Togut v. Forever 21, Inc.
Togut v. Forever 21, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
Sweet, D.J.
Defendants Forever 21, Inc. and Forever 21 Retail, Inc. (collectively, the "Defendants" or "Forever 21") have moved pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) to dismiss the Complaint of Plaintiff Laura Togut ("Togut" or the "Plaintiff") alleging causes of action for unjust enrichment, conversion, and money had and received which arise out of Togut's purchase of items on Defendants' website for which she alleges Defendants unlawfully charged her retail sales tax. Based upon the conclusions set forth below, Defendants' motion is granted and the Complaint is dismissed.
Prior Proceedings
On July 24, 2017, Plaintiff filed her putative class action Complaint alleging unjust enrichment, conversion, and money had and received. Compl. ¶¶ 49-73, Dkt. No. 1. The Complaint alleges that Defendants fraudulently added a surcharge, labeled as a "sales tax," to online purchases shipped to sales tax exempt jurisdictions, and did not remit the collected tax to the proper New York authority, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (the "Department").See id.
On September 18, 2017, Defendants filed the instant motion to dismiss. Dkt. No. 15.
*645The motion was heard and marked fully submitted on November 15, 2017.
Facts
The Complaint sets forth the following facts, which are assumed true for the purpose of this motion to dismiss. See Koch v. Christie's Int'l PLC,
New York City is a jurisdiction that is exempt from retail sales tax on items priced at less than $110. Compl. ¶ 31. New York City's sales tax exception includes New York State retail sales tax, New York City local retail sales tax, and the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District ("MCTD") tax, which combined total 8.875%. Compl. ¶¶ 3-4, 29, 31; see also Sales Tax, City of New York, http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2389/sales-tax (last visited January 15, 2018).
On or about May 19, 2017, Plaintiff purchased twenty items of clothing from Defendants' website, Forever21.com, for delivery in New York City. Compl. ¶ 28. Each item was priced below $110 and, combined, totaled $283.40. Compl. ¶ 28, Ex. A. Plaintiff ultimately paid Defendants a total of $306.30 for her items, of which $22.90 was labeled a "tax." Compl. ¶ 32-33, Ex. A. The items Plaintiff ordered were order and delivered to her mailing address in New York City. Compl. ¶¶ 29-30. The monies Defendants collected from Plaintiff under the label of a "tax" were not paid to the Department. Compl. ¶ 35-36.
The Applicable Standard
"A case is properly dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) when the district court lacks the statutory or constitutional power to adjudicate it." Makarova v. U.S.,
On a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, all factual allegations in the complaint are accepted as true and all inferences are drawn in favor of the pleader. Mills v. Polar Molecular Corp.,
*646While "a plaintiff may plead facts alleged upon information and belief 'where the belief is based on factual information that makes the inference of culpability plausible,' such allegations must be 'accompanied by a statement of the facts upon which the belief is founded.' " Munoz-Nagel v. Guess, Inc., No. 12 Civ. 1312 (ER),
The Motion to Dismiss the Complaint is Granted
Plaintiff's Complaint alleges that Defendants improperly collected retail sales tax on purchases Plaintiff made from Defendants' website and which were shipped to her in New York City, a retail sales tax exempt jurisdiction. See Compl. ¶¶ 7, 32-37. Defendants contend that Plaintiff's Complaint must be dismissed both because Plaintiff has failed to follow the New York State administrative remedy proscribed by New York Tax Law Section 1139 and because Plaintiff has failed plausibly to state a claim.
New York Tax Law Section 1139 states that a consumer who seeks the return of sales tax "erroneously, illegally or unconstitutionally collected or paid ... to a person required to collect tax" must apply for a refund to the state tax commission.
*647Estler,
It is undisputed that Plaintiff has not sought administrative relief under Section 1139. Plaintiff argues, however, that her situation falls into a carve-out scenario left unresolved by the Estler court. In Estler, plaintiffs alleged that Dunkin' Donuts franchises had unlawfully charged sales tax on purchases of pre-packaged coffee.
Plaintiff's conclusory allegation is insufficient to merit wading into Estler's jurisprudential opening. The court in Kupferstein, which addressed a situation akin to the one hypothesized by the Second Circuit and presented here, provides guidance. There, a plaintiff alleged that a merchant overcharged her sales tax, which the plaintiff termed an "undisclosed fee." Kupferstein,
In apparent acknowledgement of this pleading deficiency, Plaintiff contends that she should be entitled to jurisdictional discovery prior to any dismissal of her claims. Opp. Mem. at 2, 6-9. Specifically, Plaintiff states that she seeks from Defendants "information and documents evidencing ... remittance of any and all taxes collected from consumers taking delivery of online orders in New York jurisdictions that provide for retail sales tax exception ... for items and purchases that qualify for the exemption ... for fiscal years 2016 and 2017." Opp. Mem. 7-8. Plaintiff contends that "[d]espite multiple phone calls," Plaintiff has not been able to obtain documents from the Department necessary "to rebut Defendants [sic ] challenge ... whether any monies collected by Defendants on exempt items delivered to exempt jurisdictions were remitted" to the Department. Declaration of Bradley J. Bartolomeo dated *648October 16, 2017 ("Bartolomeo Decl.") ¶¶ 10, 12.
Where a plaintiff fails to establish a prima facie case that a court has jurisdiction over a defendant, it is within a court's discretion whether to allow jurisdictional discovery. Jazini v. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.,
The information Plaintiff seeks to establish subject matter jurisdiction for her claim does not require jurisdictional discovery. Plaintiff needs to establish one thing: whether Defendants remitted the monies collected from Plaintiff to the Department. This could be done without need to resort to discovery by filing an AU-11 Application for Credit or Refund of Sales or Use Tax ("Refund Request"), accessible from the Department. See AU-11 APPLICATION FOR CREDIT OR REFUND OF SALES OR USE TAX (Dec. 2010), http://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/st/au11_fill_in.pdf. The privately held nature of Defendants' business or the efficacy of phone calls to the Department do not establish that submitting a Refund Request would not adequately address this narrow inquiry. As such, Plaintiff cannot credibly argue that the specific fact that she needs is "peculiarly" within Defendants' knowledge and necessitates discovery. Gualandi,
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion to dismiss is granted.
It is so ordered.
The Second Circuit has not stated whether compliance with New York Tax Law § 1139 is a question of jurisdiction, of failing to state a claim, or failure to exhaust administrative remedies. See Estler,
Plaintiff's notion that "Defendants' failure to offer any evidence" that the collected tax was "remitted to the New York taxing authority" should countenance against dismissal is meritless. "[I]t is not defendant's burden to produce evidence" to support either of their instant motions. Kupferstein,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Laura TOGUT, on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated v. FOREVER 21, INC. and Forever 21 Retail, Inc.
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published