Detrick v. 84 Lumber Company

Full title: NORMAN DETRICK, et al., Plaintiffs, v. 84 LUMBER COMPANY, Defendant

Court: United States District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division

Date published: Jul 9, 2007

Case No.: 5:06CV2732 (N.D. Ohio Jul. 9, 2007)

Opinion

Case No.: 5:06CV2732.

July 9, 2007

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SARA LIOI, District Judge

Following this Court's Order denying the motion of Defendant 84 Lumber Company to dismiss certain counts of the complaint of Plaintiffs Norman and Judy Detrick, 84 Lumber has filed a Motion for a More Definite Statement as to the Detricks' claims of fraud and misrepresentation ( see Doc. 46). The Detricks have not opposed that motion. The motion of 84 Lumber for a more definite statement hereby is GRANTED.

As this Court stated in its Opinion and Order denying 84 Lumber's motion to dismiss,

Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a complaint alleging fraud or mistake to state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake. This rule must be read in conjunction with Rule 8(a), however, which requires "a short and plain statement of the claim" that is sufficient to put the other parties and the court on notice of the claim. See DeNune, supra, 288 F. Supp. 2d at 855.

A careful review of the complaint reveals that the Detricks have pled that portion of their fraud and misrepresentation claim relating to events following the formation of the agreement with more clarity than that portion relating to the time before the formation of the agreement. That said, after balancing the competing requirements of notice pleading and particularity concerns against the deference to be shown a complaint on a motion to dismiss, the Detricks' allegations are sufficient to survive 84 Lumber's motion to dismiss.

To the extent that 84 Lumber needs additional information concerning the Detricks' fraud and misrepresentation claim, 84 Lumber may file its motion for more definite statement on that claim on or before May 15, 2007, with the Detricks' opposition, if any, to be filed within ten (10) days thereafter.

4/24/2007 Opinion and Order at 8.

The Detricks have not opposed 84 Lumber's motion. Although that is not a basis, standing alone, for granting the motion, the motion appears to the Court to be otherwise well-taken and it hereby is GRANTED.

The Detricks therefore are ordered to file, on or before July 19, 2007, a more definite statement of their fraud and misrepresentation claim, or have this Court dismiss with prejudice that claim in their complaint.

IT IS SO ORDERED.