Whyte v. Commonwealth Fin. Sys.

Full title: DWAYNE WHYTE, Plaintiff, v. COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, Defendant.

Court: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Date published: Jun 24, 2016

14-CV-07029 (FB) (RML) (E.D.N.Y. Jun. 24, 2016)

Opinion

14-CV-07029 (FB) (RML)

06-24-2016

DWAYNE WHYTE, Plaintiff, v. COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, Defendant.

Appearances: For the Plaintiff: EDWARD B. GELLER, ESQ. 15 Landing Way Bronx, NY 10464

BLOCK, Senior District Judge

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER Appearances:
For the Plaintiff:
EDWARD B. GELLER, ESQ.
15 Landing Way
Bronx, NY 10464 BLOCK, Senior District Judge :

On March 3, 2016, Magistrate Judge Levy issued a Report and Recommendation ("R&R") recommending that default judgment be entered against defendant Commonwealth Financial Systems ("Commonwealth") in the amount of $3,075.00, consisting of $500.00 in statutory damages, $2,125.00 in attorney's fees, and $450 in costs. See R&R at 12. The R&R provided that failure to object within fourteen days of receipt would preclude appellate review. See id. at 14. A copy of the R&R was mailed to Commonwealth on March 3, 2016. To date, no objections have been filed.

If clear notice has been given of the consequences of failure to object, and there are no objections, the Court may adopt the R&R without de novo review. See Mario v. P & C Food Mkts., Inc., 313 F.3d 758, 766 (2d Cir. 2002) ("Where parties receive clear notice of the consequences, failure to timely to object to a magistrate's report and recommendation operates as a waiver of further judicial review of the magistrate's decision."). The Court will excuse the failure to object and conduct de novo review if it appears that the magistrate judge may have committed plain error. See Spence v. Superintendent, Great Meadow Corr. Facility, 219 F.3d 162, 174 (2d Cir. 2000)

Magistrate Levy's R&R contains no error, let alone plain error. The magistrate thoroughly considered the legal issue of whether the placement of a QR code on the outside of an envelope was an impermissible use of a symbol in violation of the FDCPA, and properly cited the legislative history and case law to support that proposition. See Berry v. ARS Nat'l Servs., Inc., No 15 CV 1529, 2015 WL 9315993, at *3 (E.D.Pa. 2015). Accordingly, the Court adopts the R&R without de novo review and directs the Clerk to enter judgment against defendant Commonwealth in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $3,075.00.

SO ORDERED.

/S/ Frederic Block

FREDERIC BLOCK

Senior United States District Judge Brooklyn, New York
June 24, 2016