Oros v. Hull & Associates

217 F.R.D. 401, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15349, 2003 WL 22060436
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedAugust 25, 2003
DocketNo. 3:02CV7461
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 217 F.R.D. 401 (Oros v. Hull & Associates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oros v. Hull & Associates, 217 F.R.D. 401, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15349, 2003 WL 22060436 (N.D. Ohio 2003).

Opinion

ORDER

CARR, District Judge.

The plaintiff, Dan J. Oros, seeks damages from defendants Hull Associates, Inc. (“Hull”) and Genesis Contracting, Inc. (“Genesis”) for harm allegedly caused by exposure to hazardous waste at a waste removal site. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332, 1441. Pending is Genesis’s motion to dismiss. For the following reasons, Genesis’s motion shall be granted.

Plaintiff, a fox-mer employee of defendant Hull Associates, Inc., worked on a waste removal project in Toledo, Ohio, from August 26 through August 28, 2000. He became ill, allegedly from exposure to some of the work site materials. Among those materials were benzene, tetrachloroethene and 2-butanone (MEK). Plaintiffs suffers from reactive airway dysfunction syndrome, mononucleosis and MEK neurotoxic poisoning.

Plaintiff filed suit in the Lucas County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas on August 26, 2002, against his former employer, Hull Associates, Inc.; the property owner, the City of Toledo; and four John Doe defendants. Plaintiff asserted state-law claims for ultra-hazardous activity and negligence against the City of Toledo and Hull and employer intentional tort and dual capacity against Hull. Defendants removed the ease to this coux-t on the basis of diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441,1332.

Plaintiff claims to have first learned about Genesis’s connection to his injuries only after removal of the case from state court. Hull has assigned him to document and oversee the waste removal at the site, while Genesis performed the actual removal of materials from the site. Plaintiff had apparently thought that the property owner, the City of Toledo, controlled the work site and made decisions concerning waste removal methods and work site safety.

After learning that Genesis allegedly controlled the work site and made the pertinent decisions, Plaintiff sought leave to amend his complaint to name Genesis as a defendant. Plaintiffs request was granted and he filed an amended complaint naming as defendants Hull, Genesis, and three John Does on January 14, 2003. The City of Toledo was terminated from the suit. Plaintiff asserted ultra-hazardous activity and negligence claims against Genesis; he did not change his allegations against Hull.

Genesis moves to dismiss, asserting that the statute of limitations bars plaintiffs’ claims against it.

No complaint shall be dismissed unless the plaintiff has failed to allege facts in support of plaintiffs claim that, construed in plaintiffs favor, would entitle the plaintiff to relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45?46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). When deciding a motion brought pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the inquiry is essentially limited to the content of the complaint, although matters of public record, orders, items appearing in the record, and attached exhibits also may be taken into account. See Yanacos v. Lake County, 953 F.Supp. 187, 191 (N.D.Ohio 1996). The court must accept [403]*403the allegations stated in the complaint as true, Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984), while viewing the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). A court, however, is “not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.” Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 286, 106 S.Ct. 2932, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986).

DISCUSSION

Genesis alleges that Plaintiff filed suit against it outside the applicable two-year limitations period and that the “fictitious name” rule under Ohio law does not apply to this case. Plaintiff asserts that the allegations in the amended complaint relate back to the original filing date pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c), which would defeat the statute of limitations defense.

Plaintiff asserted ultra-hazardous activity and negligence claims against Genesis in his amended complaint, which was filed on January 14, 2003. The events which caused Plaintiffs injuries occurred from August 26 through August 28, 2000. Ohio law prescribes a two year limitations period for personal injury claims. O.R.C. § 2305.10. Plaintiffs claims against Genesis are untimely unless the amended complaint relates back to the original filing date.

Under Fed. R. Civ. P 15(c), an amended complaint may relate back to the original filing date when

(1) relation back is permitted by the law that provides the statute of limitations applicable to the action, or
(2) the claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, or
(3) the amendment changes the party or the naming of the party against whom a claim is asserted if the foregoing provision (2) is satisfied and, within the period provided by Rule 4(m) for service of the summons and complaint, the party to be brought in by amendment (A) has received such notice of the institution of the action that the party will not be prejudiced in maintaining a defense on the merits, and (B) knew or should have known that, but for a mistake concerning the identity of the proper party, the action would have been brought against the party.

In this case, section two does not apply because the plaintiff is not seeking to add a claim or defense to the complaint. Section three also does not apply because the notice requirement is not met. Finally, while Ohio law governs the limitations period for Plaintiffs claims against Genesis and the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure provide for relation back, the Sixth Circuit interpretation of Fed. R.Civ.P. 15(c)(1) requires that the actual statute providing the claim limitation period include a relation back provision. The statute at issue in this case does not contain such a provision. Therefore, Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c)(1) does not apply to Plaintiffs claims against Genesis.

Consequently, none of the relation back methods enumerated in Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c) are applicable to this case, so Genesis’s motion to dismiss must be granted.

FedR.Civ.P. 15(c)(2)

Fed.R.Civ.P. 15

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
217 F.R.D. 401, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15349, 2003 WL 22060436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oros-v-hull-associates-ohnd-2003.