Webster v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.

• Decision Date: 30 November 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-3176-CIV.,99-3176-CIV.
• Citation: 124 F.Supp.2d 1317
• Parties: Ricky WEBSTER, Plaintiff, v. ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES, LTD., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

124 F.Supp.2d 1317

Ricky WEBSTER, Plaintiff, v. ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES, LTD., Defendant.

No. 99-3176-CIV.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

November 30, 2000.

Charles R. Lipcon, Miami, FL, David H. Pollack, Miami, FL, for plaintiff.

Sanford L. Bohrer, J. Raul Cosio, Holland & Knight, LLP, Miami, FL, for defendant.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS

GOLD, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the court upon Defendant's Motion to Dismiss for Improper Venue and for Failure to State a Claim [D.E. 25], filed on March 9, 2000. Plaintiff filed a Response [D.E. 32] on April 24, 2000, and defendant filed a Reply [D.E. 38] on May 10, 2000. Along with their reply, defendant submitted a Motion to Strike Affidavit of Plaintiff's Attorney Charles Lipcon [D.E. 37]. On July 31, 2000, the court requested additional documents from the parties,¹ which were submitted on August 7, 2000. Oral argument upon the motion to dismiss was heard by the court on October 6, 2000. After oral argument, the court requested and received additional memoranda of law from the parties.² The matter is now ripe for decision.

The Complaint in this action was originally filed on November 22, 1999, with an Amended Class Action Complaint filed on February 18, 2000 [D.E. 8]. Plaintiff's Amended Complaint sets forth four causes of action, as follows: Count I, breach of contract; Count II, breach of defendant's policy of medical reimbursement; Count III,³ breach of collective bargaining agreement; and Count IV, unjust enrichment and accounting. Jurisdiction of this court is invoked pursuant to the court's admiralty and maritime jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1333 and Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(h).

Defendant moves for entry of an order dismissing this action under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3) (improper venue) and 12(b)(6) (failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted). Having carefully considered the arguments of the parties, the applicable case law, and the record as a whole, the court finds that defendant's motion should be granted.

II. Factual and Procedural Background

For purposes of this order, the facts and inferences raised in the Complaint are assumed to be true and are viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs. Those facts are set forth as follows.

Defendant Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ("Royal Caribbean") is a foreign corporation organized and existing under the laws of Liberia, and Plaintiff Ricky Webster ("Webster") is a Nicaraguan citizen. During 1997, Webster was employed by Royal Caribbean as a seaman and was a member of one or more of defendant's vessel's crew. [Complaint ¶ 8 (paragraphs in the Complaint will hereinafter be referred to as "¶ —")]. Defendant required, as a term or condition of employment, that plaintiff pass a medical exam prior to beginning work. [¶ 5]. These exams are supposed to be paid for by Royal Caribbean. [¶ 5]. However, on or about July 21, 1997, Webster paid $200 (local currency)⁴ to the agent for Royal Caribbean for his required medical exam, which has not been reimbursed. [¶ 9].

Plaintiff alleges that defendant's failure to reimburse the cost of his pre-employment medical examination breached the contract of employment and the incorporated terms and conditions of employment, violated the collective bargaining agreement between Royal Caribbean and the Norwegian Seaman's Union, and breached Royal Caribbean's policy of medical reimbursement. Plaintiff brought this action as a class action on behalf of all crew members employed by defendant who were not reimbursed their medical examination expenses as required by their contract of employment and/or collective bargaining agreement and/or defendant's medical reimbursement policy. [¶ 20].

III. Standard of Review

Defendant brought the motion to dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3) and 12(b)(6).

Motions to dismiss upon the basis of choice-of-forum and choice-of-law clauses are properly brought pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(3) as motions to dismiss for improper venue. See Lipcon v. Underwriters at Lloyd's, London, 148 F.3d 1285, 1290 (11th Cir.1998). Since Rule 12 plainly permits a party to make by motion certain enumerated defenses "in law or fact," the court may consider matters outside the pleadings, particularly when the motion is predicated upon key issues of fact. See Thomas v. Rehabilitation Serv. of Columbus, Inc., 45 F.Supp.2d 1375, 1376 (M.D.Ga.1999). Of course, when a party moves for dismissal for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), the rule specifically provides that if the court considers matters outside the pleadings, the court is required to convert the motion to one for summary judgment under Rule 56 and serve notice upon the parties so that they may present all material made pertinent to such a motion. For defenses raised under subsections (1) through (5), however, the court may consider matters outside the pleadings, and often must do so, since without aid of such outside materials the court would be unable to discern the actual basis, in fact, of a party's challenge to the bare allegation in the complaint that venue is proper in this court. Transmirra Prods. Corp. v. Fourco Glass Co., 246 F.2d 538-39 (2nd Cir.1957) (resolving motion to dismiss because of improper venue "in the usual manner on affidavits, here supplemented by answers to interrogatories, and a deposition from one of the defendant's employees in the district, rather than by a full trial"); Exchange Nat'l Bank of Chicago v. Touche Ross & Co., 544 F.2d 1126, 1130-31 (2nd Cir.1976) (explaining use of outside materials to resolve motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1)); see generally, 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1364 (2nd ed.1990).

Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that dismissal of a claim is appropriate "only if it is clear that no relief could be granted under any set of facts that could be proved consistent with the allegations." Blackston v. Alabama, 30 F.3d 117, 120 (11th Cir.1994) (quoting Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984)). On a motion to dismiss, the Court must accept as true all facts alleged and draw all inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Hunnings v. Texaco, Inc., 29 F.3d 1480, 1483 (11th Cir. 1994). Rule 12(b)(6) is not designed to strike inartistic pleadings or to provide a more definite statement to answer an apparent ambiguity, and the analysis of a 12(b)(6) motion is limited primarily to the face of the complaint and the attachments thereto. Brooks v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Fla., Inc., 116 F.3d 1364, 1368 (11th Cir.1997). Moreover, a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted "unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of [its] claim which would entitle [it] to relief." M/V Sea Lion v. v. Reyes, 23 F.3d 345, 347 (11th Cir.1994) (citation omitted).

IV. Discussion

A. Order of Proceedings

As a preliminary matter, the court addresses the order in which the motion to dismiss and a pending, but later filed, motion for class certification should be determined. Plaintiff filed a motion for class certification on May 15, 2000, five days after the motion to dismiss had initially become ripe. The motion for class certification was briefed by the parties and became ripe on June 22, 2000. As noted in the factual and procedural history section of this order, plaintiff brought this action as a class action on behalf of all crew members employed by defendant who were not reimbursed their medical examination expenses as required by their contract of employment and/or collective bargaining agreement and /or defendant's medical reimbursement policy.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(1) provides that the court should determine by order "[a]s soon as practicable after the commencement of an action brought as a class action" whether the class action shall be maintained. The vast majority of courts have held that dispositive motions may be considered prior to ruling on a motion for class certification. Thornton v. Mercantile Stores Co., Inc., 13 F.Supp.2d 1282, 1289 (M.D.Ala.1998) (citing Floyd v. Bowen, 833 F.2d 529, 534-35 (5th Cir. 1987)) (additional citations omitted). In Thornton, the district court determined that the facts of the case warranted consideration of a pending motion for summary judgment prior to determination of a previously filed motion for class certification. The court noted that ruling on a dispositive motion prior to addressing class certification issues may be appropriate where there is sufficient doubt regarding the likelihood of success on the merits of a plaintiff's claims, where inefficiency would result, or where neither plaintiffs nor members of the putative class would be prejudiced. Thornton, 13 F.Supp.2d at 1289 (citations omitted).

The circumstances of this case warrant consideration of the merits of the pending motion to dismiss prior to consideration of the motion for class certification. In terms of timing, the motion for class certification was not filed until after the motion to dismiss had become ripe. Regarding efficiency and sufficient doubt as to the merits of plaintiff's claims, the court notes that the motion to dismiss may be dispositive, thereby rendering the motion for class certification moot. See Tapken v. Brown, 1992 WL 178984 at *9 (S.D.Fla. 1992). Furthermore, the nature of the motion to dismiss, which is based on a contractual forum selection clause, involves consideration of the potential class nature of the complaint, thus alleviating any potential prejudice to the plaintiff (the defendant has requested consideration of the motion to dismiss prior to consideration of the motion for class certification, see D.E. 53). According, the court turns to the merits of the motion to...