Property One, Inc. v. USAgencies, L.L.C.

830 F. Supp. 2d 170, 2011 WL 5547781, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131493
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Louisiana
DecidedNovember 15, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 11-453-JJB-SCR
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 830 F. Supp. 2d 170 (Property One, Inc. v. USAgencies, L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Property One, Inc. v. USAgencies, L.L.C., 830 F. Supp. 2d 170, 2011 WL 5547781, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131493 (M.D. La. 2011).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTION TO DISMISS AND MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JAMES J. BRADY, District Judge.

The matters before the court are a motion to dismiss (Doc. 5) and motion for summary judgment (Doc. 6) filed by defendants, USAgencies, L.L.C. (“USAgencies”) and Affirmative Insurance Holdings, Inc. (“Affirmative”), against plaintiff Property Once, Inc. (“Property One”), as well as defendants’ motion to strike declarations made by Property One in its opposition to summary judgment (Docs. 12-2 and 12-3). There is no need for oral argument. Jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship exists under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

This cases arises because of defendants’ 1 failure to pay Property One real estate brokerage commissions it alleges are owed based on brokerage services provided to defendants in obtaining a tenant— the federal government—for a building USAgencies owns. Property One asserts three theories of liability: (1) defendants owe it the industry standard commission of 4% of the gross lease amount, with 50% due at signing and 50% due at lease eom[173]*173mencement; (2) defendants were unjustly-enriched through Property One’s expenditure of time, effort and resources in helping secure the lease; and (3) Property One detrimentally relied on the representations of defendants.

I. Facts

The following facts are taken as true based on Property One’s complaint. Affirmative is an integrated insurance holding company that acquired USAgencies in January 2007. Both companies provide auto insurance to consumers. USAgencies owns a budding in Baton Rouge commonly called Renaissance Park. On August 31, 2005, the General Services Administration (“GSA”), a branch of the federal government, leased the building from USAgencies on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) (“the initial FEMA lease”). Property One, via its employee Macon Callicott, rendered services which helped to consummate that lease, earning it a portion of the leasing commission. As the FEMA lease came close to expiration, Affirmative asked Property One to help it obtain an extension of FEMA’s lease by contacting GSA representatives with whom Property One had an existing relationship. Property One began negotiating to develop a new lease between USAgencies and GSA.

On or about October 8, 2008, Callicott attended a meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, wherein Affirmative and GSA reached an understanding of the financial framework and structure of the prospective deal. At the time, no written commission agreement had been signed, and although Property One understood Affirmative would soon agree to one, it never happened. Affirmative had given Property One assurances over the leasing commissions whenever Affirmative hired another broker, but then told Property One its services were no longer needed.

On December 14, 2009, USAgencies and GSA signed a new lease (“the second FEMA lease”) for the Renaissance Park building which substantially tracked the terms Callicott helped broker at the Forth Worth meeting on October 8, 2008. Property One thereafter sent invoices totaling over $900,000 in commissions to defendants in September 2010, (see Commission Invoices, Doc. 1-3), but has received no payment.

II. Standard of Review

A. Motion to Dismiss Standard

Pursuant to Fed. Rule Civ. P. 12(b)(6), on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the Court accepts all well-pleaded, non-conclusory facts in the complaint as true. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “To 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.’ ” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). “[A] formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. A complaint that pleads facts merely consistent with a defendant’s liability “stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility.” Id. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955. When well-pleaded factual allegations populate the complaint, “a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1950. Courts may consider not only the complaint itself, but also documents attached to the complaint or documents incorporated into the complaint by reference. Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322-23, 127 S.Ct. 2499, 168 L.Ed.2d 179 (2007). The facts in the complaint are viewed col[174]*174lectively, not scrutinized in strict isolation. Id.

B. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate when “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact.” Fed. Rule Civ. P. 56(a). The party seeking summary judgment carries the burden of demonstrating that there is an absence of evidence to support the non-moving party’s case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). When the burden at trial rests on the non-moving party, the moving party need only demonstrate that the record lacks sufficient evidentiary support for the non-moving party’s case. Id. The moving party may do this by showing that the evidence is insufficient to prove the existence of one or more essential elements of the non-moving party’s case. Id. A party must support its summary judgment position by “citing to particular parts of materials in the record” or “showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute.” Fed. Rule Civ. P. 56(c)(1).

Although the Court considers evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party, the non-moving party must show that there is a genuine issue for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248-49,106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Conclusory allegations and unsubstantiated assertions will not satisfy the non-moving party’s burden. Grimes v. Tex. Dep’t of Mental Health, 102 F.3d 137, 139-40 (5th Cir.1996). Similarly, “[u]n-sworn pleadings, memoranda or the like are not, of course, competent summary judgment evidence.” Larry v. White, 929 F.2d 206, 211 n. 12 (5th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1051, 113 S.Ct. 1946, 123 L.Ed.2d 651 (1993). If, once the non-moving party has been given the opportunity to raise a genuine fact issue, no reasonable juror could find for the non-moving party, summary judgment will be granted for the moving party. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548.

III. Discussion

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Bluebook (online)
830 F. Supp. 2d 170, 2011 WL 5547781, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/property-one-inc-v-usagencies-llc-lamd-2011.