Zhou Plant v. Merrifield Town Center Limited

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:08-cv-00374-TSE-JFA,1:08-cv-00566-TSE-TRJ Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998869232].. [10-2378]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 10-2378

ZHOU JIE PLANT, individually and on behalf of all those
similarly situated; RAJ CHAUDHRY, individually and on behalf
of all those similarly situated; CHRIS PADDEN, individually
and on behalf of all those similarly situated; MAHBOD
HASHEMZADEH, individually and on behalf of all those
similarly situated; MARIA BRAS, individually and on behalf
of
all
those
similarly
situated;
MARIA
CISNEROS,
individually and on behalf of all those similarly situated;
HEEYON KIM, individually and on behalf of all those
similarly situated; HYUNSOOK KIM, individually and on behalf
of all those similarly situated; HAN HO KIM; JOON YONG AHN;
SUHEE CHRIS PARK; OLLIE AN HONG; SINTHIA KIM; MICHAEL G.
HUANG; LAI PENG CHAN; HYO YUN; SEUNG CHA CHO; SUNG HEE OH;
CHANG SUN LEE; KWAN SUN KIM; HOON JUNG PARK; JUNG DEOK CHOI;
YOUNG MIN SEO; YANG JA BAE; KANG HON LEE; KYONG EUN LIM;
YOUNG HOON JUNG; YOUNG SIN YOO; HEI SOOK YOO; RONNIE KIM;
JUNG N. CHO; ANNIE J CHO; JOO HO SONG; KYONG CHU ASHBY; SUNG
BUN JUNG; LYDIA COTTO; HYUNGHEE KIM; JENNIFER KIM; CYNTHIA
MOH; YANG JA KIM; JULIA KIM; KAREN SUN LEE; EUNJOO KIM; HYE
YON KO; TONGIL LEE; GIEL LEE; TIA YOUNG JOHNG; HAE SOOK YOO;
MALINI N RASWANT; YONG SUK STEVENSON; JIN O'NEILL; ORIOLE
O'NEILL; YANG KIM; SOON HAK KWON; JUNGHEE RO; AHLAM ABDEL
MEGUID SH ALDIN; YOO JIN PARK; KWANG Y CHOI; JERRY KIM;
JOUNG RAN KIM; JEONG EUI LEE; RYAN JIN LEE; RAHUL CHAUDHRY,
individually and on behalf of all those similarly situated,
Plaintiffs – Appellants,
AE JU LEE; DUSTIN HAN; CHIEN MING YEE; BYOUNG C CHO,
Parties-in-Interest – Appellants,
and
JESSICA PLANT; EUN SOO LEE; MINNA LEE; BONG HYUN YOO; CHANG
JEON LEE; SUN HEE SONG; CHANG HYO NA; SUNG HEE NA; CINDY S
JEONG; YUN OK CHOI; DORN TRANG; LEAH S HER; JAMES B LAL;
JEONGHE LAL; EUNICE CHA; NIKKI KIM; JI HEE NAM; HA IL CHUNG;

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GLORIA EUNMI LIM; KELLY WU; CHUN WON HWANG; IL HWAN OH; UYN
SON YANG; SOONAE JEON; STEPHEN GHANG; SONG C HO; JIIN KIM;
LISA YOUNG HEE KIM; JUNG HAE KIM; KUM HEE KANG; KEVIN WU;
JONG HUI LEE; OLIVIA SHANELLE KIM; EMILY SUNWOON KIM; SOON
RYEAH LEE; SUNG HO LEE; SAE RHO MEE KIM; SUNGKYOON PARK;
XIAO PEI YANG; SOK K YI; HYUNG MIN KIM; HYUNG NIM YI; JAE
SUN PARK; YOUNG R CHANG; XIA JIN; JANICE S KO; LINDA T KO;
ANH DOAN; SOON JA KIM,
Plaintiffs,
v.
MERRIFIELD TOWN CENTER LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, a Virginia
limited
partnership;
UNIWEST
GROUP,
LLC;
UNIWEST
DEVELOPMENT, LLC; MICHAEL COLLIER; WALKER TITLE AND ESCROW
COMPANY, INC.,
Defendants – Appellees,
and
MCWILLIAMS-BALLARD, LLC; JONNIE JAMESON; HAENG JA KIM,
Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria.
T. S. Ellis, III, Senior
District Judge. (1:08-cv-00374-TSE-JFA; 1:08-cv-00566-TSE-TRJ)

Submitted:

May 1, 2012

Decided:

June 6, 2012

Before KING, SHEDD, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

John Connell Altmiller, Jr., PESNER KAWAMOTO CONWAY, PLC,
McLean, Virginia; Alexander Laufer, EISENHOWER & LAUFER, PC,
Fairfax,
Virginia;
Henry
St.
John
FitzGerald,
Arlington,

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Virginia, for Appellants.
Edward W. Cameron, Sean P. Roche,
CAMERON MCEVOY, PLLC, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
The

plaintiffs-appellants

condominiums

in

Falls

are

purchasers

Virginia. 1

Church,

Relying

on

of
the

Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (“ILSFDA”), 15 U.S.C.
§§ 1701 et seq., they brought this action against the developer
of

the

sales
During

condominiums
contracts
the

and

course

seeking
the
of

rescission

return
its

of

of

their

thorough

their

condominium

purchase

consideration

deposits.
of

this

protracted litigation, 2 the district court entered two orders
that

are

the

subject

of

this

appeal.

After

carefully

considering all of the parties’ arguments, we affirm.
First,

after

warning

the

Fitzgerald

appellants

that

their failure to comply with certain discovery orders could lead
to sanctions including dismissal, the district court dismissed
them from the case based on their continued noncompliance. Plant
v.

Merrifield

Town

Ctr.

Ltd.

Partnership,

(E.D. Va. 2010) (“Plant I”).

711

F.Supp.2d

576

Applying the four factors set

forth in Anderson v. Foundation for Advancement, Education &
1

Although unified below, the plaintiffs-appellants have
split into separate groups on appeal. One group (“the Altmiller
appellants”) is represented by John C. Altmiller and Alexander
Laufer. The other group (“the Fitzgerald appellants”) is
represented by Henry St. John Fitzgerald.
2

The pertinent factual background and procedural history of
this case is set forth in Plant v. Merrifield Town Center Ltd.
Partnership, 751 F.Supp.2d 857 (E.D. Va. 2010) (“Plant II”), and
we need not restate it here.
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Employment of American Indians, 155 F.3d 500 (4th Cir. 1998),
the court found: (1) “bad faith is clearly evidenced by the
repeated and flagrant disregard for the binding orders of the
magistrate judge and plaintiffs’ counsel’s misrepresentation of
material facts concerning plaintiffs’ noncompliance with these
orders;”

(2)

“the

scope

and

length

of

the

violations

have

clearly resulted in prejudice to defendants;” (3) “dismissal is
necessary for purposes of deterrence;” and (4) “it is plain from
the nature of the conduct in issue that a lesser remedy would be
inadequate

to

plaintiffs

and

future.”

provide

Plant

a

their
I,

sufficient

counsel

711

deterrent

from

F.Supp.2d

to

similar
at

noncompliant

conduct

587.

The

in

the

Fitzgerald

appellants appeal this order.
We
discretion.

review

a

sanction

dismissal

order

for

abuse

of

Anderson, 155 F.3d at 504. A district court abuses

its discretion when it acts arbitrarily or irrationally, fails
to

consider

judicially

recognized

factors

constraining

its

exercise of discretion, relies on erroneous factual or legal
premises, or commits an error of law. United States v. ThompsonRiviere, 561 F.3d 345, 348 (4th Cir. 2009). Viewed under this
deferential

standard

of

review,

we

easily

conclude

that

the

court did not abuse its discretion by imposing this sanction.
Second,
summary

judgment

in

Plant

against

II,

the

the

district

Altmiller
5

court

appellants

entered
on

their

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ILSFDA

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claim,

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holding

that

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they

could

not

recover

for

the

developer’s failure to make certain ILSFDA-mandated disclosures.
The court noted that because the Altmiller appellants did not
seek automatic rescission under the ILSFDA in a timely manner,
they were limited to the remedy of equitable rescission under 15
U.S.C. § 1709.
failed

to

The court found that the Altmiller appellants

establish,

as

a

necessary

element,

that

the

developer’s ILSFDA non-disclosures “were material in that they
would have influenced a reasonable purchaser’s decision to enter
into the contract for sale.” 751 F.Supp.2d at 866. As the court
explained:
[A]n evidentiary hearing revealed that the undisclosed
information required by ILSFDA would have been wellknown or unimportant to a reasonable purchaser of
these relatively expensive condominiums in a wellestablished, affluent area of Fairfax. This result is
unsurprising given that the purpose of ILSFDA was to
prevent fraud in the sales of real property in more
undeveloped areas, such [as] property in a flood plain
or more than one hundred miles from the nearest fire
station. A different result might have been obtained
had sales of the property been located in some area
where the information required by ILSFDA would likely
have been objectively material. Given the lack of
objective materiality, plaintiffs cannot demonstrate
an entitlement to equitable rescission. Simply put,
the circumstances of this case do not call for the
exercise of the court’s broad equitable powers in
pursuit of “general fairness.”
Id. at 875. All of the appellants appeal this order.
We review an order granting summary judgment de novo.
Laber v. Harvey, 438 F.3d 404, 415 (4th Cir. 2006) (en banc).

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Summary judgment is appropriate if “there is no genuine dispute
as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment
as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Based substantially
on the reasoning of the district court, we conclude that the
court

did

not

err

in

granting

Nahigian

v.

Juno-Loudoun,

1511815,

*6

(4th

necessary

element

Cir.
of

LLC,

2012)
an

summary
---

F.3d

(holding

equitable

judgment.
---,

that

See

2012

also

Westlaw

materiality

rescission

claim

is

a

under

ILSFDA).
Based on the foregoing, we affirm. We dispense with
oral

argument

adequately

because

presented

in

the
the

facts

and

materials

legal
before

contentions
the

court

are
and

argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED

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