Cooper v. Discover Bank

          Appeal From The Randolph County Circuit Court [No. 61CV-16-92] Honorable Harold S. Erwin, Judge

          Randolph C. Cooper, pro se appellant.

          Allen and Withrow, by: Lori Withrow; and Gary J. Barrett, for appellee.

          RITA W. GRUBER, Chief Judge

         Pro se appellant Randolph Cooper appeals from an order granting summary judgment in favor of appellee Discover Bank (Discover) on its action to recover a balance due on a credit card account. Because we conclude that a genuine issue of material fact remains, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

         On August 22, 2016, Discover filed a complaint against Cooper seeking to recover the balance due on a credit card account. Attached to the complaint was the cardmember agreement and an affidavit of account indicating that Cooper's account was in default and had a balance due of $15, 493.23. Two credit card statements were attached as exhibits to the affidavit-exhibit A was the last periodic statement sent by Discover and exhibit B was the current balance owed and included any activity since the last periodic statement.

         Cooper was served with the summons and complaint on November 17, 2016. He filed an answer on December 13, 2016, denying the allegations and raising numerous affirmative defenses. In response to the allegation that he was a resident of Randolph County, Cooper denied the allegation and stated that he maintained a post office address in Maynard, Arkansas, but was homeless and sleeps in his vehicle.

         Discover filed requests for admission, as well as interrogatories and requests for production of documents, on February 17, 2017; the certificate of service indicates that both were mailed on February 13, 2017, to the following address:

RANDOLPH C COOPER PO BOX 1 714 Cree Trl Maynard, AR 72444-0001

         Discover filed a motion for summary judgment on November 9, 2017, alleging that (1) Cooper failed to respond to its requests for admission containing the allegations of the complaint; (2) the requests for admission are deemed admitted pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 36; (3) the admissions taken together with the pleadings reveal there is no genuine issue as to any material fact; and (4) Discover is entitled to summary judgment.

         Cooper filed a response to the motion for summary judgment on November 29, 2017. Cooper asserted the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction, stating that he was amending his answer to include this defense as he had reserved the right to amend his answer to assert additional defenses. He alleged that he was not a resident of Arkansas and did not own property, work, or do business in Arkansas. He denied the following: the genuineness of the cardmember agreement because it was unsigned and did not identify him as a party to the agreement and therefore did not comply with Ark. R. Civ. P. 10(d); the correctness of the affidavit of account in support of the complaint because it did not make a full accounting of items purportedly purchased by him; and that the requests for admission were properly served on him pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 5(b)(2). Cooper attached his own affidavit in support of his response. In his response, Cooper also asked the court to dismiss the action and to strike the requests for admission because they were not properly served, and therefore, Discover's motion for summary judgment did not meet the threshold requirement under Ark. R. Civ. P. 56. Cooper also requested a hearing.^[1]

         On November 29, 2017, shortly after Cooper filed his response, the trial court entered an order of summary judgment.^[2] The order provided that the requests for admission, which Cooper did not answer and were deemed admitted pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 36, contained all the allegations of the complaint; that he was indebted to Discover in the amount of $15, 493.23; and that Discover was entitled to judgment for that amount. Cooper filed a timely notice of appeal on December 21, 2017.

         Cooper lists the following four points on appeal: (1) "Does the unsigned cardmember agreement and deficient Affidavit of Account satisfy Rule 10(d) [of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure], and sufficiently make a prima facie case?"; (2)"Does Randolph County Circuit court lack jurisdiction of the person in this matter?"; (3) "Does Rule 36(a) [of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure] operate when the requirements for service under Rule 5(b)(2) [of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure] are not met?"; and (4) "Were procedural requirements and due process met?" The question before us is whether summary judgment was proper in this case.

         Our standard of review for summary-judgment cases is well established. Anderson v. Mountain Crest, LLC v. Kimbro, 2018 Ark.App. 626, at 5, S.W.3d, . Summary judgment should be granted only when there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. The purpose of summary judgment is not to try the issues, but to determine whether there are any issues to be tried. Id. In reviewing a grant of a summary judgment, the appellate court determines if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party left a material question of fact unanswered. Id. We ...