Source: http://pa.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20180404_0000968.MPA.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 05:45:13+00:00

Document:
FindACase | Velez v. Continental Service Group, Inc.
Velez v. Continental Service Group, Inc.
Richard P. Conaboy United States District Judge.
We consider here Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint Pursuant to Rule 12 (b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Doc. 8). The motion has been fully briefed by the parties (Docs. 9, 11, and 12) and is now ripe for disposition.
In McTernan v. City of York, 577 F.3d 521, 530 (3d Cir. 2009), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals set out the standard applicable to a motion to dismiss in light of the United States Supreme Court's decisions in Bell Atlantic Corp v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 433 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009).
“[T]o survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true to ‘state a claim that relief is plausible on its face.'” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). The Court emphasized that “only a complaint that states a plausible claim for relief survives a motion to dismiss.” Id. at 1950. Moreover, it continued, “[d]etermining whether a complaint states a possible claim for relief will … be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing Court to draw on its traditional experience and common sense.” Id. (citation omitted).
McTernan, 577 F.3d at 530. The Third Circuit discussed the effect of Twombly and Iqbal in detail and provided a road map for district courts presented with a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim in a case filed just a week before McTernan, Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203 (3d Cir. 2009).
[D]istrict Courts should conduct a two-part analysis. First, the factual and legal elements of a claim should be separated. The district court must accept all of the complaint's well-pleaded facts as true, but may disregard any legal conclusions. [Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949.] Second, a district court must then determine whether the facts alleged in the complaint are sufficient to show that the Plaintiff has a “plausible claim for relief.” Id. at 1950. In other words, a complaint must do more than allege a Plaintiff's entitlement to relief. A complaint has to “show” such an entitlement with its facts. See Philips v. Co. of Alleghany, 515 F.3d 224, 234-35 (3d Cir. 2008). As the Supreme Court instructed in Iqbal, “[w]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the Court to infer more that the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged--but it has not shown--that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. This “plausibility” determination will be a “context-specific task that requires the reviewing Court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. at 1950.
The Circuit Court's guidance makes clear that legal conclusions are not entitled to the same deference as well-pleaded facts. In other words, “the court is ‘not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.'” Guirguis v. Movers Specialty Services, Inc., No. 09-1104, 2009 WL 3041992, at *2 (3d Cir. September 24. 2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555) (not precedential).
Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (Doc. 6) alleges that the Defendant violated multiple sections of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692 et seq. (“Act”). Plaintiff contends first that Defendant violated the Act by structuring the debt collection letter it transmitted to Plaintiff in a manner that would confuse the recipient regarding what steps needed to be taken to insure no calls concerning the debt would be made to her at her place of employment. Specifically, Plaintiff complains that a notice that applied only to Massachusetts residents was placed and formatted in such a manner that it would cause an unsophisticated consumer to believe that the Massachusetts notice applied to all consumers irrespective of their residence. Plaintiff contends that the notice was misleading and deceptive in violation of § 1692e (10) of the Act.
Plaintiff also contends that the first page of the letter contains a disclosure that ambiguously informs the reader concerning what steps would be necessary to prevent the Defendant from assuming that the debt was valid. Specifically, Plaintiff asserts that the disclosure could lull a consumer into believing that the debt could be disputed telephonically when, in fact, debts must be disputed in writing. Plaintiff contends that the disclosure did not meet the criteria required in 15 U.S.C. § 1692g.

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