MERCHANTS PUB. v. Maruka Machinery Corp. of America, 4:91-CV-86.
Decision Date | 13 May 1992 |
Docket Number | No. 4:91-CV-86.,4:91-CV-86. |
Parties | MERCHANTS PUBLISHING CO., Plaintiff, v. MARUKA MACHINERY CORP. OF AMERICA and Akiyama Corp. of America, Defendants. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
Alan H. Silverman, Barbara H. Donnelly, Alan H. Silverman, P.C., Kalamazoo, Mich., for plaintiff.
Sharon J. LaDuke, George A. Sumnik, Jaffe, Snider, Raitt & Heuer, P.C., Detroit, Mich., James P. McCabe, Kelley, Drye & Warren, New York City, John J. Quinn, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant Maruka Machinery Corp. of America.
Grant J. Gruel, Thomas R. Behm, Gruel, Mills, Nims & Pylman, Grand Rapids, Mich., for defendant Akiyama Corp. of America.
Maruka Machinery Corporation of America ("Maruka") moves, pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), to dismiss Counts V, VI, and VII in Merchants Publishing Company's ("Merchants") First Amended Complaint. For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS the motion.1
This action began about a year ago. Merchants, complaining of faulty printing presses it received from Maruka, filed a complaint, alleging a variety of contractual, statutory and fraud/misrepresentation-based claims.
Shortly thereafter, Maruka moved, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), to dismiss certain claims in that complaint. Some of those claims were: Count IV, alleging fraud and misrepresentation; Count V, alleging innocent and negligent misrepresentation; and Count VI, requesting rescission of contract.
The Court heard oral arguments on Maruka's motion to dismiss on October 3, 1991.2 At the conclusion of the arguments, the Court granted Maruka's motion in part, dismissing, among other claims, much of the operative portions of Counts IV and V, as well as all of Count VI. See Hearing Transcript at 25-28. In its bench ruling, the Court concluded that the operative allegations in those claims were lacking. More specifically, the Court ruled that since the majority of the allegations relating to those claims spoke of Maruka's future promises, they did not speak of fraud, which requires a statement relating to a past or an existing fact. See id. at 26-28 ( ). The Court pointed out that these allegations were couched with the term, "would." See id. at 27-28. In addition, the Court concluded that some of the allegations in the counts spoke to Maruka's puffery, not its fraud. Id. (Van Tassel v. McDonald Corp., 159 Mich.App. 745, 750, 407 N.W.2d 6 (1987)) . The Court accordingly held that certain portions of Counts IV and V and all of Count VI could not be maintained as fraud/misrepresentation-based claims.
Subsequently, Merchants filed its First Amended Complaint. Two general sets of changes are apparent in the amended complaint: first, Merchants has added a new party defendant, Akiyama Corporation of America ("Akiyama"), and new allegations relating to Akiyama; second, the new complaint re-alleges some of the previously dismissed counts.
Focusing on the second set of changes, which is at issue here, the amended complaint recasts a fraud and misrepresentation claim (as Count V); an innocent and negligent misrepresentation claim (as Count VI); and a rescission of contract claim (as Count VII). As recasted, the operative allegations are as follows:
Facing this new complaint, Maruka again moves, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), to dismiss the fraud/misrepresentation-based claims, Counts V, VI, and VII, of the First Amended Complaint. Maruka advances two arguments: (1) that the law of the case doctrine precludes re-litigation of the realleged claims that are substantially similar; and (2) that the Merchants's re-alleged claims are not grounded on...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Qqc, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co.
...law. See Bailey Farms, Inc. v. NOR-AM Chem. Co., 27 F.3d 188, 191-92 (6th Cir.1994) (quoting Merchs. Publ'g Co. v. Maruka Mack Corp. of Am., 800 F.Supp. 1490, 1493 (W.D.Mich.1992)); Brock, 817 F.2d at 25; Heidtman Steel Prods., Inc. v. Compuware Corp., 168 F.Supp.2d 743, 751 (N.D.Ohio 2001)......
-
Valleyside Dairy Farms, Inc. v. A.O. Smith Corp.
...Bailey, 27 F.3d at 192; Brock v. Consolidated Biomedical Laboratories, 817 F.2d 24, 25 (6th Cir.1987); Merchants Pub. Co. v. Maruka Mach. Corp., 800 F.Supp. 1490, 1493 (W.D.Mich.1992) (under Michigan law tort action requires a breach of a duty separate and distinct from a breach of The Cour......
-
Heidtman Steel Products, Inc. v. Compuware Corp.
...and is not sufficient to establish an independent fraud claim. Id. at 107, 347 N.W.2d 728. See also Merchants Publ'g Co. v. Maruka Machinery Corp., 800 F.Supp. 1490, 1493 (W.D.Mich.1992) (dismissing fraud claim because "operative allegations in the claims would not arise without the existen......
-
Heidtman Steel Products, Inc. v. Compuware Corp.
...and is not sufficient to establish an independent fraud claim. Id. at 107, 347 N.W.2d 728. See also Merchants Publ'g Co. v. Maruka Mach. Corp., 800 F.Supp. 1490, 1493 (W.D.Mich.1992) (dismissing fraud claim because "operative allegations in the claims would not arise without the existence o......