Lehmann Trading Corporation v. J & H STOLOW, INC.
| Decision Date | 27 May 1960 |
| Citation | 184 F. Supp. 21 |
| Parties | LEHMANN TRADING CORPORATION, Ghana Philatelic Agency, Ltd., Togo Philatelic Agency, Ltd., and Suriname Philatelic Agency, Ltd., Plaintiffs v. J & H STOLOW, INC., Fatoullah & Lazar, Inc., Khanbaba Fatoullah and Nedjat Lazar, individually and as co-partners doing business as Fatoullah and Lazar, Francis J. Parker and Marian Parker, individually and as co-partners doing business as Tribune Stamp Co., Jack Kantor, doing business as Kent Stamp Company, Leonid Tankel, doing business as General Stamp Co., John H. Lepane, Jack Rubin and Julius H. Stolow, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Lester Lewis Jay, New York City, for plaintiffs.
Rosenman, Goldmark, Colin & Kaye, New York City, Asa D. Sokolow, New York City, of counsel, for all defendants except defendant Leonid Tankel, d/b/a General Stamp Co.
Plaintiffs in this private antitrust action move under Rule 12(f), F.R.Civ.P., to strike certain defenses as "insufficient in law". As enumerated in defendants' answer these defenses are:
A defendant has a choice of two ways to raise the point of failure of the plaintiff to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. He may, under Rule 12(b), F.R.Civ.P., assert the "defense" by motion. This motion need do no more than use the words of the rule. Form 19, Appendix of Forms, F.R.Civ.P. Defendant may, in the alternative, under Rule 12(h), make the "defense" at the trial on the merits.
Rule 12(b) (6) permits a defendant to assert in his answer the "defense" of failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Form 20 gives the same form for the defense as Form 19 gives for the motion. This privilege to state the defense in the answer does not enlarge the rights of the defendant but serves as an invitation to the plaintiff to test the sufficiency of the complaint in advance of trial by moving under Rule 12(f) which empowers the court on such a motion to "order stricken from any pleading any insufficient defense". Plaintiffs have made such a motion here.
Defendants do not accept this conclusion that such a motion raises the question of the validity of the complaint. They argue that on such a motion the only question presented is whether the defendants have correctly copied out the words of the rule "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted". I do not believe that the rules contemplate any such idle ceremony. A plaintiff's motion under Rule 12(f) to strike out as insufficient a defense that the complaint does not state a claim upon which relief can be granted presents the question whether the defense is insufficient because the complaint is sufficient. See Ferreira v. Sawayama-Kisen K.K., D.C.S.D.N.Y., 171 F.Supp. 96.
I must therefore proceed to the question of the sufficiency of the complaint. According to the complaint, which asks for an injunction and damages, plaintiffs are agent and subagents of certain foreign governments for the sale of stamps. The unlawful activities alleged against defendants are a conspiracy to induce and compel plaintiffs to grant them discriminatorily lower prices in the sale of stamps than charged to defendants' competitors, to destroy the good will and business of plaintiffs, to eliminate plaintiffs from the stamp vending industry, and to destroy the value of the stamps dealt in by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege certain overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy.
It is idle to attack such a complaint in an antitrust case in this circuit. Nagler v. Admiral Corporation, 2 Cir., 248 F.2d 319; see also Rosen v. Texas Company, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 161 F.Supp. 55.
The motion to strike out the second defense is granted.
Plaintiffs argue that the allegations of the third defense are insufficient even to give notice of the defendants...
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...Phillips' cross-motion for summary judgment —the substantive merits of plaintiff's claim for relief. Cf. Lehmann Trading Corp. v. J & H Stolow, Inc., 184 F. Supp. 21, 22 (S.D.N.Y.1960). Since this question is yet to be passed upon, no purpose would be served by now striking the defense. A m......
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Apex Oil Co. v. DiMauro
...as to counts one through three and as to part of count five. See, supra §§ III.C, III.E; see also Lehmann Trading Corp. v. J & H Stolow, Inc., 184 F.Supp. 21, 22-23 (S.D.N. Y.1960) (defense of failure to state a claim stricken after court determined that complaint stated a claim for relief)......
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Resolution Trust Corp. v. Youngblood, Civ. No. 1:92-cv-560-WCO.
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