Nathanial D. Kitz - Review of RSIEH Debt Collection Attorney

Nathanial D. Kitz – Individual profile of debt collection attorney

Texas-licensed attorney Nathanial D Kitz is associated with the debt collection law firm RAUSCH, STURM, ISRAEL, ENERSON & HORNIK, LLC, whose offices are located in Addison, Texas ("RAUSCH"). Kitz appears as attorney in charge in lawsuits filed on behalf of credit card issuers such as CAPITAL ONE BANK USA N.A. and  CITIBANK (SOUTH DAKOTA) N.A., now CITIBANK, N.A..

Attorney Kitz's Texas bar card number is 24080988

ADDRESS AND LAW FIRM AFFILIATION OF DEBT COLLECTION ATTORNEY NATHANIAL (not Nathaniel) KITZ

Nathanial D. Kitz

RAUSCH, STURM, ISRAEL, ENERSON & HORNIK, LLC  ("RSIEH") 

15851 N. Dallas Parkway, Suite 245

Addison TX 75001

Fax: (877) 492-5185

NAMES OF COLLEAGUES AT RSIEH 

The firm address block on pleadings and motions signed and filed by Attorney Kitz lists the names of numerous other Texas attorneys associated with the same firm.  As of 2013, the roster included the following in addition to Nathanial D. Kitz:

Seung W. Chae

Shaun G. Brown

Michael R. Castro

Timothy A. Gasaway

Fallon Hamilton

Jeffrey S. Kramer

Steve Javandoost

Jamila B. Lloyd

Yvonne Mikulik

The mailing address for all of these debt collection attorneys is the same office in Addison, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. But the firm's attorneys file lawsuit in many counties around the state.

Kitz's signature is not legible. He typically circles his name on the list of attorneys to identify himself as the signer, and as responsible for the pleading. (--> Rule 13 of the TRCP).

TYPICAL PLEADINGS FILED BY ATTORNEY KITZ

Kitz and his colleagues at the RAUSCH law firm file pleading generated with document production software that inserts case-specific data, such defendant's name and the amount sued for, into electronic templates. As a result, the initial pleadings in hundreds of cases look alike. The same is true of motions.  

The typical initial pleading filed by RAUSCH attorneys is titled "Plaintiff's Original Petition & First Discovery Requests". (In Texas state courts, the initial document is called the Original Petition. In federal court, and in many other states, the document filed to commence a civil action is called Complaint.) Not all debt collection attorneys attach discovery requests to their pleadings. RAUSCH attorneys do, which explains that additional language in the title of its pleadings.

ANATOMY OF A TYPICAL RAUSCH PETITION

TITLE AND LENGTH. A typical petition filed by attorneys with the RAUSCH law firm consists of three single-spaced pages divided into 19 numbered paragraphs and sections designated with letters A through K. Because it is more detailed and single-spaced, it looks busier than the pleadings filed by other law firms in similar cases. It also contains more details and citations to legal cases, albeit from different states.

CAUSE OF ACTION. Although it is longer than comparable petition, the sole theory of recovery invoked by a typical RAUSCH petition is Breach of Contract.

FACTS: WHAT'S INCLUDED AND WHAT NOT.  In contrast to the initial pleadings filed by debt collection attorneys operating independently or working for other lawfirms, RAUSCH petitions contain a section of Facts that contains the variable information for the particular case. It identifies the issuing bank and the account upon which the suit is based with the last four digits of the credit card/account number. It also provides the charge-off date and states the total balance due "plus interest". No details are given regarding additional interest, the rate of such interest, or the starting date for accrual, which could be the charge-off date of the date the suit was filed. One can only speculate.  

The prayer at the end of the petition asks for "actual damages" in the amount matching the amount alleged as  the total due on the account in the fact section, and requests "pre-judgment" and "post-judgment interest" without any further details and without specifying whether either form of interest is based on contract or statute. (--> statutory interest, judgment interest).

RAUSCH petitions differ from more basic pleadings filed by other attorneys for credit card companies (or debt buyers) in that they contain several less common, if not unique, paragraphs.

A paragraph on Damages characterizes the debt claim as liquidated (--> liquidated damages) and reiterates the amount alleged as "due" in the fact section, but at the same time qualifies the assertion of the amount of damages with the phrase "at least" preceding the amount and "plus interest" following it.  This very short paragraph on damages does not state an interest rate either.

As of 2013, RAUSCH petitions do not seek attorney's fees. Therefore, there is no paragraph on such fees.

A paragraph titled "Miscellany" identifies Plaintiff's attorneys as debt collectors, and advises the defendant that the undersigned attorney is attempting to collect a debt. This paragraph was presumably inserted into the pleading template as a safeguard against and preempt claims of that the law firm and its attorneys failed to comply with notice and disclosure requirements of the FDCPA.

The final paragraph preceding the prayer references "Plaintiff's First Discovery Request", which is attached as a separate document. This is the correct procedure for serving discovery requests contemporaneously with the citation and original petition. Some attorneys routinely flout the rule that prohibits the court-filing of discovery requests by including them within the body of their petitions. Incorporating discovery requests into the petition itself necessarily results in them being filed with the pleading.

STANDARD SET OF DISCOVERY REQUESTS PROPOUNDED BY RAUSCH ATTORNEYS 

The RAUSCH law firms' standard set of discovery requests in debt collection suits is served together with the citation and original petition (whose title expressly refers to the discovery requests). It consists of all four types of paper discovery: Requests for Disclosure; Requests for Production; Requests for Admission; and Plaintiff's First Set of Interrogatories. The latter (with are also called ROGs in the legal community) includes a pre-printed form for verification under oath with a blank jurat for the notary public. (See Sample verification of ROGS and jurat).

ANATOMY OF A TYPICAL PMSJ FILED BY ATTORNEY NATHANIAL KITZ

[not available at this time]

RAUSCH MSJ analyzed

ANATOMY OF TYPICAL RAUSCH PMSJ

The RAUSCH debt collection lawfirm's standard motion for summary judgment (PMSJ) consists of five unpaginated pages subdivided into four sections enumerated with Roman numerals:

I SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT

II EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

III ARGUMENT AND AUTHORITIES

IV CONCLUSION AND PRAYER

The structure is common and unremarkable. So is the title: Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment. 

(--> Sample RAUSCH PMSJ).

BASIS OF RAUSCH MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

The Argument and Authorities section recites the well-know evidentiary standard for summary judgment (traditional summary judgment, rather no-evidence summary judgment), and identifies the sole basis on which summary judgment is sought: Breach of Contract

            

Although RAUSCH typically relies on a contract that has a choice of law clause specifying that the law of another state, it only cites to Texas and federal cases. RAUSCH attorneys are not known for filing motions for judicial notice of foreign law and therefore routinely waive the choice-of-law issue.

            

DAMAGES SOUGHT BY SUMMARY JUDGMENT

            

As may be expected, the dollar amount of damages for which RAUSCH seeks summary judgment matches the amount stated in its original petition as the balance "due". There may, however, be a minor discrepancy between pleadings and motion. What has been seen at least some RAUSCH cases is that the petition includes a request for prejudgment interest, but the motion for summary judgment seeks post-judgment interest only. Except to the extent interest accrued before the judgment is included in the "outstanding balance" amount, the MSJ does not claim pre-judgment as a separate item of damages. While the proposed judgment attached to the motion has a line-item for prejudgment interest, the amount is shown as $0.00. Of course, this scenario may not be present in all cases, and a caveat is warranted in that regard. After all, the fact that the template for the judgment contains a data field for the amount of prejudgment interest suggests that the value may not always be zero. 

            

CATCH-ALL REQUEST FOR UNSPECIFIED ADDITIONAL RELIEF

            

Like the pleading template, RAUSCH's PMSJ template includes a request for "all further relief to which Plaintiff may be entitled." This is clearly inappropriate in the context of summary judgment, because the summary judgment motion itself must state the basis, and must be accompanied by conclusive evidence to show the movant's entitlement to relief. If the nature of the additional relief is not even specified, it cannot be known what kind of evidence would be needed to meet the summary judgment standard on that nebulous component of a plaintiff's claim. It is well-settled that a trial court commits reversible error if it grants more relief than expressly sought in the motion and supported by competent evidence.  

            

THE SUMMARY JUDGMENT EVIDENCE

To support a motion for summary judgment, RAUSCH attorneys typically file a Business Records Affidavit with attachments. The characteristics vary depending on the identity of the creditor, and therefore need to be analyzed separately.