Opinion
Civil Action No. 07-cv-02280-ZLW-MJW.
December 4, 2008
ORDER
The matter before the Court is Plaintiff's Motion To Strike Portion Of Response To Motion For Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 52). Defendants' Response To Plaintiff's Motion For Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 51) contains transcripts of several messages exchanged between Plaintiff and Sergeant Strand of the Evans Police Department. Plaintiff objects to the inclusion of these transcripts and asks for them to be stricken.
A motion to strike is governed by Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f) which provides that the Court "may strike from a pleading an insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter." Pleadings, defined in Fed.R.Civ.P. 7(a), include neither motions nor briefs. Therefore, striking material contained in an opposition to a summary judgment motion would be inappropriate. Accordingly, it is
Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f) (emphasis added).
Fed.R.Civ.P. 7(a); see Sunlight Saunas, Inc. v. Sundance Sauna, Inc., 427 F. Supp. 2d 1022, 1029 (D. Kan. 2006). "The terms of Rules 12(f) and 7(a) make clear that '[o]nly material included in a pleading may be subject of a motion to strike' and that '[m]otions, briefs or memoranda, objections, or affidavits may not be attacked by the motion to strike.'" Jeter v. Montgomery County, 480 F. Supp. 2d 1293, 1296 (M.D. Ala. 2007) (quoting 2 James Wm. Moore et al., Moore's Federal Practice § 12.37[2] (3d ed. 2006)).
See, e.g., Pilgrim v. Trs. of Tufts Coll., 118 F.3d 864, 868 (1st Cir. 1997); GRS Dev. Co. v. Jarrett, 2003 WL 21134437 at *3 (Terr.V.I. Apr. 10, 2003).
ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion To Strike Portion Of Response To Motion For Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 52; Nov. 28, 2008) is denied.