Doussan Properties, L.L.C. v. Union Ind. Gas Supply

Full title: DOUSSAN PROPERTIES, L.L.C. v. UNION INDUSTRIAL GAS SUPPLY INC., et al

Court: United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana

Date published: Feb 15, 2007

CIVIL ACTION NO: 06-4167-ILRL-SS (E.D. La. Feb. 15, 2007)

Opinion

CIVIL ACTION NO: 06-4167-ILRL-SS.

February 15, 2007

ORDER

SALLY SHUSHAN, Magistrate Judge

UNION'S MOTION FOR A MORE DEFINITE STATEMENT (Rec. doc. 5)

DENIED

On August 9, 2006, the plaintiff, Doussan Properties, LLC ("Doussan Properties"), filed a complaint against Union Industrial Gas Supply, Inc. ("Union"), Doussan Gas and Supply, L.L.C. ("Doussan Gas"), and Gas Holdings, Inc. ("Gas Holdings"). The complaint alleges that: (a) plaintiff owns property in New Orleans; (b) defendants were lessees or tenants in fact of the property and contractually liable under the lease; (c) the lease was in effect at the time of Hurricane Katrina; (d) defendants breached their lease obligation to fully insure the property; and (e) Doussan Properties is owed $4.5 million in damages. Rec. doc. 1.

Doussan Gas filed an answer. Rec. doc. 6. Union and Gas Holdings filed two motions. The first is a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim and, in the alternative, for summary judgment. Rec. doc. 3. It was set before the District Judge on February 14, 2007. Rec. doc. 16. The second is a motion for more definite statement pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(e). Rec. doc. 5. It is before the undersigned and also set for submission on February 14, 2007. Rec. doc. 13.

The motion for a more definite statement urges that if the motion to dismiss is not granted, the plaintiff should be required to amend to include a more definite statement concerning the basis of the liability of Union and Gas Holdings. The plaintiff responds that the complaint puts the defendants on notice of the existence of a claim against them and the general basis for the claim. It urges that nothing more is required and discovery will provide any additional information required by the defendants.

A motion for a more definite statement is not favored and is granted sparingly. 2 James Wm. Moore, et al., Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 12.36[1] (3d ed. 1997). "In the presence of proper, although general, allegations, the motion will usually be denied on the grounds that discovery is the more appropriate vehicle or obtaining the detailed information." Id. A claim for relief is only required to contain "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief. . . ." Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). In Walker v. South Central Bell Telephone Co., 904 F.2d 275 (5^th Cir. 1990), the Fifth Circuit said:

A complaint may be inadequate in one of two fashions. First, the pleadings must provide notice of the circumstances which give rise to the claim. Second, the pleader must set forth sufficient information to outline the elements of his claim or to permit inferences to be drawn that these elements exist.

Id. at 277.

The plaintiff's complaint is not inadequate. The allegations concerning the lessor/lessee relationship, the inadequacy of the insurance coverage and the storm damage provide notice of the circumstances of the claim and its elements. Questions concerning the successor liability of the individual defendants can be resolved through discovery.

IT IS ORDERED that the motion of Union and Gas Holdings for a more definite statement (Rec. doc. 5) is DENIED.

New Orleans, Louisiana.