Fried v. Sungard Recovery Services, Inc.

900 F. Supp. 758, 26 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20500, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14066, 1995 WL 570981
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 26, 1995
Docket95-CV-0878
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 900 F. Supp. 758 (Fried v. Sungard Recovery Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fried v. Sungard Recovery Services, Inc., 900 F. Supp. 758, 26 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20500, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14066, 1995 WL 570981 (E.D. Pa. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JOYNER, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Sigmund Fried and Sam Wurst bring this lawsuit on behalf of themselves and persons similarly situated. Fried and Wurst allege that they and the other mem *761 bers of the purported class were exposed to asbestos during the course of renovations that Defendants performed at 401 North Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Defendants are Sungard Recovery Services (SRS), Sungard Data Systems (SDS), two officers of SRS, James Dibrino and Michael Mulholland, and a construction company hired by SRS and SDS, Intech Construction.

The Second Amended Complaint alleges that Defendants decided to fraudulently conduct the renovations without disclosing to Plaintiffs or the appropriate government authorities the presence, release and disposal of asbestos. Defendants allegedly did this because legal asbestos activities are very expensive and Defendants wished to maintain profits to their respective companies. Mul-holland and Dibrino allegedly took part in the fraud because they were participants in SDS’s Executive Incentive Compensation Program (EIC), which awards bonuses based on SRS and SDS’s income and net revenue.

The Motion to Dismiss filed by SRS, SDS, Mulholland and Dibrino seeks a dismissal or summary judgment on five of the eight counts in the Second Amended Complaint. 1 These five counts seek relief under (1) the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-68 (1984 & Supp.1995) (RICO), (2) the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401-7671q (1995), (3) the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675 (1995) (CERCLA), (4) unjust enrichment and restitution and (5) fraud.

STANDARDS FOR MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

In considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a court must primarily consider the allegations contained in the complaint, although matters of public record, orders, items appearing in the record of the ease and exhibits attached to the complaint may also be taken into account. Chester County Intermediate Unit v. Pennsylvania Blue Shield, 896 F.2d 808, 812 (3d Cir.1990). The Court must accept as true all of the allegations in the pleadings and must give the plaintiff the benefit of every favorable inference that can be drawn from those allegations. Schrob v. Catterson, 948 F.2d 1402, 1405 (3d Cir.1991); Markowitz v. Northeast Land Co., 906 F.2d 100, 103 (3d Cir.1990). A complaint is properly dismissed only if it appears certain that the plaintiff cannot prove any set of facts in support of its claim which would entitle it to relief. Ransom v. Marrazzo, 848 F.2d 398, 401 (3d Cir.1988).

If materials outside the pleading are considered by the court, the motion to dismiss shall be treated as one for summary judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). In considering a motion for summary judgment, a court must consider whether the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show there is no genuine issue of material fact, and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). The court must determine whether the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

In making this determination, all of the facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and all reasonable inferences must be drawn in favor of the non-moving party. Id. at 255, 106 S.Ct. at 2513. Once the moving party has met the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact, the non-moving party must establish the existence of each element of its case. J.F. Feeser, Inc. v. Serv-A-Portion, Inc., 909 F.2d 1524, 1531 (3d Cir.1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 921, 111 S.Ct. 1313, 113 L.Ed.2d 246 (1991) (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986)).

I. Count One

Count One makes claims under RICO against Mulholland and Dibrino, the Individual Defendants. They move this Court to *762 dismiss Count One on several grounds. We will address each alleged ground for dismissal in turn.

A Injury to Business or Property

In order to have standing under RICO, a plaintiff must have been “injured in his business or property.” 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c); Sedima, S.P.R.L. v. Imrex Co., 473 U.S. 479, 496, 105 S.Ct. 3275, 3285, 87 L.Ed.2d 346 (1985). The Supreme Court has determined that Congress intended the words “business or property” in the RICO statute to be words of exclusion. Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U.S. 330, 339, 99 S.Ct. 2326, 2331, 60 L.Ed.2d 931 (1979). For that reason, injury to the person does not grant RICO standing. Id.

Defendants argue that Plaintiffs fail to state a RICO cause of action because they do not allege an injury to their business or property. The Second Amended Complaint alleges that Plaintiffs’ pay was kept at artificially low levels because they did not receive the hazard pay they would have demanded had they known of the presence of asbestos in their working environment. Second, the complaint alleges that Plaintiffs will incur medical monitoring expenses in the future because of their exposure to asbestos. 2d Am. Complaint ¶ 36.

Defendants cite numerous cases holding that exposure to toxic chemicals is a personal injury that does not grant standing under RICO. Genty v. RTC, 937 F.2d 899, 918-19 (3d Cir.1991); Doe v. Roe, 958 F.2d 763, 767 (7th Cir.1992); Berg v. First State Ins. Co., 915 F.2d 460, 464 (9th Cir.1990); Rylewicz v.

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900 F. Supp. 758, 26 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20500, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14066, 1995 WL 570981, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fried-v-sungard-recovery-services-inc-paed-1995.