Daniel v. Navient Solutions, LLC, Case No. 8:17-cv-2503-T-24JSS

• Court: United States District Courts. 11th Circuit. United States District Court of Middle District of Florida
• Writing for the Court: SUSAN C. BUCKLEW, United States District Judge
• Citation: 328 F.Supp.3d 1319
• Parties: Edwing D. DANIEL, William Cottrill, Brooke Padgett, Michael Fanella, James Morgan, and Elaine Lareina, Plaintiffs, v. NAVIENT SOLUTIONS, LLC, Defendant.
• Docket Number: Case No. 8:17-cv-2503-T-24JSS
• Decision Date: 25 June 2018

328 F.Supp.3d 1319

Edwing D. DANIEL, William Cottrill, Brooke Padgett, Michael Fanella, James Morgan, and Elaine Lareina, Plaintiffs,
v.
NAVIENT SOLUTIONS, LLC, Defendant.

Case No. 8:17-cv-2503-T-24JSS

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division.

Signed June 25, 2018

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Gus M. Centrone, Brian Lucas Shrader, Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC, Katherine Earle Yanes, Brandon Kyle Breslow, Kynes, Markman & Felman, PA, Tampa, FL, for Plaintiffs.

Ashley Nicole Rector, Dayle Marie Van Hoose, Sessions, Fishman, Nathan & Israel, LLC, Tampa, FL, Lisa M. Simonetti, Vedder Price, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Defendant.

ORDER

SUSAN C. BUCKLEW, United States District Judge

Before the Court is Defendant Navient Solutions, LLC's Motion to Strike Class Allegations and to Dismiss and Incorporated Memorandum of Law (Doc. 28), Plaintiffs Edwing D. Daniel, William Cottrill, Brooke Padgett, Michael Fanella, and Elaine Lareina's Response in Opposition (Doc. 37), and Defendant's Reply to the Response (Doc. 56). The Court, having carefully considered the parties' submissions, finds that the Motion is due to be denied.

I FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are a group of individuals working in public interest occupations who allegedly relied on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program to forgive their student loans. All of the Plaintiffs used Defendant Navient Solutions LLC to service their student loans. Defendant is the largest student loan servicer in the United States and services more than 12 million borrowers. Defendant's responsibilities as a student loan servicer include informing borrowers about available repayment plans and communicating with borrowers about the repayment of their loans.

Plaintiffs allege that they relied on incorrect information and recommendations given to them by Defendant regarding their eligibility for student loan forgiveness under the PSLF, resulting in their mistaken belief that they were eligible for

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the PSLF program. Plaintiffs filed this Class Action Complaint against Defendant, on behalf of themselves and a proposed class of similarly-situated loan borrowers, for breach of fiduciary duty (Count I), negligence (Count II), unjust enrichment (Count III), breach of implied-in-law contract (Count IV), violation of the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, Fla. Stat. § 559.72 (Count V), violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act, 815 ILCS 501, et seq. (Count VI), violation of the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act, D.C. Code Ann. § 28.3901, et seq. (Count VIII), and violation of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-101, et seq. (Count VIII). Plaintiffs seek damages, costs, and attorneys' fees for the alleged violations.

II. MOTION TO STRIKE

Defendant moves to strike Plaintiffs' class action allegations, arguing that Plaintiffs' proposed national class and state subclasses do not satisfy the requirements of Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Specifically, Defendant argues that Plaintiffs will fail to satisfy the commonality, predominance, and superiority requirements of Rule 23 because determining its liability "will require a highly fact-intensive and individualized analysis of the interactions that [Navient] had with hundreds of thousands of its borrowers." (Doc. 28, p. 12). Defendant relies in large part on Rule 23(c)(1), which requires the Court "[a]t an early practicable time after a person sues or is sued as a class representative" to "determine by order whether to certify the action as a class action." Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(c)(1). (Doc. 28, p. 10). Defendant, however, overlooks the fact that "on a motion to strike pursuant to Rule 23, the Rule 23 factors should be viewed through the lens of the Rule 12(f) standard for motions to strike." DeJesus v. Cigna Corp. , 2018 WL 375579, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 11, 2018) (citing Gill-Samuel v. Nova Biomedical Corp. , 298 F.R.D. 693 (S.D. Fla 2014) ) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court may only strike an allegation from a pleading that is "redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f). "Motions to strike may be granted only if ‘the matter sought to be omitted has no possible relationship to the controversy, may confuse the issues, or otherwise prejudice a party.’ " Argentine v. Bank of Am. Corp. , 2015 WL 12844395, at *1 (M.D. Fla. July 29, 2015) (quoting United States v. MLU Servs., Inc. , 544 F.Supp.2d 1326 (M.D. Fla. 2008) ). "In the context of motions directed to allegations of class certification as insufficient under [ Rule 23 ], the court must be particularly hesitant to decide matters against a class in view of the absence of a developed factual record." Id.

Defendant's motion necessarily fails when the Rule 12(f) standard is applied. In their First Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs adequately plead each of the pertinent requirements to maintain a Rule 23(b)(3) class action—numerosity, commonality, typicality, adequacy, predominance, and superiority—and the factual basis for asserting each requirement will be met at the class certification stage. (Doc. 19, pp. 4–7). Moreover, as Plaintiffs argue, Defendant's assertion that Plaintiffs will fail to meet particular Rule 23 requirements calls for a premature analysis by this Court into the viability of class certification. An order on class certification is premature prior to discovery and the parties having an opportunity to thoroughly brief the Rule 23 requirements. See, e.g., Fosbrink v. Area Wide Protective, Inc. , 2017 WL 6947421, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 23, 2017) ("Here, Defendant's

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request to deny certification of the proposed classes is premature. The Court finds that the allegations in the Amended Complaint are not so facially defective to allow this Court to deny certification without Plaintiff being allowed to take discovery to try to satisfy the requirements of [R]ule 23."); Argentine , 2015 WL 12844395, at *1 ("The Court...agrees with Plaintiff that the motion to strike the allegations of class certification is premature."); James D. Hinson Elec. Contracting Co., Inc. v. AT & T Servs., Inc. , 2014 WL 1118015, at *4 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 20, 2014) (holding it was premature to strike class action allegations based on the pleadings). While the instant motion to strike class allegations may be premature, one or more of Defendant's attacks on commonality, predominance, and superiority could ultimately provide a valid basis for...