Dorner v. Commercial Trade Bureau of Cal., No. CIV-F-08-0083, 2008 WL 1704137 (E.D.Cal., April 10, 2008)
Defendant Commercial Trade Bureau of California is a private company engaged in the business of debt collection. Plaintiff filed suit alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. (“FDCPA”), specifically 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(1), (9), and (10). In substance, Plaintiff argues Defendant's use of the name “Commercial Trade Bureau of California” gave the false impression that the debt collection company was in some way associated with the State of California.
Defendant filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff asked the court to judicially notice “the fact an ordinary quick search of first page results on ‘Google’ for the phrase ‘California bureau’ shows a possible nine results, seven of which are government agencies.”
On a motion to dismiss, a court may take judicial notice of facts outside the pleadings. Mack v. South Bay Beer Distributors, 798 F.2d 1279, 1282 (9th Cir. 1986). However, the Court declined to consider the Google search results, ruling as follows:
Results from a Google search do not meet the standard required as they are not “capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot be reasonably be questioned.” Fed.R.Evid. 201(b). Google is continually updating its search system, and results for an identical search can vary from day to day. The Google search results are not considered in ruling on this motion.
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