Florida Evergreen Foliage v. E.I. Dupont
| Decision Date | 27 November 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-14455.,No. 04-14506.,04-14455.,04-14506. |
| Citation | 470 F.3d 1036 |
| Parties | FLORIDA EVERGREEN FOLIAGE, Chang, Alpha Botanical, Inc., Richard A. Gallant, Sprengers & Drath, Inc., d.b.a. Mitchell Nursery Farms, J.B. Evelyn, Viveros Tropicales S.A., Andy Cole Valle, Florida Foliage Exchange, Anna Degale, Associated Growers, Herb Koslow, Campbell's Foliage, Inc., Patrick Campbell, Plant & Blooms, Joyce Wong, Costa Nursery, Maria Costa Smith, Bijan Tropical, Inc., Reza Kalantari/Bijan, d.b.a. Bijan Tropical, Inc., Reza Kalantari, Reza Kalantari/Green, d.b.a. Green Exotics, Ruby A. Turvin, Turvin Tropicals, Larry Lopez, Belc Enterprises, Inc., Hattaway, Caribe Bromelias, Inc., Farm Op, Inc., Lipman & Lipman, Inc., World Agriculture, Inc., f.k.a. Otomot, Inc., Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants-Appellants, Wayne Tai, Plaintiff, v. E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY, Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellee. Florida Evergreen Foliage, Chang, Alpha Botanical, Inc., Richard A. Gallant, Sprengers & Drath, Inc., d.b.a. Mitchell Nursery Farms, et al., Plaintiffs-Counter-Defendants-Appellees, Mazzoni Farms, Inc., a Florida Corporation, Jack Martin Greenhouses, Inc., f.k.a. M & M Ornamentals, Inc., Plaintiffs, Jack Martin, Plaintiff, Wayne Tai, Plaintiff, v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours and Company, a Delaware corporation, Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellant, Crawford & Company, a Georgia corporation, Defendant. J.B. Evelyn, Counter-Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
William Angus McKinnon, A. Camden Lewis, Lewis, Babcock & Hawkins, LLP, Columbia, SC, David J. Sales, Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley, P.A., West Palm Beach, FL, Stephen T. Cox, Cox & Moyer, San Francisco, CA, Walter Samuel Holland, The Ferraro Law Firm, P.A., Coral Gables, FL, for Plaintiffs.
C. Allen Garrett, Jr., A. Stephens Clay, IV, James F. Bogan, III, Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP, Atlanta, GA, Edward A. Moss, Eileen Tilghman Moss, Law Offices of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P., Miami, FL, for Defendants.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before PRYOR, FAY and REAVLEY,* Circuit Judges.
I. INTRODUCTION
This appeal arises from twenty-eight separate complaints filed between 1998 and 2000 that were consolidated for pretrial purposes. A consortium of Florida farmers, plant nurseries, and corporations ("Growers") appeals the denial of their motions to amend their complaints and the summary judgment entered against their claims of fraudulent settlement, spoliation, and racketeering. DuPont cross-appeals the summary judgment against its claim of breach of contract. The district court denied the Growers' motion to amend both because it was untimely and because it would have been futile. The district court granted summary judgment against the Growers' claims on the basis of our decision in Green Leaf Nursery v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., 341 F.3d 1292 (11th Cir.2003). The district court granted summary judgment against DuPont on its claim of breach of contract on the basis of the opinion of the Delaware Supreme Court in E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. v. Florida Evergreen Foliage, 744 A.2d 457 (Del.1999), which answered a certified question of the district court. We affirm.
II. BACKGROUND
In the early 1990s, the Growers and other parties around the country sued DuPont for damages caused by a DuPont fungicide, Benlate. The Growers alleged that Benlate was contaminated with a toxic chemical, sulfonylureas, that killed their plants instead of the fungus on their plants. Notwithstanding ongoing accusations of discovery fraud and litigation misconduct against DuPont in the Growers' case and other cases, DuPont and the Growers settled. The Growers released DuPont from all claims and promised not to commence any action against DuPont "based upon or in any way related to any causes of action, claims, demands, actions, obligations, damages or liabilities which are the subject of this Release." The standard release also provided that the Growers would pay attorney's fees and costs for DuPont were they to file claims contrary to the release.
Following that settlement, events turned for the worse for DuPont. In one of the first Benlate cases to go to trial, In re E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co.-Benlate Litigation, 918 F.Supp. 1524 (M.D.Ga.1995) ("the Bush Ranch case"), DuPont was sanctioned and ordered to pay a fine of $100 million for committing fraud on the court, contempt of court, and other discovery violations. The court found that DuPont and its independent testing company Alta Labs, with the knowledge of its counsel Alston & Bird, had falsified test results and other key corporate documents. Id. at 1556. After we reversed the district court in the Bush Ranch case on procedural grounds, see 99 F.3d 363 (11th Cir.1996), the district court referred the matter to the United States Attorney for prosecution, and DuPont settled with the Bush Ranch parties for $11.25 million. See Matsuura v. Alston & Bird, 166 F.3d 1006, 1008 (9th Cir.1999) ().
After learning of the discovery infractions committed by DuPont in the Bush Ranch case, the Growers filed these lawsuits in the Southern District of Florida alleging fraudulent inducement, fraud on the court, RICO violations, and other causes of action. DuPont filed a counterclaim for breach of the settlement agreement. Because the settlement agreements were governed by Delaware law, the district court certified the following question to the Delaware Supreme Court: "Under Delaware law, does the release in these settlement agreements bar Plaintiffs' fraudulent inducement claims?" In E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. v. Florida Evergreen Foliage, 744 A.2d 457, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that the Growers were not unambiguously barred by the settlement agreement from complaining that they had been fraudulently induced to settle by misinformation during discovery.
On August 24, 2001, the district court granted judgment on the pleadings in favor of DuPont in one of the consolidated cases. An interlocutory appeal from that judgment was heard in this Court and, in Green Leaf Nursery v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., 341 F.3d 1292, we affirmed the district court. We held that Florida law provides absolute immunity from tort claims based on a party's conduct during the course of litigation. Id. at 1302. "Because DuPont's alleged misconduct occurred during the Underlying Litigation and during other Benlate litigation, according to [the Supreme Court of Florida], Florida law clearly provides an absolute immunity to DuPont for their alleged misconduct." Id. at 1303. We also affirmed on the alternative basis that, even if DuPont did not have an absolute immunity, the plaintiffs could not show that they reasonably relied on DuPont's misrepresentations in the light of the plaintiffs' knowledge of its discovery violations in other cases. Id. at 1304-08.
The Growers originally filed motions to make identical amendments to their complaints while their appeal in Green Leaf was pending, and the district court was without jurisdiction to grant leave to file an amended complaint. See id. at 1309. On remand, the Growers moved again to amend their complaints to allege new violations of the Florida RICO statute. DuPont moved for summary judgment in all the consolidated cases. The district court denied the Growers' motions to amend their complaints. 336 F.Supp.2d 1239 (S.D.Fla.2004). The district court reasoned that the Growers "could and should have made any necessary amendments to their pleadings years ago before this Court and DuPont expended enormous time and effort in addressing the merits of the claims asserted originally." Id. at 1255. The district court also held that the amended claims would be futile either because they would be "substantially similar" to claims rejected in Green Leaf or, alternatively, would fail to allege a RICO enterprise under Florida law. Finally, the district court adopted the determination of the Delaware Supreme Court that the settlement agreement did not bar the Growers from filing fraudulent inducement claims and granted summary judgment against DuPont on its breach of contract claim. Id. at 1290.
III. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review the denial of a motion to amend a complaint for an abuse of discretion. Compagnoni v. United States, 173 F.3d 1369, 1371 n. 7 (11th Cir.1999). "However, when the district court denies the plaintiff leave to amend due to futility, we review the denial de novo because it is concluding that as a matter of law an amended complaint `would necessarily fail.'" Freeman v. First Union Nat'l, 329 F.3d 1231, 1234 (11th Cir.2003) (citation omitted). We review a summary judgment de novo. In re Optical Techs., Inc., 246 F.3d 1332, 1334 (11th Cir.2001).
IV. DISCUSSION
Our resolution of this appeal begins with a review of the denial of the Growers' motions to amend their complaints. If the district court abused its discretion in denying the Growers' motions to amend their complaints, then the district court also erred by granting partial summary judgments, one for the Growers and the other for DuPont, based on the allegations of the Growers' unamended complaints. For that reason, we divide our discussion in three parts: first, we review the denial of the Growers' motions to amend their complaints; second, we review the partial summary judgment for DuPont on the Growers' claims; and, third, we review the partial summary judgment in favor of the Growers on the breach of contact claim of DuPont.
"A party may amend the party's pleading only by leave of the court or by written consent of the adverse party; and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires." Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a). "[U]nless a substantial reason exists to deny leave to amend, the discretion of the District...
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