Valasquez v. Northwest Airlines, Inc.

737 F. Supp. 406, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16756
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedSeptember 1, 1989
DocketMDL No. 742; Civ. A. No. 87-CV-73263-DT
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 737 F. Supp. 406 (Valasquez v. Northwest Airlines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Valasquez v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 737 F. Supp. 406, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16756 (E.D. Mich. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER

JULIAN ABELE COOK, Jr., Chief Judge.

On February 28, 1989, the Defendant, Northwest Airlines, Inc. (Northwest), filed [407]*407an Amended Third Party Complaint and Cross-Claim in this cause against McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC), Texas Instruments (TI), National Car Rental Systems (National), and the United States of America (USA).

MDC filed answers to Counts Seven and Eight. Thereafter, on March 31, 1989, MDC filed a Motion to Dismiss Counts Nine and Ten,1 contending that the allegations within the pleadings, which claim, inter alia, that it made material misrepresentations to Northwest, lack sufficient specificity to be in compliance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b). In its response, Northwest strongly disputes this contention.

A complaint should not be dismissed “unless it appears beyond doubt that plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b) provides that “[i]n all averments of fraud ... the circumstances constituting fraud ... shall be stated with particularity.” Conclusory allegations that a defendant’s conduct was fraudulent are insufficient. A pleading, which simply avers the technical elements of fraud, does not have sufficient information to satisfy the Rule 9(b) requirements. Instead, the complaint must describe the eon-duct that allegedly constitutes the fraud with some specificity. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has held that in order “[t]o satisfy FRCP 9(b), a plaintiff must at minimum allege the time, place and contents of the alleged misrepresentation upon which he relied.” Bender v. Southland Corp., 749 F.2d 1205, 1216 (1984).

When a motion to dismiss under Rule 9(b) is to be resolved,

a court must factor in the policy of simplicity in pleading which the drafters of the Federal Rules codified in Rule 8. Rule 8 requires a “short and plain statement of the claim,” and calls for “simple, concise and direct” allegations. Indeed, Rule 9(b)’s particularity requirement does not mute the general principles set out in Rule 8; rather, the two rules must be read in harmony. “Thus, it is inappropriate to focus on the fact that Rule 9(b) requires particularity in pleading fraud. This is too narrow an approach and fails to take account of the general simplicity and flexibility contemplated by the rules.”

Michaels Building Co. v. Ameritrust Co., N.A., 848 F.2d 674, 679 (6th Cir.1988), citing 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure; Civil Section 1298, at 407 (1969); see also, Credit & Finance [408]*408Corp., Ltd. v. Warner & Swasey Co., 638 F.2d 563, 566 (2nd Cir.1981); Simcox v. San Juan Shipyard, Inc., 754 F.2d 430, 440 (1st Cir.1985); Loew’s Inc. v. Makinson, 10 F.R.D. 36, 37 (D.C.Ohio 1950).

The purpose of Rule 9(b) is to assure that the “defendant [is given] fair notice of the substance of a plaintiffs claim in order that the defendant may prepare a responsive pleading.” Michaels Building Co. v. Ameritrust Co., N.A., supra, at 679; Ross v. A.H. Robins Co., Inc., 607 F.2d 545, 557 (2nd Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 946, 100 S.Ct. 2175, 64 L.Ed.2d 802 (1980). Wright & Miller instructs that, “... the most basic consideration in making a judgment as to the sufficiency of a pleading [under Rule 9(b) ] is the determination of how much detail is necessary to give adequate notice to an adverse party and enable him to prepare a responsive pleading.” 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil Section 1298 at 415.

More specifically, the particularity requirement of Rule 9(b) serves three purposes:

First, it ensures that fraud allegations are concrete enough to give defendants fair notice of the grounds of the complaint, so they can prepare a defense. Second, it protects defendants’ reputations or goodwill from the harm that comes from being accused of serious wrongdoing. Third, it inhibits the filing of complaints that are a pretext for the discovery of unknown wrongs, or that are groundless claims designed to coerce a settlement out of defendants who wish to avoid the time and expense of defending themselves.

In re Consumers Power Company Securities Litigation, 105 F.R.D. 583, 591 (E.D.Mich.1985); Ross v. A.H. Robins Co., 607 F.2d 545, 557 (2nd Cir.1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 946, 100 S.Ct. 2175, 64 L.Ed.2d 802 (1980); Benoay v. Decker, 517 F.Supp. 490, 492 (E.D.Mich.1981), aff'd mem., 735 F.2d 1363 (6th Cir.1984).

In its Amended Complaint, Northwest generally contends that MDC failed to disclose substantive information regarding the airworthiness of the aircraft which crashed at the Metropolitan Airport in Detroit, Michigan on August 16,1987. Specifically, Northwest charges MDC with material misrepresentations relating to (1) the failure rates and failure modes that it had experienced with the TI 7274-55 circuit breakers, (2) the CAWS fail light and the CAWS system, (3) the Flight Director/Speed system, (4) the consequences of switching from the takeoff mode to the go around mode in flight, and (5) the simulators.

The facts, which ostensibly support these allegations, appear, in pertinent part, within the Amended Complaint as follows:

MDC, by a series of All Operator Letters (AOLs), AOL 9-1281, dated April 9, 1981, AOL-9-1281A, dated November 22, 1982, and AOL-9-1292B, dated January 14, 1983, advised all aircraft operators using TI-7274-55 circuit breakers manufactured between approximately January 1979 and November 1980 that certain operators had reported to MDC that those circuit breakers were subject to excessive unannunciated failure rates....
In fact, MDC’s own aircraft design specifications provide that ... a failure rate of one-half of one percent is excessive and is not an acceptable failure rate.... (Amended Complaint, Paras. 28-30) MDC required TI to buy back all TI 7274-55 circuit breakers manufactured during the January 1979 through November 1980 period that were held by MDC in its stock, but did not replace TI 7274-55 circuit breakers already installed in aircraft, including the Accident Aircraft, awaiting delivery to customers such as Republic. (Id., Para. 32)
MDC represented that the CAWS installed on the Accident Aircraft, has three redundant power supplies. Contrary to that representation, each CAWS warning is powered by a specific non-redundant electrical circuit protected by either the P-40, R-41 or -31 circuit breaker.

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Bluebook (online)
737 F. Supp. 406, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16756, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/valasquez-v-northwest-airlines-inc-mied-1989.