Friedman's Express, Inc. v. Reynolds Fasteners, Inc. (In re Friedman's Express, Inc.)

184 B.R. 229, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 1036
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 27, 1995
DocketBankruptcy No. 93-21066T; Adv. Nos. 95-2370, 95-2174, 95-2212, 95-2148 and 95-2318
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 184 B.R. 229 (Friedman's Express, Inc. v. Reynolds Fasteners, Inc. (In re Friedman's Express, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy 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
Friedman's Express, Inc. v. Reynolds Fasteners, Inc. (In re Friedman's Express, Inc.), 184 B.R. 229, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 1036 (Pa. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

THOMAS M. TWARDOWSKI, Bankruptcy Judge.

Before the court are defendants’ motions for more definite statement filed pursuant to Rule 12(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which is made applicable to adversary proceedings in bankruptcy cases by Rule 7012 of the Bankruptcy Rules. Defendants assert that the complaints are so vague and ambiguous that it is unreasonable to require them to file responsive pleadings. In particular, defendants maintain that the complaints are defective in that: (1) plaintiff failed to identify and exclude claims which may be barred by the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in ICC v. Transcon Lines, — U.S. —, 115 S.Ct. 689, 130 L.Ed.2d 562 (1995); (2) plaintiff failed to adequately identify the nature and basis of claims which may be eligible for resolution under the provisions of the Negotiated Rates Act of 1993 (“NRA”), P.L. 103-180, 107 Stat. 2044 (Dec. 3, 1993); and (3) plaintiff failed to identify the nature and basis of state law claims which may be barred from federal adjudication by the abstention doctrine. In addition, defendant Reynolds alleges that the complaint contradicts previous demands for payment made by plaintiff prior to the filing of the complaint. Because each of the motions filed by defendants arises out of nearly identical fact patterns and allege similar defects in plaintiffs complaints, this opinion will serve as the basis of adjudication for all of the listed adversary proceedings.

A Rule 12(e) motion for more definite statement is appropriate when a pleading is wholly uninformative as to the basis for the claim. Schwartz v. Kursman (In re Harry Levin, Inc.) 175 B.R. 560, 565 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1994). In this instance, while it is true that the complaints may lack detail, they are not so unintelligible that defendants cannot frame responsive pleadings. As we noted in Hamilton Bank v. Fidelity Electric Co., Inc. (In re Fidelity Electric Co., Inc.) 19 B.R. 531, 532 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1982), a complaint filed in bankruptcy court, like all other pleadings filed in federal court, is merely a notice pleading whose function is to provide the opposing party with a general indication of the type of litigation involved. Given this, and the fact the Rule 12(e) motions are generally disfavored in light of liberal federal discovery rules, In re American Int’l Airways, Inc., 66 B.R. 642, 645 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1986), we shall deny defendants’ motions. We begin our analysis with a summary of the relevant facts.

Prior to filing this Chapter 11 petition on April 6, 1993, plaintiff operated as a motor carrier in interstate commerce pursuant to authority issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission (“ICC”), and in intrastate commerce pursuant to authority issued by various state regulatory agencies. In July of 1993, plaintiff engaged the services of Trans-Allied Audit Company (“Trans-Allied”) to conduct an audit of plaintiffs freight bills to determine whether they had been properly rated according to the tariffs filed by plaintiff with the ICC and the various state regulatory agencies. The audit determined that defendants allegedly owed various amounts to plaintiff for freight which had been transported, and as a result, Trans-Allied billed defendants for these amounts. When subsequent negotiations failed to recover these [231]*231alleged balances, plaintiff filed these adversary complaints against defendants seeking to recover the difference between the amounts defendants allegedly should have paid for the transport of freight according to the tariffs on file with the ICC and the various state regulatory agencies (the “filed rate”) and the amounts defendants actually paid plaintiff (the “negotiated rate”). These differences, customarily referred to as “freight undercharges,” generally are recoverable under the “filed rate” doctrine notwithstanding any prior negotiated rate agreement. Maislin Industries, U.S., Inc. v. Primary Steel, Inc., 497 U.S. 116, 110 S.Ct. 2759, 111 L.Ed.2d 94 (1990).

It is important to note, however, that the ruling in Maislin, allowing complete recovery of all freight undercharges, has been modified by the subsequent passage of the NRA, particularly, for purposes of this proceeding, 49 U.S.C. 10701(f). In addition, the United States Supreme Court recently held in ICC v. Transcon Lines, — U.S. at — - —, 115 S.Ct. at 694-95, that the “filed rate” doctrine does not bar the ICC from enjoining a trustee from collecting liquidated damages found in a filed tariff when it is shown that the carrier violated the ICC’s credit regulations. The NRA, enacted to provide shippers with some relief from undercharge litigation, and the decision in Transcon Lines are both integral parts of defendants’ motions for more definite statement and warrant further discussion.

Defendants first argue that the complaints fail to identify and exclude claims which defendants assert are barred by Transcon Lines. For purposes of these motions, we need not decide whether Transcon Lines effectively renders some or all of plaintiffs claims unrecoverable.1 Rather, we need only decide whether the complaint is so vague and ambiguous that defendants are unable to evaluate whether Transcon Lines might be applicable to these cases. To this end, we find that the complaints, when examined along with the Exhibits attached thereto, are sufficiently specific to make defendants aware that plaintiff is seeking recovery of freight undercharges. To explain, the complaints allege, in paragraph 10, that:

[a]s part of its freight audit service, Trans-Allied audited all of the shipments handled by Friedman’s for Defendant by comparing ... declared value of each shipment to the applicable tariff rates and rules provisions Friedman’s had on file with the ICC and/or various state regulatory agencies that were effective at the date of the shipment. The result of said audit was the creation of balance due original invoices in the amount of ... A copy of the statement of account evidencing the debt is attached hereto as Exhibit A.

By indicating that Trans-Allied compared the rates plaintiff had on file with the ICC and the various state regulatory agencies with those rates actually charged to defendants (and by attaching Exhibits “A”), we find that the complaints adequately place defendants on notice that plaintiff is seeking recovery for freight undercharges. This satisfies Fed.R.Civ.P.Rule 8(a), made applicable to these proceedings by B.R. 7008, which requires “only a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief’ and, as such, gives defendants adequate notice as to the nature of the claims against them. Whether some or all of these claims are barred by Transcon Lines is an issue which can be addressed in defendants’ responsive pleadings and subsequent discov[232]*232ery. Consequently, we find that this aspect of defendants’ motions must fail.

Defendants next argue that plaintiffs complaints are defective because they fail to adequately identify the nature and basis of the claims. Defendants allege that this lack of detail poses a significant problem in these cases due to the provisions in the NRA, specifically 49 U.S.C.

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184 B.R. 229, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 1036, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/friedmans-express-inc-v-reynolds-fasteners-inc-in-re-friedmans-paeb-1995.