Bushnell Corp. v. Itt Corp.
| Decision Date | 18 July 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-2511-JWL.,96-2511-JWL. |
| Citation | 973 F.Supp. 1276 |
| Parties | BUSHNELL CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. ITT CORPORATION, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Kansas |
Donald L. Kahl, Heather E. Pollock, Susan L. Gates, Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson, Tulsa, OK, John J. Miller, Overland Park, KS, for plaintiff.
William R. Sampson, Bill J. Hays, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P., Overland Park, KS, for defendant.
In this action, plaintiff has asserted numerous causes of action against defendant, including antitrust, defamation, and tortious interference claims. Those three specific claims are the subject of defendant's present motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c) (Doc. 57). For the reasons set forth below, the court grants the motion with respect to plaintiff's antitrust and tortious interference with contract claims, and defendant is hereby awarded judgment on those counts. The court denies the motion with respect to plaintiff's claims for defamation and tortious interference with prospective business relations, provided that plaintiff files a timely amendment of its complaint to cure pleading deficiencies in accordance with this opinion.
In considering a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(c), the court generally applies the same standards that govern motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Mock v. T.G. & Y. Stores Co., 971 F.2d 522, 528-29 (10th Cir.1992). Dismissal of a cause of action for failure to state a claim is appropriate only where it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of the theory of recovery that would entitle it to relief, Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-02, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Fuller v. Norton, 86 F.3d 1016, 1020 (10th Cir.1996), or where an issue of law is dispositive. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 326, 109 S.Ct. 1827, 1832, 104 L.Ed.2d 338 (1989). The pleadings are liberally construed, and all reasonable inferences are viewed in favor of the plaintiff. Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a); Fuller, 86 F.3d at 1020. All well-pleaded facts, as distinguished from conclusory allegations, must be taken as true. Jojola v. Chavez, 55 F.3d 488, 494 n. 8 (10th Cir.1995) (citing Swanson v. Bixler, 750 F.2d 810, 813 (10th Cir.1984)). The issue in resolving a motion such as this is not whether the plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but whether it is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974).
In its brief in opposition to the motion, plaintiff attacks the method by which defendant has challenged the sufficiency of plaintiff's claims. In particular, plaintiff notes that defendant has already answered and denied the allegations. Rule 12 clearly permits defendant to challenge plaintiff's claims in this fashion, however. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(c) (), 12(h)(2) (); see also 2 James W. Moore, Federal Practice § 12.38 (3d ed.1997); 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1367 (2d ed.1990). Moreover, defendant's motion complies with the deadline in the court's scheduling order for motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim.
Nonetheless, the court cannot completely ignore plaintiff's procedural concerns. Defendant argues in its brief that it should prevail on the claims at issue because plaintiff permitted the scheduling order's deadline for amendments to the complaint to pass without acting, "[d]espite ITT's repeated warnings that [plaintiff's] claims were ripe for dismissal." Thus, defendant would have the court enter judgment against plaintiff for even the most technical pleading deficiencies.
The court will not so readily accede to defendant's "all-or-nothing" approach. In particular, the court believes that it should treat purely procedural failings differently from the failure to state a claim for substantive reasons. Such a distinction is warranted by different purposes served by motions under rule 12(c) and those under rule 12(b)(6), as explained by the commentators Wright and Miller:
The motion for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c) has its historical roots in common law practice, which permitted either party, at any point in the proceeding, to demur to his opponent's pleading and secure a dismissal or final judgment on the basis of the pleadings. The common law demurrer could be used to search the record and raise procedural defects, or it could be employed to resolve the substantive merits of the controversy as disclosed on the face of the pleadings. In contrast, the Rule 12(c) judgment on the pleadings procedure primarily is addressed to the latter function of disposing of cases on the basis of the underlying substantive merits of the claims and defenses as revealed in the formal pleadings and what is subject to judicial notice.
A Rule 12(c) motion is designed to provide a means of disposing of cases when the material facts are not in dispute and a judgment on the merits can be achieved by focusing on the content of the pleadings and any facts of which the court will take judicial notice. The motion for a judgment on the pleadings only has utility when all material allegations of fact are admitted in the pleadings and only questions of law remain.
5A Wright & Miller, supra, § 1367, at 509-10 (footnotes omitted).
Rule 12(c) should be read in conjunction with several other federal rules authorizing pretrial motions, especially the various Rule 12(b) motions to dismiss.... Collectively these procedures provide an arsenal of weapons for challenging the sufficiency of an opponent's pleading and the viability of the underlying claim or defense. Although under modern practice these various techniques have to some extent become interchangeable, distinctions still remain as to their respective scope and effect. The question of which device should be employed in a particular context usually will be answered on the basis of the challenge, the identity of the party interposing it, and the nature of the alleged defect.
In the first instance, Rule 12(c) should be contrasted with the motion available under Rule 12(b). A motion to dismiss for any of the reasons enumerated in Rule 12(b) may be made as soon as plaintiff has filed his complaint. In proceeding under Rule 12(c), however, the pleadings must be closed before a party can move for judgment on the pleadings. There are other points of departure. With the exception of certain applications of the Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss is directed solely towards procedural defects or the statement of plaintiff's claim for relief and does not seek to determine the substantive merits of the controversy. The granting of a Rule 12(b) motion merely means that plaintiff has failed to satisfy one of the procedural prerequisites for asserting his claim for relief. A motion for judgment on the pleadings, however, theoretically is directed towards a determination of the substantive merits of the controversy; thus, courts are unwilling to grant a judgment under Rule 12(c) unless it is clear that the merits of the controversy can be fairly and fully decided in this summary manner.
5A Wright & Miller, supra, § 1369, at 532-33 (footnotes omitted).
Accordingly, in ruling on defendant's motion, the court will consider whether, with respect to a particular cause of action, plaintiff fails to state a claim for substantive reasons or because of what Wright and Miller would term procedural defects in the pleading. The court stresses that defendant properly brought its motion under rule 12(c) in either case. The distinction, however, affects the court's disposition of the claims at issue here because plaintiff, in its brief in opposition to the motion, has requested leave to amend its complaint in the event that it has failed to state a claim properly.
Where the challenge to a claim is substantive, the motion more comports with the usual purpose of a motion under rule 12(c), and judgment in favor of defendant is appropriate if the challenge is successful. In that case, plaintiff loses not for failure to plead certain facts, but because the facts that have been alleged, accepted as true for purposes of the motion, nonetheless do not give rise to liability under a recognized cause of action.
If, on the other hand, plaintiff does not state a claim with respect to certain allegations because the procedural pleading requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a) have not been met, judgment for defendant is not necessarily the proper result here. Rather, the court concludes in its discretion that plaintiff should be permitted to cure the procedural deficiencies by filing an amended complaint.
Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a) provides that, if the pleadings are closed, a plaintiff may amend its complaint only upon leave of court or consent of the other party, although such leave "shall be freely given when justice so requires." Granting leave to amend is a matter for the district court's discretion. Triplett v. LeFlore County, Okla., 712 F.2d 444, 446 (10th Cir.1983). "In dismissing a complaint for failure to state a claim, the court should grant leave to amend freely `if it appears at all possible that the plaintiff can correct the defect.'" Id. (quoting 3 James W. Moore, Federal Practice ¶ 15.10 (1983)). "`The Federal Rules reject the approach that pleading is a game of skill in which...
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