Asbury Square, LLC v. Amoco Oil Co.

221 F.R.D. 497, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9326, 2004 WL 1172088
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedMay 21, 2004
DocketNo. 4:03-cv-40199
StatusPublished

This text of 221 F.R.D. 497 (Asbury Square, LLC v. Amoco Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Asbury Square, LLC v. Amoco Oil Co., 221 F.R.D. 497, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9326, 2004 WL 1172088 (S.D. Iowa 2004).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

GRITZNER, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Count II pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 9(b) and 12(b)(6) (Clerk’s No. 34). A hearing on this motion was held on May 13, 2004. Plaintiff was represented by James G. Saw-telle, Todd Locher, and Stephen R. Eckley, with Mr. Sawtelle presenting oral argument resisting Defendant’s motion; Defendant was represented by Mark S. Lillie, who presented oral argument supporting Defendant’s motion. The Court considers the matter fully submitted.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Plaintiff, Asbury Square, L.L.C. (“As-bury Square”), commenced this action against Defendant, Amoco Oil Company, n/k/a BP Products North America, Inc. (“Amoco”), in this Court on April 11, 2003. An Amended Complaint was filed by Plaintiff and accepted by the Court on October 7, [499]*4992003, 218 F.R.D. 183 (S.D.Iowa 2003).1 Jurisdiction is appropriate pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

The lawsuit contains two claims, breach of contract and fraud, arising out of Amoco’s alleged failure to fulfill its contractual duties in cleaning up hydrocarbon contamination from leaking equipment at an adjacent Amoco service station. On June 13, 2003, Amoco filed a motion to dismiss seeking to eliminate the fraud claim asserted by Asbury Square. In an order filed October 7, 2003 (“October 7 Order”),2 the Court denied Defendant’s motion to dismiss and granted Plaintiffs motion to amend, leaving open the possibility of reconsidering Defendant’s contentions if Plaintiff failed to cure the defects in an amended complaint.3

Asbury Square filed another amended complaint on December 12, 2003, with a corrected and amended version (“Second Amended Complaint”) filed on December 23, 2003. On January 16, 2004, Amoco filed the present motion to dismiss, asserting Asbury Square failed to cure the defects in filing its Second Amended Complaint. Amoco contends the Second Amended Complaint still does not plead fraud with the requisite particularity. Consequently, Amoco asserts that Claim II should be dismissed pursuant to Rules 9(b) and 12(b)(6).

BACKGROUND FACTS

Asbury Square is an Iowa limited liability company with its principal place of business in Dubuque, Iowa. Amoco Oil Company, now known as BP Products North America, Inc., is a Maryland corporation, licensed to do business in Iowa, with its principal place of business in Chicago, Illinois.

The present controversy stems from a letter of guaranty provided by Amoco to As-bury Square on May 23, 1998 (“1998 Letter”), during the pendency of a jury trial concerning hydrocarbon contamination of the Asbury Square Shopping Center and its property (“Asbury property”). This letter stated in pertinent part that Amoco will “pay the full cost of any and all necessary investigation, assessment, remediation, and cleanup of the hydrocarbon contamination emanating from the former Amoco Oil Company site.” The 1998 Letter was accepted as a valid and binding contract and was included as part of a settlement agreement entered into by the parties in 1999. This settlement resolved the parties’ prior litigation.

According to Asbury Square, there still remains substantial hydrocarbon contamination on the Asbury property. Asbury Square claims this is a result of Amoco’s failure to fulfill its obligations, obligations they allege Amoco never had any intention of completing. Asbury Square, as the assignee of all rights arising out of the 1998 Letter, has made demand upon Amoco to pay for all costs necessary to investigate, assess, remed-iate, and clean up the hydrocarbon contamination on the Asbury property. Asbury Square alleges that Amoco has failed to do this and has further refused to fulfill its obligation, thereby breaching the express terms of the parties’ agreement. In addition, Asbury Square has advanced the fraud claim [500]*500at issue in the present motion, asserting Amoco never had an intent to fulfill the commitments it made in the 1998 Letter.4

ANALYSIS

Pending before the Court is Defendant’s second motion to dismiss. Once again, Amoco seeks to have Count II of Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint dismissed. Count II of the complaint is a fraud claim arising out of the intent of Amoco when it made the promises contained in the 1998 Letter.

Amoco contends that Asbury Square’s fraud claim is nothing more than a breach of contract action and that it is based on nothing more than the opposing party’s understanding of the contract, neither of which are actionable as fraud. Amoco seeks dismissal for failure to state a claim based on failure to plead with particularity under Rules 9(b) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Meanwhile, Asbury Square maintains it has pleaded fraud with the requisite particularity with the added allegations and factual assertions contained in its Second Amended Complaint.

A. Standard for Motion to Dismiss

Rule 12(b)(6) allows the Court to dismiss a cause of action for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). In a motion to dismiss, “[t]he issue is not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but rather whether the plaintiff is entitled to offer evidence in support of the plaintiffs claims.” DeWit v. Firstar Corp., 879 F.Supp. 947, 959 (N.D.Iowa 1995) (citing Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974), and United States v. Aceto Agric. Chem. Corp., 872 F.2d 1373, 1376 (8th Cir. 1989)). “A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can not prove any set of facts in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief.” Schaller Tel. Co. v. Golden Sky Sys., Inc., 298 F.3d 736, 740 (8th Cir.2002).

In considering a motion to dismiss, the Court must accept as true all of the plaintiffs allegations. Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 322, 92 S.Ct. 1079, 31 L.Ed.2d 263 (1972); Concerned Citizens of Neb. v. United States Nuclear Reg. Comm’n, 970 F.2d 421, 425 (8th Cir.1992). The Court must also liberally construe those allegations. DeWit, 879 F.Supp. at 959 (citing Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). A court should review only the pleadings in addressing a motion to dismiss to determine whether they state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6); DeWit, 879 F.Supp. at 959-60.

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221 F.R.D. 497, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9326, 2004 WL 1172088, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/asbury-square-llc-v-amoco-oil-co-iasd-2004.