Opinion
No. 13 C 1655
07-15-2013
CHICAGO REGIONAL COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS PENSION FUND, et al., Plaintiffs, v. ATHLETIC SURFACES EQUIPMENT, et al., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Stalker Flooring, Inc. ("Stalker") has filed its Answer to the Complaint brought against it and Athletic Surfaces Equipment ("Athletic") by three employee benefit funds that assert ERISA-based claims. That responsive pleading denies the Complaint's various allegations that would impose ERISA liability on Stalker on a derivative basis from its codefendant Athletic, but the Answer is then followed by this purported affirmative defense:
The Complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
That assertion is essentially equivalent to a Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion, and as such it violates the basic principle that any such contention must accept a complaint's allegations as gospel. On that premise the affirmative defense is no better than frivolous, and it is therefore stricken.
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Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge