Prater v. Am. Heritage Fed. Credit Union
Prater v. Am. Heritage Fed. Credit Union
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff Charmaine Prater, a regular pro se litigant in this Court, filed this civil action against the American Heritage Federal Credit Union, "Vice President Brian Hahn," "President Bruce Foulke (CEO)," Lynette Smart (identified as assistant to Brian Hahn), John Doe (former manager of Red Lion Customer Service), Jane Doe (Supervisor of Red Lion customer service), Jane Doe (Loan Department/Back Office Manager), John Doe (quality control/credit reporting/bureau reporting IT Department), John Doe (Hunting Park Location Teller/Clerk), Jane Doe (Hunting Park Location Teller/Clerk), Stephanie Pompey (with the notation "Esquire of Drive here and Private Practice"), Matthew James (with the notation "Operator Manager of Drive Here"), and Thomas F. Chapman (identified as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Equifax, Inc.). Prater has also filed a Motion for Leave to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. (ECF No. 1.) For the following reasons, the Court will grant Prater leave to proceed in forma pauperis and dismiss her Complaint with leave to amend.
I. FACTS
The basis for Prater's claims is somewhat difficult to understand due to the manner in which the Complaint is pled and the occasional difficulty in reading Prater's handwriting. Prater alleges that "dating back to 2016" and "on going currently," the Defendants "have taken control over [her] accounts and allowed or/and created unauthorized auto etc. accounts accept payments for [her] but applied it elsewhere ...." (Compl. at 6.)
It appears Prater is alleging that the Defendants "erroneously reported duplicated accounts"-apparently duplicate accounts related to her car loan-and listed different balances on those accounts. (Id. at 6 & 9.) The Court understands her to be claiming that a payment for her car loan was erroneously applied to a vacation loan based on a false allegation that Prater requested her payment be applied in such a manner. Prater also alleges that she was "barred ... from the Credit Union after she requested copies of her statements from the Credit Union ...." (Id. at 6.) She further contends that she "addressed the manager at Red Lion Rd that her and her husband had disability [sic] they took advantage of them and [unintelligible] ... who failed to due diligence but went along [unintelligible]." (Id. )
Prater indicates that "this matter involves civil rights violations [and] securities violation frauds" as well as "Disability violation," "identify theft," "Housing discrimination,"
*916"Due process violation," as well as other violations of federal laws. (Id. at 5.) She claims that she suffered from "displacement and other harms" as a result of the Defendants' conduct. (Id. at 7.) She seeks compensatory and punitive damages for a total amount of $180,000. She also wants the Court to prevent the repossession of certain of her property, presumably her car, although that is unclear.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
The Court will grant Prater leave to proceed in forma pauperis because it appears that she is not capable of paying the fees to commence this civil action. Accordingly, Prater's Complaint is subject to
Moreover, Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a complaint to contain "a short a plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." A district court may sua sponte dismiss a complaint that does not comply with Rule 8 if "the complaint is so confused, ambiguous, vague, or otherwise unintelligible that its true substance, if any, is well disguised." Simmons v. Abruzzo ,
III. DISCUSSION
A. Failure to Comply with Rule 8
It is difficult to determine whether Prater has a basis for a plausible claim due to the manner in which the Complaint is pled. She does not identify which Defendants are responsible for which conduct, and appears to group different incidents together, making it difficult to understand how the events relate to each other. Indeed, it would be difficult for any Defendant to meaningfully respond to Prater's Complaint because it is not clear what each Defendant is alleged to have done and how each Defendant is liable to Prater. See Lawal v. McDonald ,
B. Civil Rights Claims
Prater appears to be raising civil rights claims, pursuant to
C. Claims for Securities Fraud
Prater also appears to be attempting to raise claims for securities fraud in light of the fact that she refers to securities fraud in her Complaint and indicated on the Court's Designation Form that this is a case under the Securities Acts. "The elements of an implied § 10(b) cause of action for securities fraud are (1) a material misrepresentation or omission by the defendant; (2) scienter; (3) a connection between the misrepresentation or omission and the purchase or sale of a security; (4) reliance upon the misrepresentation or omission; (5) economic loss; and (6) loss causation." Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Ret. Plans & Tr. Funds ,
D. Claims Related to Disability and Housing Discrimination
The Complaint suggests that Prater is claiming she was discriminated against due to a disability and in relation to housing. However, none of her allegations clarify those claims. It is not clear what disability she is claiming, how she was discriminated against because of that disability, or how she was discriminated against in housing based on her membership in a protected class. Accordingly, her discrimination claims are based solely on conclusory allegations and must be dismissed.
E. Claims for "Identity Theft"
Prater also claims to be a victim of identity theft. However, the federal statute criminalizing identity theft, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, does not give rise to a civil cause of action. See Riga v. Benezette , No. 612CV4140RL19DAB,
F. Other Claims
Liberally construing the Complaint, it also appears that Prater may be raising claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"). The FCRA was enacted "to ensure fair and accurate credit reporting, promote efficiency in the banking system, and protect consumer privacy."
*918Safeco Ins. Co. of Am. v. Burr ,
To state a claim under the FCRA against a furnisher of credit information, as opposed to the credit reporting agency itself, a plaintiff must allege that "[s]he filed a notice of dispute with a consumer reporting agency; the consumer reporting agency notified the furnisher of information of the dispute; and the furnisher of information failed to investigate and modify the inaccurate information." Harris v. Pa. Higher Educ. Assistance Agency/Am. Educ. Servs. , No. 16-693,
Finally, in the event Prater sought to raise claims under state law, there is no independent basis for jurisdiction over those claims. The only independent basis for the Court's jurisdiction over state law claims is pursuant to
An individual is a citizen of the state where he is domiciled, meaning the state where he is physically present and intends to remain. See Washington v. Hovensa LLC ,
Here, the Complaint does not allege the citizenship of any of the parties. Accordingly, Prater has not met her burden of establishing that subject matter jurisdiction exists over any state law claims. Furthermore, as all of the parties appear to be located in Pennsylvania, it seems unlikely that the parties are diverse for purposes of § 1332(a).
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will grant Prater leave to proceed in forma pauperis and dismiss her Complaint. This dismissal will be without prejudice to Prater's right to file an amended complaint within thirty (30) days in the event that she can cure the defects noted above. See Grayson v. Mayview State Hosp. ,
The Court adopts the pagination assigned to the Complaint by the CM-ECF docketing system.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Charmaine PRATER v. AMERICAN HERITAGE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
- Cited By
- 17 cases
- Status
- Published