UPS Store, Inc. v. Hagan

99 F. Supp. 3d 426, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36971, 2015 WL 1456654
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 24, 2015
DocketNo. 14cv1210
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 99 F. Supp. 3d 426 (UPS Store, Inc. v. Hagan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
UPS Store, Inc. v. Hagan, 99 F. Supp. 3d 426, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36971, 2015 WL 1456654 (S.D.N.Y. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

WILLIAM H. PAULEY III, District Judge:

The UPS Store, Inc., United Parcel Service, Inc., and United Parcel Service of America, Inc. (collectively, “UPS”) bring this action for breach of contract and trademark infringement against Robert Hagan, Thomas Hagan, and the entities they operated (collectively, “the Hagans”). The lawsuit stems from UPS’s termination of the Hagans’ franchise agreements for eleven UPS Stores in New York. The Ha-gans respond to the lawsuit with a salvo of counterclaims against UPS and other franchisees in Manhattan named as counterclaim defendants (“Franchisees”).1 UPS and the Franchisees (collectively, “Counter-Defendants”) move to dismiss the counterclaims. For the following reasons, the Counter-Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part.

A troubling trend toward prolixity in pleading is infecting court dockets in this district and elsewhere. As this case illustrates, a growing number of attorneys, from solo practitioners to “big law” partners, are ignoring Rule 8 and its exhortation that “[a] pleading ... must contain ... a short and plain statement of the claim.... ” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(d)(1) (requiring that allegations be “simple, concise, and direct”). UPS launched its relatively straightforward claims with a sprawling 175-para-graph Complaint, larded with more than 1,400 pages of exhibits. That initial pleading, masquerading as a summary judgment motion, may have been intended by UPS to overwhelm the defendants. But the Hagans were not deterred. They retaliated with a 210-page, 1,020-paragraph Answer asserting twelve .counterclaims and attaching voluminous exhibits.

UPS and the Franchisees sought leave to move to dismiss the Hagans’ counterclaims. At a pre-motion conference, this Court expressed concern about the length of both side’s pleadings. (Conf. Tr. 2-3, 4, July 18, 2014, ECF No. 30.) UPS’s counsel attributed UPS’s lengthy pleading to predecessor counsel, yet never offered to prune the Complaint. In turn, the Ha-gans’ counsel proposed amending their Answer and counterclaims to identify the franchisee counter-defendants. This Court urged the Hagans to downsize their pleading when naming the franchisee counter-defendants. (Conf. Tr. 14.)

Several weeks later, the Hagans interposed their Amended Answer with counterclaims naming the Franchisees. Instead of shrinking their pleading, they enlarged it to a breathtaking 1,263 paragraphs, spanning 303 pages. It brims with irrelevant and redundant allegations. This Court convened another conference among counsel in an effort to end the madness and avoid a motion. But that, too, proved futile. And so, more than a year after this action was filed, the parties continue to spar over their behemoth pleadings.

The “short and plain” statement requirement of Rule 8 serves many salutary purposes. It focuses litigants and judges on the real issues in dispute. It also aids the public in understanding the judicial pro[432]*432cess. Disregarding it only spawns mischief.

Voluminous pleading is self-defeating. It chokes the docket and obscures otherwise meritorious claims and defenses. It can also unnecessarily highlight fatal weaknesses in a party’s case. “[A] plaintiff can plead himself out of court by alleging facts which show that he has no claim, even though he was not required to allege those facts.” Wireless Ink Corp. v. Facebook, Inc., 787 F.Supp.2d 298, 307 (S.D.N.Y.2011) (quoting Jackson v. Marion County, 66 F.3d 151, 153 (7th Cir.1995) (Posner, J.)). Lawyers should think twice about the burden they impose on judges to wade through surfeit pleadings, let alone “labyrinthian prolixity of unrelated and vituperative charges that def[y] comprehension.” Prezzi v. Schelter, 469 F.2d 691, 692 (2d Cir.1972); see also Salahuddin v. Cuomo, 861 F.2d 40, 42 (2d Cir.1988) (“The statement should be short because ‘[u]n-necessary prolixity in a pleading places an unjustified burden on the court and the party who must respond to it because they are forced to select the relevant material from a mass of verbiage.’ ”). They should also think about their clients who presumably come to court “to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination” of their claims. Fed.R.Civ.P. 1.

There is ample authority empowering a court to dismiss pleadings for failure to comply with Rule 8. See Wynder v. McMahon, 360 F.3d 73, 77 (2d Cir.2004) (“Rule 41(b) clearly authorizes dismissal where plaintiffs have ‘fail[ed] ... to comply with these rules [i.e. the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure],’ including, of course, Rule 8.”); Salahuddin, 861 F.2d at 42 (“When a complaint does not comply with the requirement that it be short and plain, the court has the power ... to dismiss the complaint.”). And that might be an appropriate way to dispose of the Hagans’ counterclaims, if not the entire case. But the Hagans could view a Rule 8 dismissal as unfair because UPS was just as culpable in filing its outsized Complaint.

Recently, Senior Judge Glasser lamented about needlessly long pleadings and offered a solution that was undoubtedly effective in its time but would not likely be countenanced today. Quoting Lord Buck-master, formerly Lord Chancellor of England, Senior Judge Glasser related that

in the reign of the Stuarts there was one counsel who had offended the court by preparing a needlessly long and prolix pleading on parchment. He was ordered to have his pleadings taken, a large hole to be cut in the middle, he was to have his head pushed through it, and he was to attend the first day of the term of every court with his head through the pleadings.

Brooklyn Downtown Hotel LLC v. New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council, AFL-CIO, No. 14-cv-6067 (ILG), 2015 WL 779441, at *3 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 25, 2015) (quoting Lord Buckmaster, The Romance of the Law, 11 A.B.A. J. 579, 581 (Sept. 1925)).

While Lord Buckmaster’s in terrorem remedy is tempting, this Court fashions a pragmatic solution aimed at advancing this litigation beyond the pleading stage for the benefit of the litigants. This Court will address each of the counterclaims on their merits, giving many of them more thought than they deserve. And because all but one of the Hagans’ counterclaims will be dismissed, the parties will be directed to submit amended pleadings that clearly and concisely present the issues and comport with the strictures of Rule 8.

BACKGROUND

Astonishingly, and as belied by the length of the pleadings, the pertinent factual allegations can be .distilled in a few [433]*433paragraphs. For purposes of this motion, they are accepted as true.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 F. Supp. 3d 426, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36971, 2015 WL 1456654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ups-store-inc-v-hagan-nysd-2015.