KANSAS CITY – The Springfield law firm of Neale & Newman LLP obtained a federal court order in favor in its motion to dismiss a woman’s amended complaint against it over allegedly unlawful collection activities.
On April 10, U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough issued the order siding with Neale & Newman in Regina Noe’s lawsuit. Noe also sued the firm’s client, Wilma Chastain, who originally sought repayment of a 2004 loan in the amount of $250,000 from the plaintiff.
“Accordingly, it is ordered that defendant Neale & Newman LLP’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s amended petition is granted,” Bough stated in the nine-page document. “Plaintiff’s claims against defendant Neale & Newman LLP are dismissed without prejudice.”
The ruling states that Noe used the funds borrowed by Chastain to pay off a loan taken out to purchase real property in Springfield on behalf of Iron Horse Properties Inc., “a Missouri corporation solely owned by [plaintiff] and to help run a home for homeless veterans in honor of [plaintiff’s] father A.C. Smith, which was a personal charity owned and operated by [plaintiff], not as a commercial operation.”
The ruling states Noe signed a note promising to pay Chastain the amount plus interest in two years.
Noe and Iron Horse’s failure to fully pay the loan back to Chastain prompted “several garnishments,” the ruling states. Chastain filed a suit against Noe and Iron Horse in 2010.
Bough ruled that Noe failed to “state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
According to the order, the plaintiff failed to state her claim under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. It adds that she failed to state a wrongful garnishment claim “because she does not sufficiently plead that any property was garnished.”
Bough ordered “that on or before April 22, 2019, plaintiff shall file a statement showing cause why this court should not dismiss her claims against defendant Chastain without prejudice for failure to prosecute.”