Danaher v. Harrington

838 F. Supp. 2d 867, 2012 WL 832553, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33197
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedMarch 13, 2012
DocketNo. 1:11-cv-36 RP-CFB
StatusPublished

This text of 838 F. Supp. 2d 867 (Danaher v. Harrington) 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
Danaher v. Harrington, 838 F. Supp. 2d 867, 2012 WL 832553, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33197 (S.D. Iowa 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

ROBERT W. PRATT, District Judge.

Anne Danaher (“Plaintiff’ or “Danaher”) filed the above-captioned action in [870]*870Pottawattamie County, Iowa on September 14, 2011, alleging claims for breach of contract, quantum meruit/implied in fact contract, unjust enrichment, promissory estoppel, and fraudulent inducement to contract against Terry Harrington (“Harrington”) and Curtis McGhee, Jr. (“McGhee”).1 Harrington removed the action on October 6, 2011. Clerk’s No. 1. Presently before the Court is McGhee’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss, filed October 26, 2011. Clerk’s No. 3. Plaintiff filed a resistance to the Motion on December 7, 2011. Clerk’s No. 17. McGhee filed a Reply on December 19, 2011. Clerk’s No. 20. A hearing was held on February 24, 2012. Clerk’s No. 25. The matter is fully submitted.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). In reviewing a complaint, a court must “accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in the complaint,” and must draw “all reasonable inferences ... in favor of the plaintiff.” Schaaf v. Residential Funding Corp., 517 F.3d 544, 549 (8th Cir.2008) (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)).

A viable complaint must include “sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiffs obligation to provide the “grounds” of his “entitle[ment] to relief’ requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.

Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “The plausibility standard requires a plaintiff to show at the pleading stage that success on the merits is more than a ‘sheer possibility.’ It is not, however, a ‘probability requirement.’ ” Braden v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 588 F.3d 585, 594 (8th Cir.2009) (quoting Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949).

The Supreme Court, in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, described a “two-pronged approach” for evaluating complaints challenged under Rule 12(b)(6). Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949-50. First, a court should divide the allegations between factual and legal allegations; factual allegations should be accepted as true, but legal allegations should be disregarded. Id. Second, the factual allegations must be parsed for facial plausibility. Id. at 1950.

A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.... Where a complaint pleads facts that are “merely consistent with” a defendant’s liability, it “stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility of ‘entitlement to relief.’ ”

Id. at 1949 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570,127 S.Ct. 1955).

The “parsing” process requires careful examination of the plaintiffs allegations, however, “the complaint should be read as a whole, not parsed piece by piece to determine whether each allegation, in isolation, is plausible.” Braden, 588 F.3d at 594. Indeed, “[rjequiring a plaintiff to [871]*871rule out every possible lawful explanation for the conduct he challenges would invert the principle that the complaint is construed most favorably to the nonmoving party, and would impose the sort of probability requirement at the pleading stage which Iqbal and Tivombly explicitly reject.” Id. at 597 (internal quotations and citations omitted).

A court will “draw on its judicial experience and common sense” when determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. Thus, the Court may consider other, more likely explanations for the acts described in the complaint when determining whether the pleaded factual allegations give rise to a plausible entitlement to relief. Id. at 1950-51. But, the Court must always be mindful that “a well-pleaded complaint may proceed even if it strikes a savvy judge that actual proof of the facts alleged is improbable, and ‘that a recovery is very remote and unlikely.’ ” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (quoting Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974)). “[Wjhile a plaintiff must offer sufficient factual allegations to show that he or she is not merely engaged in a fishing expedition or strike suit, [a court] must also take account of [his or her] limited access to crucial information.” Braden, 588 F.3d at 597.

II. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS OF THE COMPLAINT

A. General Allegations

In 1977, Harrington and McGhee were arrested for the murder of retired Council Bluffs Police Captain John Schweer. Compl. ¶¶ 6-7. In 1978, both men were convicted of Schweer’s murder and both remained incarcerated from 1977 until 2003. Id. The events leading to Harrington and McGhee’s release from prison in 2003 form the basis for Danaher’s claims against them.

In 1993, Plaintiff met Harrington while working as a prison barber at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Id. ¶ 9. Plaintiff developed a friendship with Harrington, and eventually came to believe Harrington’s claims that he was innocent of Schweer’s murder. Id. ¶¶ 10-13. After discussing the matter with Harrington’s attorney, Plaintiff discovered that Harrington’s post-conviction appeals had been exhausted and that the only way for Harrington to be released from prison would be if new evidence was discovered. Id. ¶ 13. Plaintiff claims that in 1994, she “entered an agreement such that she would look into the matter on [Harrington’s] behalf, and if she was successful in getting him out of prison, she would be compensated for her services.” Id. ¶ 14. Plaintiff “began investigating this matter in' 1994,” and “[a]t all times, Harrington understood that [Plaintiff] would be entitled to repayment for the funds she expended on his behalf, the costs she incurred, and the time she put into the matter.” Id. ¶¶ 15-16. After many years and the expenditure of a great deal of time, energy, and money, Plaintiff eventually obtained the complete police file on Schweer’s murder. Id. ¶¶ 20-42. The police file contained nine police reports that were never produced to Harrington or McGhee during their 1978 trial. Id. ¶ 42.

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Bluebook (online)
838 F. Supp. 2d 867, 2012 WL 832553, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/danaher-v-harrington-iasd-2012.