Mourad v. Marathon Petroleum Co.

129 F. Supp. 3d 517, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122531, 2015 WL 5439738
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedSeptember 15, 2015
DocketCase No. 14-cv-14217
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 129 F. Supp. 3d 517 (Mourad v. Marathon Petroleum Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mourad v. Marathon Petroleum Co., 129 F. Supp. 3d 517, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122531, 2015 WL 5439738 (E.D. Mich. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS second Amended complaint AND DISMISSING plaintiffs’ Second amended COMPLAINT WITH PREJUDICE

PATRICK J. DUGGAN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

In this diversity action, Plaintiffs — a group of current and former business owners and operators — are suing Defendant Marathon Petroleum Company, LP in connection with its operation of a refinery in the Oakwood Heights subdivision of the City of Detroit, Michigan.- In their pleading for relief, Plaintiffs endeavor to state state-law claims for (1) tortious interference with business relationship or expectancy and (2) nuisance, and have requested damages in the amount of $75,000 each.

Presently before , the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint. The matter has been fully briefed. Having determined that oral argument would not significantly aid the decisional process, the 'Court dispensed with oral argument pursuant to Eastern District of Michigan Local Rule 7.1(f)(2). For the reasons set forth herein, the Court will grant Defendant’s motion.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Allegations

Plaintiffs Ahmad Mourad, House of Hardtops, Inc., Moss & Associates, Inc., Kaery Korkes, and Universal Lock & Security Service, Inc. (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) áre or were owners or operators of small retail businesses located in or near the Oakwood Heights subdivision of the City of Detroit.1 (Second Am. Compl. ¶ 1.) Defendant Marathon Petroleum Company owns and -operates an oil refinery (the “Detroit Refinery”) on Fort Street in Detroit, in close proximity to Oakwood Heights. (Id. ¶3.) While parts of Oakwood Heights are zoned residential, one need not strain the, imagination to envision the environmental impact an oil refinery would have on nearby properties.2 Thus, when Defendant “expanded” the Detroit Refinery’s operations in November of 2012 by commencing “operation of the Detroit Heavy Oil Upgrade Project (DHOUP) facility on its premises[,]” a residential buyout program (the “Oakwood Heights Property Purchase Program”) initiated by Defendant in November of 2011 gained momentum.3 (Id. ¶¶4, 8.) Plain[521]*521tiffs allege that, as of the date the Second Amended Complaint was filed, Defendant had acquired “at least 277 of 294 [or, ninety-four percent of,] residential properties” in Oakwood Heights. (Id. ¶ 8.) The Oak-wood Heights Property Purchase Program, which is “described in detail in a public ‘Informational Handbook[,]’ ” did not apply to commercial properties. (Id. ¶¶ 9-10.) Because such a significant proportion of Oakwood Heights residents took the buyouts offered by Defendant, Plaintiffs’ businesses suffered financial losses, depending as they did on the residents of Oakwood Heights for revenue generation. (Id. ¶¶ 11h, 11j.)

Plaintiffs also allege that the DHOUP— which Defendant began operating in November 2012 after obtaining permits and approval from the State of Michigan during the period between November of 2002 and March of 2008 — increased ambient air pollution in the Oakwood Heights neighborhood, evidenced by admissions to, this effect contained in the Application to Install filed by Defendant in November of 2002. (Id. ¶¶ 11c, lie, 20 (“[0]n or about November 6th, 2012 and continuing thereafter, defendant released from its refinery into the ambient air various air pollutants ... and hazardous air pollutants [ ] increased by the DHOUP over previous emissions from the whole refinery[.]”).) The pollutants, carried by áir currents, made their way to Plaintiffs’ premises. (Id. ¶ 21.)

B. Procedural History

Plaintiff's instituted the present civil action on November 3, 2014. (ECF No. 1.) On December 13, 2014, after Defendant filed a motion, to dismiss, Plaintiffs filed an amended - pleading containing two counts: Count I — Intentional Interference with Business Relationship or Expectancy and Count II — Nuisance. (ECF No. 8.) Nine days later, Defendant filed a motion seeking dismissal of the amended 'Complaint. (ECF No.- 11.) This motion was fully briefed (ECF Nos.. 1315, 17), and the Court held a motion hearing in conjunction with this, motion on June 15, 2015, during which the Court heard the arguments of counsel. At the conclusion of this hearing, the Court permitted Plaintiffs to amend their pleading once more to provide additional factual enhancement in support of the legal theories advanced in their first amended complaint. (ECF No. 19.)

- Plaintiffs filed a Second Amended Complaint containing.the .same two counts as the previous complaint on July 17, 2015 (ECF No. 21), which Defendant promptly moved to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) on July 22, 2015 (ECF-No. 22).. This .motion, which has been fully briefed, is- the subject of this Opinion and Order. (ECF Nos. 24 (response), 26 (reply), 27(sur-reply).)

II. GOVERNING LEGAL STANDARD

A motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) allows a court to assess whether a plaintiff’s pleadings state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). As articulated by the Supreme Court of the United States, “[t]o 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, 678, 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, 1974, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). This facial plausibility standard requires claimants to put forth “enough fact[s] to raise a reasonable expectation that discovery will reveal evidence of’ the requisite elements of their claims. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 557, 127 S.Ct. at 1965. Even though a complaint need not contain “detailed” factual allegation's, its “factual allegations must be [522]*522enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Ass ’n of Cleveland Fire Fighters v. City of Cleveland, 502 F.3d 545, 548 (6th Cir.2007) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. at 1965) (internal citations omitted).

While courts are required to accept the factual allegations in a complaint as true, Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. at 1965, the presumption of truth does not apply to a claimant’s legal conclusions, Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. at 1949. See also Mezibov v. Allen, 411 F.3d 712, 716 (6th Cir.2005) (cautioning that legal conclusions “masquerading as factual” allégations are insufficient to withstand a properly supported motion to dismiss).

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129 F. Supp. 3d 517, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122531, 2015 WL 5439738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mourad-v-marathon-petroleum-co-mied-2015.