Rodriguez v. Oriental Financial Group Inc.

802 F. Supp. 2d 350, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76532, 2011 WL 2750983
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 14, 2011
DocketCivil No. 10-2182 (DRD)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 802 F. Supp. 2d 350 (Rodriguez v. Oriental Financial Group Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rodriguez v. Oriental Financial Group Inc., 802 F. Supp. 2d 350, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76532, 2011 WL 2750983 (prd 2011).

Opinion

[352]*352OPINION AND ORDER

DANIEL R. DOMINGUEZ, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are: (a) Motion to Dismiss pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(6) (Docket No. 9) filed by Defendant Oriental Financial Group Inc. (“Oriental”); and (b) Opposition to the Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 10) filed by Plaintiff Rafael Limardo Rodriguez (“Limardo”). For the reasons set forth below, Oriental’s Motion to Dismiss is DENIED.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Limardo filed a Complaint on December 3, 2010 (Docket No. 1) against Defendant Oriental alleging a violation under Section 606 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1166. The Complaint alleges that Oriental failed to provide adequate notice to Limardo of his rights under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 1166, at the time of Limardo’s commencement in the health plan, and when Limardo’s employment was terminated. For these violations, Limardo is seeking an award of $220 per day until the notice violations are corrected. Limardo also claims that under Puerto Rico Law No. 80 of May 30, 1979, 29 L.P.R.A. §§ 185a, et seq. (“Law 80”), Oriental owes him a severance payment for unjust dismissal in the amount of $26,363.75.

On February 4, 2011, Oriental filed a motion to dismiss (Docket No. 9). Therein, Oriental advocates that Limardo failed to allege in the Complaint that Oriental acted in bad faith and that Limardo was adversely affected by the alleged lack of notification. Additionally, Oriental states that since Limardo’s Law 80 claim was brought before this Court’s jurisdiction thru the COBRA claim, then the Complaint should be dismissed when this Court dismisses the COBRA claim.

On February 18, 2011, Limardo filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss (Docket No. 10). Therein, Limardo asserts that no statute or court require any allegations of adverse effect, prejudice, or bad faith in order to determine that a failure in the notice procedures has occurred. Nonetheless, Limardo stresses that as a result of not receiving the proper notice under ERISA-COBRA, his access to medical services was impaired.

THE MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD

Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Fed.R.Civ.P.”) provides that a complaint will be dismissed for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” “So, when the allegations in a complaint, however true, fall short of a claim of entitlement to relief, ‘this basic deficiency should ... be exposed at the point of minimum expenditure of time and money by the parties and the court.’ ” (Citations omitted). Bell Atlantic Corporation, et al. v. Twombly, et al., 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). In Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 and 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, the Court held:

While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations ... (citations omitted) ... a plaintiffs obligation to provide the “grounds” of his “entitle[ment] to relief’ requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of actions not do, see Papasan v. Attain, 478 U.S. 265, 286, 106 S.Ct. 2932, 92 L.Ed.2d 209 (1986) (on a motion to dismiss, courts “are not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation”). Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right [353]*353to relief above the speculative level, see 5C. Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216, pp. 235-236 (3d ed. 2004).
Here, in contrast, we do not require heightened fact pleading of specifics, but only enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face. Because the plaintiffs here have not nudged their claims across the line from conceivable to plausible, their complaint must be dismissed. (Emphasis ours).

See also Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (“Specific facts are not necessary; the statements need only ‘give the defendants fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests’ ”) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955) (emphasis ours).

In Twombly, 550 U.S. at 562-563, 127 S.Ct. 1955, the Court held:

We could go on, but there is no need to pile up further citations to show that Conley’s “no set of facts” language has been questioned, criticized, and explained away long enough. To be fair to the Conley Court, the passage should be understood in light of the opinion’s preceding summary of the complaint’s concrete allegations, which the Court quite reasonably understood as amply stating a claim for relief. But the passage so often quoted fails to mention this understanding on the part of the Court, and after puzzling the profession for 50 years, this famous observation has earned its retirement. (Emphasis ours).

Thus, the new standard under Twombly is that a claim for relief must contain allegations that “are plausible on its face.” See also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). In Sepúlveda-Villarini v. Department of Education of Puerto Rico, 628 F.3d 25, 29 (1st Cir.2010), SOUTER, J., as Associate Justice (Ret.), the Court held:

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only ‘a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,’ in order to ‘give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’ ” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2) and Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). The make-or-break standard, as the district court recognized, is that the combined allegations, taken as true, must state a plausible, not a merely conceivable, case for relief. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1950-51, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955); see also Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
802 F. Supp. 2d 350, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76532, 2011 WL 2750983, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-oriental-financial-group-inc-prd-2011.