Estate of Brown v. Arc Music Group

830 F. Supp. 2d 501, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134620, 2011 WL 5867987
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedNovember 22, 2011
DocketCase No. 10 C 7141
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 830 F. Supp. 2d 501 (Estate of Brown v. Arc Music Group) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Brown v. Arc Music Group, 830 F. Supp. 2d 501, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134620, 2011 WL 5867987 (N.D. Ill. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

HARRY D. LEINENWEBER, District Judge.

The late Joe Brown was a musician and founder of three Chicago record labels, the first in 1949. Brown died in 1976. In 2008, his son, Michael Brown, began looking into his father’s various recordings and became convinced that his father’s Estate was due fees and royalties for songs his father produced. Brown subsequently was appointed the independent administrator of his father’s estate, (hereinafter, “the Estate,” or “Plaintiff.”)

The Estate brought the instant Complaint alleging, inter alia, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, copyright infringement, and civil conspiracy against various defendants.

After two sets of Defendants brought Motions to Dismiss, Plaintiff sought and was granted leave to file a Second Amended Complaint. Unfortunately, that Complaint did little to clarify matters and is now the subject of Motions to Dismiss by Defendants Music Sales Corp. (“Music Sales”), Frederick Music Co. and Vincent Brandom (collectively, the “Frederick Defendants”), Katrina Music Co. and Willie C. Cobbs (collectively, the “Katrina Defendants”) and Arc Music Group and Opus 19 Music, LLC (collectively, the “Arc Defendants”). For the reasons stated herein, all claims are dismissed with prejudice, except that the Estate may replead its claims for an accounting and unjust enrichment against the Arc Defendants within 30 days of the date of this Order.

I. BACKGROUND

The Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint alleges that this Court has jurisdiction on the basis of the Copyright Act under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) and on the basis [506]*506of diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).

The following facts are taken from the Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint, and will be presumed to be true for the purposes of Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss. Joe Brown owned and operated Lawn Music Co. (“Lawn”), the JOB Record Label (“JOB”), and Ruler Record Label (“Ruler”) in Chicago beginning in approximately 1949. His Estate is the successor in interest to Lawn, JOB, and Ruler, which were engaged in the business of creating, recording, producing and publishing music. During the 1940’s and 1950’s, these companies copyrighted hundreds of musical compositions. In particular, the Estate, according to its Second Amended Complaint, is the owner of all or a portion of certain compositions, including “This New Generation,” “Dark Road Blues,” and “Please Don’t Leave.”

Unfortunately, after laying out these basic facts, the Second Amended Complaint becomes vague and difficult to follow, providing sketchy details of alleged machinations in regard to Brown’s musical compositions. For clarity, the allegations as to each Defendant will be summarized within the discussion of that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss.

II. ANALYSIS

Although each Defendant makes somewhat different arguments in support of its Motion to Dismiss, each argues that the Second Amended Complaint should be dismissed pursuant to Fed. R. 12(b)(6) because it fails to state claims upon which relief can be granted.

A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim should be granted if the complaint fails to satisfy Fed. R. Civ. P. 8’s pleading requirement of “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” “To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain 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 Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). The Court must construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and draw all inferences in its favor. Justice v. Town of Cicero, 577 F.3d 768, 771 (7th Cir.2009).

However, “it is by now well established that a plaintiff must do better than putting a few words on paper that, in the hands of an imaginative reader, might suggest that something has happened to [it] that might be redressed by the law.” Swanson v. Citibank, 614 F.3d 400, 403 (7th Cir.2010). Rather, the plaintiff must provide enough factual detail to “present a story that holds together.” Id. at 404.

Because each 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss presents somewhat different issues, the Court will address each individually.

A. Music Sales’ Motion

Music Sales argues that dismissal is required because, at best, the Estate has alleged that Music Sales breached a contractual obligation to pay certain royalties, but it has not brought a breach of contract claim. Plaintiff seeks to recover from Music Sales for Breach of Fiduciary Duty (Count V), Fraud (Count VI), Unjust Enrichment (Count VIII), and Civil Conspiracy. (Count XI). It also seeks an accounting (Count IX) and the imposition of a constructive trust (Count X).

As it does in response to all of the Motions to Dismiss, Plaintiff points out in its response to Music Sales’ Motion that the events at issue here occurred between 30 and 50 years ago. Plaintiff contends that it possesses evidence “not included in [507]*507the Complaint so as not to confuse the trier of fact and to create a clear, ‘short and plain statement of the claim,’ as per Rule 8(a)(2).” This is all well and good, provided that Plaintiff alleges sufficient facts to provide fair notice of its claims.

However, its Second Amended Complaint is deficient in various respects. The gist of the Estate’s claim against Music Sales stems from a March 6,1964, Publishing Agreement between Lawn and Frederick Music. In the agreement, Lawn granted Frederick an exclusive license to use the musical compositions in its catalogue in exchange for royalties and other payments. See Ex. H. to Pl.’s Second Am. Compl. In 1996, Frederick Music assigned its rights under that agreement to Music Sales, which gave Music Sales the right to publish these compositions in exchange for the payment of certain royalties to Lawn. The Second Amended Complaint alleges that Music Sales has received royalties for Lawn works including “On the Road Again,” “Five Long Years,” and “You Don’t Love Me,” but has failed to pay the Estate its share. No allegation is made as to how much is allegedly owed to the Estate. Music Sales contends that it repeatedly has offered the Estate the opportunity to conduct an independent audit of Music Sales’ records to verify whether any royalties are due, but Plaintiff has rejected these overtures.

1. Breach of Fiduciary Duties (Count V)

Music Sales argues that Count V must be dismissed because Plaintiff has not adequately pleaded the existence of a fiduciary duty on its part.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
830 F. Supp. 2d 501, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134620, 2011 WL 5867987, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-brown-v-arc-music-group-ilnd-2011.