Firestone v. Firestone, 94-7202

Citation316 U.S. App. D.C. 152,76 F.3d 1205
Decision Date16 February 1996
Docket NumberNo. 94-7202,94-7202
Parties, 34 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1128 Myrna O'Dell FIRESTONE, et al., Appellants, v. Leonard K. FIRESTONE, Appellee.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia)

Myrna O'Dell Firestone and Russell A. Firestone III, pro se, filed appellants' brief. Joan E. O'Dell, Washington, DC, argued the cause and filed the reply brief, for appellants.

Thomas F. Cullen Jr., Washington, DC argued the cause for appellee, with whom James E. Anklam, Washington, DC, was on the brief.

Before: BUCKLEY, GINSBURG, and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM:

Appellants, Myrna O'Dell Firestone, individually and as trustee of the Russell A. Firestone III Child Support Trust, and Russell A. Firestone III seek review of two district court orders. In the first, the district court dismissed Russell III and Myrna's complaint with prejudice, ruling that their claims were barred by the applicable three- year statute of limitations and that their complaint failed to plead fraud with particularity as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). The second order denied Appellants' Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) motion to vacate the dismissal of the complaint and Rule 15(a) motion requesting leave to file an Amended Complaint. We reverse the district court's order denying the 59(e) and 15(a) motions, and remand with instructions to grant Appellants leave to file their First Amended Complaint.

I.

The parties in this suit are all members of the same family. Russell A. Firestone III, one of the plaintiffs, is the great-grandson of Harvey S. Firestone, founder of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. Myrna O'Dell Firestone, the other plaintiff, is Russell III's mother. Myrna was married to Russell A. Firestone Jr.--Russell III's father--until their divorce in 1974. Defendant, Leonard Firestone, is the oldest living son of Harvey S. Firestone. Leonard also serves as an "advisor" to the Firestone trusts, known as the Harbel Trusts, of which Russell III and other descendants of Harvey Firestone are beneficiaries.

This suit is rooted in intra-family disputes dating back more than two decades. Pursuant to the 1974 divorce, Russell Jr. agreed to pay child support into a trust for Russell III and to pay spousal support to Myrna. When Russell Jr. refused to pay the support owed, Myrna sued for enforcement in Kentucky, obtaining a judgment in 1984. At that time, Russell Jr. was allegedly receiving at least $800,000 a year from the Harbel Trusts, of which Ameritrust Bank served as trustee.

On November 29, 1993, Russell III and Myrna, individually and on behalf of the Russell A. Firestone III Child Support Trust, filed a pro se complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Leonard Firestone for fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and interference with judgments. They claimed damages in excess of $13 million. The complaint alleged that a "representative" of Leonard Firestone, in "a series of meetings, telephone calls, letters and proposals" commencing in June 1984, encouraged them to "dismiss the judgments [and] appeals" pending against Russell Jr. and settle other unspecified litigation against Ameritrust, the trustee of the Harbel Trusts. Complaint p 3. In exchange, Russell III and Myrna received a written agreement providing "payment guarantees for their past-due, court-ordered child support and spousal support." Id. Without explanation, the complaint alleges that Leonard sought the agreement because he would gain "approximately $1 million" in relief from liability in claims filed against him. Id. p 4. Relying on Leonard's representations, Russell III and Myrna dismissed their appeals and their actions to enforce their judgments, forfeiting more than $5 million. Id. p 6-7. They allege, however, that Leonard's representations were fraudulent from their inception: the payments stopped in April 1987, forcing them into litigation which was unsuccessful. Id. pp 8-9.

Leonard Firestone moved to dismiss the complaint on several grounds including that Russell III and Myrna's claims were barred by the applicable three-year statute of limitations of the District of Columbia, and that they had failed to plead fraud with particularity as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). Leonard's statute of limitations argument is based on the complaint's allegations that the payments of child and spousal support stopped in 1987. Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss at 7-8. According to Leonard, the cessation of the payments put Russell III and Myrna on inquiry notice of their claims against Leonard. Because the suit was not filed until six years later, he claims it is barred by the 3-year statute of limitations. Id. at 8-9.

Russell III and Myrna, now represented by counsel, filed an opposition to defendant's motion, arguing that a motion to dismiss was not the proper tool for raising a statute of limitations defense, and that, from the face of the complaint, their allegations were not clearly time-barred. Pls.' Mem. of Law in Opp'n to Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss at 1-9. They also argued that their complaint properly pled fraud as required by Rule 9(b). See id. at 10. Although Russell III and Myrna did not append a proposed amended complaint they asked the court to grant them leave to amend in the event that the complaint failed to "comply with the federal rules." Id. at 11. On July 13, 1994, the district court dismissed the complaint with prejudice, stating that Russell III and Myrna's claims were time-barred and that they had failed to plead fraud with particularity.

On July 27, 1994, Russell III and Myrna filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) and requested leave pursuant to Rule 15(a) to file an amended complaint, which they appended to the motions. Without giving its reasons, the court denied both motions. On August 26, 1994, Russell III and Myrna filed a Motion for Reconsideration under Rule 60(b), which the district court denied.

Russell III and Myrna appeal both the dismissal of the original complaint with prejudice and the denials of the 59(e) and 15(a) motions. Since the Rule 60(b) motion was pending at the time of this appeal, and because Appellants have not appealed its denial, it is not before us.

II.

Although Russell III and Myrna appeal both the order dismissing the complaint with prejudice, and the order denying the 59(e) and 15(a) motions, the validity of the latter order rests partly on the propriety of the first. A Rule 59(e) motion "is discretionary" and need not be granted unless the district court finds that there is an "intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice." National Trust v. Department of State, 834 F.Supp. 453, 455 (D.D.C.1993), aff'd in part and rev'd in part on other grounds sub nom. Sheridan Kalorama Historical Ass'n v. Christopher, 49 F.3d 750 (D.C.Cir.1995) (quoting Virgin Atlantic Airways, Ltd. v. National Mediation Bd., 956 F.2d 1245, 1255 (2d Cir.), cert. denied 506 U.S. 820, 113 S.Ct. 67, 121 L.Ed.2d 34 (1992)). We therefore review a district court's refusal to vacate a judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) for abuse of discretion. See Browder v. Director, Ill. Dep't of Corrections, 434 U.S. 257, 263 n. 7, 98 S.Ct. 556, 560 n. 7, 54 L.Ed.2d 521 (1978) (discussing the analogous Rule 60(b)). Leave to amend a complaint under Rule 15(a) "shall be freely given when justice so requires." FED.R.CIV.P. 15(a); see Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 230, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). Although the grant or denial of leave to amend is committed to a district court's discretion, it is an abuse of discretion to deny leave to amend unless there is sufficient reason, such as "undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive ... repeated failure to cure deficiencies by [previous] amendments ... [or] futility of amendment." Foman, 371 U.S. at 182, 83 S.Ct. at 230.

After the district court dismissed the complaint with prejudice, Russell III and Myrna could amend their complaint only by filing, as they properly did, a 59(e) motion to alter or amend a judgment combined with a Rule 15(a) motion requesting leave of court to amend their complaint. See Confederate Memorial Ass'n, Inc. v. Hines, 995 F.2d 295, 299 (D.C.Cir.1993) (describing the procedure). Rule 15(a)'s liberal standard for granting leave to amend governs once the court has vacated the judgment. See 6 CHARLES A. WRIGHT, ARTHUR R. MILLER & MARY K. KANE, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 1489 at 694 (2d ed. 1990). But to vacate the judgment, Appellants must first satisfy Rule 59(e)'s more stringent standard. See id. Therefore, we first determine whether the district court abused its discretion in failing to vacate the original dismissal with prejudice. If it did, we then ask whether the district court abused its discretion in denying Russell III and Myrna leave to file their amended complaint.

With respect to the first issue, we conclude that the denial of the 59(e) motion was an abuse of discretion because the dismissal of the original complaint with prejudice was erroneous. Even assuming that the district court properly dismissed the complaint, neither the determination that Russell III and Myrna's claims were time-barred, nor the determination that their complaint failed to plead fraud with particularity support a dismissal with prejudice. As we have repeatedly held, courts should hesitate to dismiss a complaint on statute of limitations grounds based solely on the face of the complaint. See, e.g., Richards v. Mileski, 662 F.2d 65, 73 (D.C.Cir.1981); Jones v. Rogers Memorial Hosp., 442 F.2d 773, 775 (D.C.Cir.1971). In Richards we made clear that, because statute of limitations issues often depend on contested questions...

To continue reading

Request your trial
1254 cases
  • Ragsdale v. Holder
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • November 2, 2009
    ...that the allegation of other facts consistent with the challenged pleading could not possibly cure the deficiency." Firestone v. Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1209 (D.C.Cir.1996) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Jarrell v. U.S. Postal Serv., 753 F.2d 1088, 1091 (D.C.Cir.1985)). Finall......
  • Freeman v. Fallin
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • March 3, 2006
    ...error or prevent manifest injustice that would warrant granting the defendants' motion." Id. at 16 (citing Firestone v. Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1208 (D.C.Cir.1996) (per curiam)). In rendering this ruling, the court reiterated its acceptance of the plaintiffs' allegations as true—that "[i]n......
  • Ruiz Rivera v. Holder
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • October 29, 2009
    ...that the allegation of other facts consistent with the challenged pleading could not possibly cure the deficiency." Firestone v. Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1209 (D.C.Cir.1996) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted) (emphasis in original). Finally, in evaluating a Rule 12(b)(6) motio......
  • Ficken v. Golden
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • March 16, 2010
    ...the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice. Id.; Firestone v. Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1208 (D.C.Cir. 1996) (per curiam); FED.R.CIV.P. 60(b); LaRouche, 112 F.Supp.2d at 15 The plaintiffs also suggest that their emotional involvement ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT