Zic v. Italian Government Travel Office

130 F. Supp. 2d 991, 2001 WL 55552
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJanuary 19, 2001
Docket99 C 1242
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 130 F. Supp. 2d 991 (Zic v. Italian Government Travel Office) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zic v. Italian Government Travel Office, 130 F. Supp. 2d 991, 2001 WL 55552 (N.D. Ill. 2001).

Opinion

*994 MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BUCKLO, District Judge.

In 1982, Claude Zic entered into an employment contract with the Italian Government Travel Office (“ENIT”). Mr. Zic worked for ENIT in Chicago until 1999. He sued ENIT in Illinois state court for breach of contract, fraud and various other charges arising out of a dispute about salary and back pay. ENIT removed the case to federal court. ENIT moves for judgment on the pleadings, to strike Mr. Zic’s affirmative defenses to ENIT’s counterclaim, and to strike the report of Stanton Herzog, Mr. Zic’s damages expert.

I. Background

Mr. Zic says that he entered into an employment contract, the Initial Employment Agreement (“IEA”), with ENIT in 1982. He was hired to provide technical support to ENIT management in its Chicago office. Mr. Zic’s job performance with ENIT was satisfactory, and he continued to work for ENIT under a series of contracts until 1999. The IEA was for an indefinite period of time, but the economic terms were renewable every three years. Mr. Zic he alleges that, beginning in 1985, ENIT promised him a salary increase retroactive to 1985, even though it could not offer him a contract with those terms at that time. From 1985 to 1997, ENIT, through its employees and agents (the individual defendants), allegedly made repeated promises of retroactive salary increases, benefits and bonuses that were never realized.

In 1994, ENIT temporarily closed its Chicago office so that it could move to another location. According to the IEA, Mr. Zic’s employment contract was terminated by the office closing, and he was rehired- under a new contract effective March 1, 1994. Mr. Zic alleges that the office closing was fraudulent, and done only for the purpose of terminating his contract. Mr. Zic continued to work for ENIT under the 1994 contract, and under new contracts of March 1, 1997 and March 1, 1998. Mr. Zic alleges that he relied on repeated promises of retroactive pay, and that ENIT never intended to make good on its promises. Mr. Zic filed this action on January 27,1999, but continued to work for ENIT until his contract expired in March 1999. ENIT now moves for judgment on the pleadings, and to strike Mr. Zic’s affirmative defenses and expert report.

II. Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings

The standard of review for a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(e) is the same as for a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b). Lanigan v. Village of East Hazel Crest, 110 F.3d 467, 470 n. 2 (7th Cir.1997). I accept all well-pleaded factual allegations of the plaintiff and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Colfax Corp. v. Illinois State Toll Highway Auth., 79 F.3d 631, 632 (7th Cir.1996). Dismissal is only appropriate if it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him to relief. Id. Under federal notice pleading, the complaint need not allege any facts, Bennett v. Schmidt, 153 F.3d 516, 518 (7th Cir.1998), but Fed. R.Civ.P. 9(b) imposes heightened pleading requirements where the plaintiff alleges fraud. Rule 9(b) requires that fraud be plead “with particularity.”

ENIT attaches several written contracts to its motion for judgment on the pleadings that Mr. Zic referenced in his complaint. Ordinarily, a defendant may not attach factual matter to a motion to dismiss, because I assume that all of the plaintiffs factual allegations are true. See General Elec. Capital Corp. v. Lease Resolution Corp., 128 F.3d 1074, 1080 (7th Cir.1997). If documents outside the pleadings are attached to a motion to dismiss, I must exclude them or convert to motion to a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56. Venture Assocs. Corp. v. Zenith Data Sys. Corp., 987 F.2d 429, 431 (7th Cir.1993). However, “documents attached to a motion to dismiss are considered part of the pleadings if they are referred to in the *995 plaintiffs complaint and are central to his claim.” Wright v. Associated Ins. Cos. Inc., 29 F.3d 1244, 1248 (7th Cir.1994) (contracts attached to complaint for breach of contract). I do not rely on the contracts attached by ENIT, and therefore I need not consider whether they are “central” to Mr. Zie’s claim. The documents attached to ENIT’s motion are specifically excluded and I will not convert the motion for judgment on the pleadings to a motion for summary judgment.

A. Fraud Claims

Mr. Zic brings three fraud claims (fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, and fraudulent inducement) that are essentially the same. Fraudulent misrepresentation and fraudulent inducement are simply forms of common law fraud. 1 See Bell & Howell Financial Services Co. v. St. Louis Pre-Sort, Inc., No. 97 C 6063, 1999 WL 965961, at*1 n. 3 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 29, 1999). The factual basis for all three claims is the same: Mr. Zic alleges that ENIT promised him that it would get him retroactive back pay under a future contract, but that ENIT never had an intention of following through. In Illinois, “misrepresentations of intention to perform future conduct, even if made without a present intention to perform, do not generally constitute fraud.” HPI Health Care Servs., Inc. v. Mt. Vernon Hosp., Inc., 131 Ill.2d 145, 137 Ill.Dec. 19, 545 N.E.2d 672, 682 (1989). So-called “promissory fraud” may be actionable, however, if “the false promise or representation of future conduct is alleged to be the scheme employed to accomplish the fraud.” Id. (citation omitted).

Promissory fraud is a disfavored cause of action in Illinois because it is “easy to allege and difficult to prove or disprove.” Bower v. Jones, 978 F.2d 1004, 1012 (7th Cir.1992). Thus Illinois has placed a “deliberately high” burden on a plaintiff claiming promissory fraud: “In order to survive the pleading stage, a claimant must be able to point to specific, objective manifestations of fraudulent intent — a scheme or device.” Id. (citing Hollymatic Corp. v. Holly Sys., Inc., 620 F.Supp. 1366, 1369 (N.D.Ill.1985)) (citations omitted) (emphasis added). Similar concerns explain the heightened fraud pleading requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 9

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Bluebook (online)
130 F. Supp. 2d 991, 2001 WL 55552, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zic-v-italian-government-travel-office-ilnd-2001.