Torres v. Wakefield & Associates

Background

The case was originally filed in New York Supreme Court, Bronx County. Rural Metro Ambulance Corp. removed it to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on November 6, 2020, stating that Wakefield & Associates consented to removal. Rural Metro asserted federal-question jurisdiction.

Torres timely moved to remand, arguing that his complaint did not specifically seek relief under a federal statute. Rural Metro opposed the motion. Wakefield & Associates did not file anything concerning the motion, and no reply was filed.

Court’s Analysis

The court stated that the party removing a case has the burden of showing that removal is proper. Rural Metro relied on decisions discussing whether the Fair Credit Reporting Act and, to a lesser extent, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act preempted certain state-law claims. Rural Metro’s position was that preemption meant Torres could succeed only by bringing federal claims.

The court explained that whether the pleaded claims could ultimately succeed was not the question for removal. Ordinary preemption is generally a defense to be raised in state court. A narrow exception, called complete preemption, exists when a federal statute has such extraordinary preemptive force that a state-law claim within the statute’s scope is treated as a federal claim for jurisdictional purposes.

The court acknowledged that the Fair Credit Reporting Act may preempt some claims, including certain claims under New York General Business Law § 349 involving a defendant’s duties as a provider of information to credit-reporting agencies. But the court agreed with the majority of courts that the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not completely preempt all state-law claims and therefore does not provide a basis for removing Torres’s complaint when the complaint alleges no violation of federal law.

Disposition

The court held that Torres’s claims should be litigated in New York state court and that the defendants could raise preemption arguments there as a defense. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil granted the motion to remand. The Clerk was requested to close the federal case, remand it to New York Supreme Court, Bronx County, and mail Torres a copy of the order.