Allen v. Life Insurance Co. of North America

267 F.R.D. 407, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126654, 2009 WL 6055336
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedAugust 13, 2009
DocketCivil Action No. 1:09-CV-1179-MHS
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 267 F.R.D. 407 (Allen v. Life Insurance Co. of North America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allen v. Life Insurance Co. of North America, 267 F.R.D. 407, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126654, 2009 WL 6055336 (N.D. Ga. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER

MARVIN H. SHOOB, Senior District Judge.

Before the Court is defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs complaint or, alternatively, to strike portions thereof. For the following reasons, the Court denies defendants’ motion to dismiss and denies defendants’ alternative motion to strike portions of plaintiffs complaint.

Background

On May 1, 2009, Steven D. Allen, plaintiff, filed suit in this Court against the Life Insurance Company of North America (“LINA”) and the Lockheed Martin Group Benefits Plan, defendants. Plaintiff alleged that he was entitled to disability benefits under his employer, Lockheed Martin’s, group benefits policy. Lockheed Martin established, funded, and maintained the employee welfare benefit plan that included the group benefits policy through which plaintiff sought disability benefits. The policy, however, was issued by LINA. Specifically, plaintiff alleged that LINA “abused its discretion and wrongfully, unreasonably, and arbitrarily and capriciously, denied [his] disability claim.” (Pl.’s Compl., ¶ 93.) Plaintiff further alleged that LINA had a conflict of interest, which influenced its ultimate decision to deny plaintiffs claim for long-term disability benefits. Thus, LINA’s actions, according to plaintiff, violated § 502(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a). Plaintiff also sought attorneys fees, expenses, and costs in connection with the litigation, pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1).

Plaintiffs complaint, filed on May 1, 2009, was 41 pages in length and consisted of 97 numbered paragraphs, many of which inelud-ed numerous subparagraphs. In response to plaintiffs complaint, defendants have filed the present motion to dismiss, alleging violations of Rules 8(a), 8(d)(1), and 10(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Alternatively, defendants seek to strike specific sections of the complaint pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(f).

Standard

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure:

A pleading that states a claim for relief must contain:
(1) a short plain statement of the grounds for the court’s jurisdiction, unless the court already has jurisdiction and the claim needs no jurisdictional support;
(2) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief; and
(3) a demand for the relief sought, which may include relief in the alternative or different types of relief.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). “Each allegation must be simple, concise, and direct.” Id. at 8(d)(1). The purpose of Rule 8 is to “achieve brevity, simplicity, and clarity” in pleadings. Knox v. First Sec. Bank of Utah, 196 F.2d 112, 117 (10th Cir.1952). In addition to the pleading requirements of Rule 8, “[a] party must state its claims or defenses in numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(b). “The general objective of Rule 10(b) is clarity in pleading.” U.S. v. Jerome, 115 F.Supp. 818, 822 (S.D.N.Y.1953).

“A district court has the power to dismiss a complaint when a plaintiff fails to comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including Rule 8(a)(2)’s ‘short and plain statement’ requirement.” Kuehl v. F.D.I.C., 8 F.3d 905, 908 (1st Cir.1993). In such a situation, the district court acts within its discretion by dismissing the complaint without prejudice and requiring the plaintiff to re-file a complaint which conforms to the requirements of the Federal Rules. Ramos-Barrientos v. Bland, No. 6:06CV089, 2008 WL 474426, at *2 (S.D.Ga. Feb.19, 2008).

[410]*410Aside from dismissing a complaint in its entirety, a court, either on its own or on motion made by a party, “may strike from a pleading an insufficient defense or any redundant, impertinent, or scandalous matter.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f). Such motions are not favored by courts and are generally denied “unless the matter sought to be omitted has no possible relationship to the controversy, may confuse the issues, or otherwise prejudice a party.” Italiano v. Jones Chems., Inc., 908 F.Supp. 904, 907 (M.D.Fla.1995). See also Reiter’s Beer Distribs., Inc. v. Christian Schmidt Brewing Co., 657 F.Supp. 136, 144 (E.D.N.Y.1987)(“Where the materiality of the alleged matter is highly unlikely, or where its effect would be prejudicial, the Court may order it stricken.”) In a motion to strike, the court should treat well pleaded facts as admitted and is limited in its consideration to the pleadings. Reyher v. Trans World Airlines, 881 F.Supp. 574, 576 (M.D.Fla.1995). “A motion to strike will be granted if the disputed matter is irrelevant ‘under any state of facts which could be proved in support’ of the claims being advanced.” Reiter’s Beer Distribs., 657 F.Supp. at 144 (quoting Trusthouse Forte, Inc. v. 795 Fifth Ave. Corp., No. 81 Civ 1698 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 1, 1981)).

Discussion

A. Motion to Dismiss

In their motion to dismiss, defendants allege that the complaint, with 41 pages and 97 numbered paragraphs with numerous sub-parts, violates the requirement of Rule 8(a)(2) that complaints contain “a short and plain statement of the claim.” Further, defendants allege that many of the paragraphs in the complaint contain multiple sentences with numerous allegations, including recitations of evidence, legal conclusions, and case citations. As such, defendants assert that the complaint violates Rule 10(b). For these reasons, according to defendants, the Court should dismiss plaintiffs complaint and allow plaintiff to re-file a new complaint that is consistent with Rules 8 and 10.

Plaintiff counters that defendants’ motion is primarily designed to delay the litigation and arbitrarily limit the scope of discovery. Plaintiff further counters that each individual averment is simple, concise, and direct and the complaint contains the factual allegations necessary for plaintiff to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss.

Plaintiffs first argument is that in two recent cases, Ashcroft v. Iqbal, — U.S. —, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), the Supreme Court expanded the required factual allegations that must be stated in a complaint to make a plaintiffs claim sufficiently plausible to survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6).

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267 F.R.D. 407, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126654, 2009 WL 6055336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-life-insurance-co-of-north-america-gand-2009.