O'Rear v. American Family Life Assurance Co. of Columbus, Inc.

784 F. Supp. 1561, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2587, 1992 WL 37641
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 25, 1992
Docket91-148-CIV-T-17
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 784 F. Supp. 1561 (O'Rear v. American Family Life Assurance Co. of Columbus, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Rear v. American Family Life Assurance Co. of Columbus, Inc., 784 F. Supp. 1561, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2587, 1992 WL 37641 (M.D. Fla. 1992).

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTIONS

KOVACHEVICH, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on the following motions and responses:

1.Defendants American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus, Inc. (American Family) and American Family Life Corporation (American Corporation)^ motion to dismiss Counts I, II, and VI of third amended complaint, motion to stay pending arbitration and memorandum in support thereof, filed November 18, 1991. (Docket Nos. 40 and 41).
2. Defendant American Family Life Assurance Company Associate Stock Bonus Plan (the Plan)’s motion to dismiss and memorandum in support thereof, filed November 18, 1991. (Docket No. 42).
3. Defendant American Family’s motion and brief for determination of the amount of attorney’s fees previously awarded, filed November 18, 1991. (Docket No. 43).
4. Plaintiff’s response to motion for determination of attorney’s fees, filed November 25, 1991. (Docket No. 45).
5. Plaintiff’s response to the Plan’s motion to dismiss, filed November 27, 1991. (Docket No. 46).
6. Plaintiff’s response to American Family’s motion to dismiss, filed November 27, 1991. (Docket No. 47).
7. Defendant’s conditional motion for evidentiary hearing on motion to stay and memorandum in support thereof, filed December 17, 1991. (Docket No. 49).

A complaint.should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that Plaintiff can prove no set of facts that would entitle him to relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). A trial court, in ruling on a motion to dismiss, is required to view the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Sckeuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974).

This case has a rather torturous history which is relevant to the pending motions and requires a recitation of the progress of this case to date.

The original complaint in this case was filed February 5, 1991, naming only AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY OF COLUMBUS, INC. as a defendant and, including, claims for: 1) breach of contract; 2) violation of covenant of good faith and fair dealing; and 3) fraud and misrepresentation.

Upon service of the summons and complaint, American Family filed a motion to dismiss and to strike. While responding to the motion to dismiss, Plaintiff also filed a *1563 motion to amend the complaint to “include a wrongful discharge cause of action” and to include “events which have occurred subsequent to the filing of Plaintiffs Complaint which include tortious causes of action against one or more AFLAC [American Family] agents, employees and/or independent contractors.” In the response to the motion to dismiss, Plaintiff conceded that Counts I and III of the complaint were deficient, again moving for leave to amend. Therefore, on April 8, 1991, the Court granted the leave to file an amended complaint.

The first amended complaint was filed on April 19, 1991. This first amended complaint again named AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY OF COLUMBUS, INC. as the sole defendant and replead the same three (3) counts (breach of contract, violation of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and fraud and misrepresentation) without substantial difference from the original complaint.

Defendant, American Family, on May 2, 1991, filed a motion to dismiss and an alternative motion to strike portions of Counts I and III. A response was filed on May 16, 1991, wherein Plaintiff admitted that, though he made a good faith effort, the first amended complaint may have fallen short of the “particularity” requirements of Rule 9, Fed.R.Civ.P. as to Count III and yet again asked for leave to amend Count III.

Without waiting for the Court’s order on the motion to amend, a second amended complaint was filed on June 17, 1991. The second amended complaint named as defendants: AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY OF COLUMBUS, INC.'; AMERICAN FAMILY CORPORATION; and JOHN AMOS, SALVADOR DIAZ-VERSON, JR., AND GEORGE W. JETER, individually and in their capacity as trustees of the AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY ASSOCIATE STOCK BONUS PLAN (the Trustees).

This pleading contained nine (9) causes of action: 1) breach of contract; 2) violation of covenant of good faith and fair dealing; 3) fraud and misrepresentation; 4) violation of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq.; 5) violation of § 10 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j and Rule 10(b); 6) violation of § 17(a) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77q; 7) violation of § 12(2) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 771; 8) violation of § 12(1) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 771; and 9) deliberately misconstruing the employment contract for purpose of avoiding employer withholding liability under the Internal Revenue Code.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the second amended complaint on August 20, 1991; to which Plaintiff responded on September 3, 1991. In the response, Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed Counts I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX of the second amended complaint, seeking to amend all counts except VI, but requested that the motion to dismiss Count III be denied. 1

This Court issued an order on October 18, 1991, 139 F.R.D. 418, resolving the issues raised by the motion to dismiss the second amended complaint. Upon examination of the fraud claim (Count III), the Court found that the second amended complaint failed to identify the individuals who allegedly planned to remove the plaintiff from his employment, stating: “Thus, dates, times, and names should be used to allege paraphrased or quoted statements by Defendants, and these statements must have been made in organizing, orchestrating, and commencing the plan to remove Plaintiff from AFLAC’s employment.” The Court found the motion to dismiss Count III should be granted.

As to the remaining cpunts, Plaintiff admitted that “oversight and inadvertence” resulted in “repeated failure(s) to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed”; which further resulted in considerable expenditure of time and effort for the defendants in filing the (3) motions to dismiss.

The Court determinéd that, if Plaintiff chose to file a third amended complaint, his counsel would pay costs and attorney’s fees for unreasonably multiplying the pro *1564 ceedings in the case. Therefore, the Court ordered:

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Bluebook (online)
784 F. Supp. 1561, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2587, 1992 WL 37641, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orear-v-american-family-life-assurance-co-of-columbus-inc-flmd-1992.