Blake v. Batmasian

318 F.R.D. 698, 2017 WL 743576, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26984
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 27, 2017
DocketCASE NO. 15-81222-CIV-MARRA/MATTHEWMAN
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 318 F.R.D. 698 (Blake v. Batmasian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blake v. Batmasian, 318 F.R.D. 698, 2017 WL 743576, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26984 (S.D. Fla. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION ON MOTIONS TO STRIKE

KENNETH A. MARRA, United States District Judge

THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Defendant’s Motion to Strike Immaterial, Impertinent and Scandalous Matter From Third Amended Complaint [DE 179] (“Second Motion to Strike”); Defendants James and Marta Batmasian’s Motion to Strike and/or Exclude Supplemental Filing by Plaintiff and Request for Sanctions Against Plaintiffs’ Counsel [DE 281] (“Third Motion to Strike”); and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File Supplement Nunc Pro Tunc [DE 292]. The Court has carefully considered all relevant filings, including the motions, responses, replies, supplements, notice of authority, and is otherwise fully advised in the premises.

Standard of Review1

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide that “the court may order stricken from any pleading ... any redundant, immaterial,2 impertinent3 or scandalous4 matter.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f). The purpose of a motion to strike is to clean up the pleadings, remove irrelevant or otherwise confusing materials, and avoid unnecessary forays into immaterial matters. Liberty Media Holdings, LLC v. Wintice Group, Inc., No. 6:10-cv-44-Orl-19GJK, 2010 WL 2367227, *1 (M.D. Fla. June 14, 2010); Hutchings v. Fed. Ins. Co., 2008 WL 4186994 at *2 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 8, 2008). It is not intended to procure the dismissal of all or part of a complaint. Williams v. Delray Auto Mall, Inc., 289 F.R.D. 697, 700 (S.D. Fla. 2013). Granting a motion to strike is a drastic remedy and is disfavored by the courts. Nash v. O.R. Colan Group, LLC, No. 12-60759-CIV, 2012 WL 4338817, *1 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 20, 2012) (citing Thompson v. Kindred Nursing Ctrs. E., LLC, 211 F.Supp.2d 1345, 1348 (M.D. Fla. 2002)); Tracfone Wireless, Inc. v. Access Telecom, Inc., 642 F.Supp.2d 1354, 1361 (S.D. Fla. 2009). If there is any doubt as to whether under any contingency the matter may raise an issue, the motion should be denied. Therefore, a motion to strike will be [701]*701granted only if the matter sought to be omitted has no possible relationship to the controversy, may confuse the issues, or otherwise prejudice a party. 2 James W. Moore et al., Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 12.21[2], at 2317 (2d ed. 1992).

Discussion

In the Second Motion to Strike,5 Defendants object to certain allegations contained within paragraphs 39, 42, 52 and 95 of the Third Amended Complaint (DE 173). It is asserted that these allegations are irrelevant and have no purpose other than to disparage, harass, belittle, and embarrass the Defendants and their counsel, and to inflame and prejudice the trier of fact against Defendants.

Paragraph 39 reads:

39. The Batmasians have gross revenue which exceeds $500,000 for each of the past three (3) years, and as of December 31, 2010 claimed to have total assets $1,676,635,926, and it has only grown since then, and the vast majority of these assets consist of real estate owned by the Batmasians jointly or in the name of Marta Bat-masian.

DE 173. Defendants argue that this paragraph should be stricken because “it does not relate to any disputed issue in this action[.]” DE 268 at 3. Defendants also object to the allegations as to their personal wealth and the allegation that “it has only grown since then,” asserting these allegations are “immaterial and impertinent to the FLSA elaim[,] ... and serve[s] no other purpose than to appeal to class bias.” DE 179 at 7.

These arguments are rejected. The fact that Defendants now admit that the FLSA applies to them under enterprise coverage because their annual gross volume of business is not less than $500,00 does not mean that Plaintiffs allegation of such a key element of their claim should be stricken. See 29 U.S.C. § 203(s)(l). In addition, Defendants’ objections to allegations regarding the Batmasians’ personal wealth is rejected. As previously stated in this Court’s ruling on the First Motion to Strike, “allegations regarding the personal financial worth of the Batma-sians is directly relevant to the establishment of either individual or enterprise coverage.” DE 137 at 4. Concerns about inflaming and prejudicing the trier of fact against Defendants is without foundation. The jury is only exposed to evidence admitted at trial.

The Court is next directed to Footnote 1 to Paragraph 42, and Paragraph 52, which read:

42(1). The Defendant disputes that James Baker was their controller and are taking the position that he was their chief financial officer, but Baker was never listed as a chief financial officer on any corporate or partnership papers filed with the State of Florida, and witness George Sígalos knows that Baker was the controller and not the chief financial officer, because the Bat-masians introduced Baker as being their controller to him on more than one occasion.
52. The Batmasians have the power to hire and fire and exercise it regularly, as they fired James Baker.

DE 173 (emphasis added).

Defendants argue that these allegations as to non-party James Baker are completely irrelevant, and demonstrate a bad faith attempt by Plaintiffs’ counsel to inteiject issues into this case that are only relevant to another case where Mr. Baker is suing the Batmasians.

As far as the footnote is concerned, the Court finds that it is inappropriate for Plaintiffs to state or agrue in a Complaint, particularly in a footnote, Defendants’ position regarding a contested issue. Accordingly, footnote 1 to paragraph 42 is stricken. As far as alleging that the Batmasians fired James Baker, the Court finds unpersuasive Defendants’ argument that this allegation is “completely irrelevant and immaterial to this case.” It is simply an example of the alleged [702]*702power and authority the Batmasians have. There being no valid reason for striking this part of paragraph 52, the motion to strike it is denied.

The final alleged immaterial, impertinent and scandalous paragraph reads as follows:

The willfulness includes deliberate violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as the Defendant has been sued off and on over the years for overtime, has not denied that it was the employer of its employees, and settled the cases, and the memorandum from Batmasian suggests that he is violating the FLSA intentionally. Further, the Defendant employed numerous workers performing manual labor to modify and rehabilitate tenant space, and the Defendant refused to pay any of them overtime, so the Defendant paid these workers for their first 40 hours, and any overtime hours worked are paid at a straight-time rate by John L. Management, L.L.C., which is a limited liability company owned by John Lopresti, who is a close personal friend of the Defendant, even though all of the work is performed for and the laborers are employed by the Batmasians.

Compl. ¶ 95 (DE 173). Defendants acknowledge that prior similar suits potentially may have relevance to the issue of willfulness.

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Bluebook (online)
318 F.R.D. 698, 2017 WL 743576, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26984, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blake-v-batmasian-flsd-2017.