Joon N. Kee

4250 North Drinkwater Blvd., Suite 320

Scottsdale, AZ 85251

/s/ Catherine M. Weber

Case 2:16-cv-00049-DKD Document 1 Filed 01/08/16 Page 3 of 3