San Francisco Herring Association et al v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company et al
Filing
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ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS' 76 MOTION TO STRIKE by Hon. William H. Orrick. (jmdS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/10/2015)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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SAN FRANCISCO HERRING
ASSOCIATION, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
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Case No. 14-cv-04393-WHO
ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS’
MOTION TO STRIKE
v.
Re: Dkt. No. 76
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC
COMPANY, et al.,
United States District Court
Northern District of California
Defendants.
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INTRODUCTION
There is no merit in Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike Portions of Defendants’ Amended Answer
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and To Deem Allegations Admitted. Dispositively, it is untimely. While I have discretion at any
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time under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f)(1) to strike an insufficient defense or any
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redundant, immaterial, impertinent or scandalous matter, plaintiffs San Francisco Herring
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Association and Dan Clarke have given me no reason to do so. Instead, they cite outdated case
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law and mischaracterize the nature of many of defendants Pacific Gas and Electric Company and
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PG&E Corporation’s (collectively “PG&E”) answers. Motions to strike are generally viewed with
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disfavor, and there is no showing that the relief sought in this motion would streamline the
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resolution of this case. After considering the operative answer and the parties’ briefs, I find this
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matter suitable for decision without oral argument. The hearing set on December 16, 2015 for this
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motion is VACATED and the motion is DENIED.
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PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This case arises from allegations involving violations of the Resource Conservation and
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Recovery Act, the Clean Water Act, and various state tort laws.1 After I denied PG&E’s first
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motion to dismiss, the parties stipulated to allow plaintiffs to file a first amended complaint
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(“FAC”), which they did on March 9, 2015. Dkt. No. 51. PG&E filed its answer shortly
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thereafter. Dkt. No. 54. After an exchange of meet and confer correspondence between the
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parties regarding the sufficiency of the first answer, PG&E filed an amended answer (“the
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Amended Answer”) on September 22, 2015. Dkt. No. 70. On October 22, 2015 plaintiffs filed
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the present motion to strike approximately 80 paragraphs from the Amended Answer and to deem
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the allegations admitted. Mot. [Dkt. No. 76].
LEGAL STANDARD
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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(b) requires that “[i]n responding to a pleading, a party
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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must: (A) state in short and plain terms its defenses to each claim asserted against it; and (B) admit
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or deny the allegations asserted against it by an opposing party.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(b)(1). Rule
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8(b)(6) states that: “An allegation – other than one relating to the amount of damages – is admitted
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if a responsive pleading is required and the allegation is not denied.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(b)(6).
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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f) authorizes a court to “strike from a pleading an
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insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter.” Fed. R.
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Civ. P. 12(f). The function of a motion to strike “is to avoid the expenditure of time and money
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that must arise from litigating spurious issues by dispensing with those issues prior to trial.”
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Sidney–Vinstein v. A.H. Robins Co., 697 F.2d 880, 885 (9th Cir.1983). Motions to strike are
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generally disfavored and “should not be granted unless the matter to be stricken clearly could have
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no possible bearing on the subject of the litigation.” Platte Anchor Bolt, Inc. v. IHI, Inc., 352
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F.Supp.2d 1048, 1057 (N.D. Cal. 2004). If the court is in doubt as to whether the challenged
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matter may raise an issue of fact or law, the motion to strike should be denied, leaving an
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assessment of the sufficiency of the allegations for adjudication on the merits. See Carolina Cas.
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Ins. Co. v. Oahu Air Conditioning Serv., Inc., 994 F. Supp. 2d 1082, 1090-91 (E.D. Cal. 2014);
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Corr. USA v. Dawe, 504 F. Supp. 2d 924, 930 (E.D. Cal. 2007).
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The factual background of this case is fully set forth in a previous order. Dkt. No. 44.
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DISCUSSION
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f)(2), a motion to strike must be filed within 21
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days after being served with the pleading. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f)(2). Because plaintiffs filed their
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motion on October 22, 2015, which is 30 days after PG&E filed the Amended Answer, the motion
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is untimely pursuant to Rule 12(f)(2). Accordingly, plaintiffs’ motion is DENIED.
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Under Rule 12(f)(1) a court, in its discretion, may act at any time. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f)(1).
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Plaintiffs urge that I do so because the Amended Answer is 255 paragraphs and plaintiffs were
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“hard-pressed to adequately assess the extent of these improper responses within the 21-day
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deadline.” Mot. at 7 n.2. But the length of PG&E’s Amended Answer was dictated by the
number of allegations in the FAC filed by plaintiffs. Moreover, plaintiffs had a chance to analyze
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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many of the same issues over the course of the lengthy meet and confer process that resulted in the
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filing of the Amended Answer, so there is no excuse for their untimeliness.
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I decline to exercise the court’s power under Rule 12(f)(1) because plaintiffs have not
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shown that their motion would “streamlin[e] the ultimate resolution of the action and focus[] the
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jury’s attention on the real issues in the case.” Fantasy, Inc. v. Fogerty, 984 F.2d 1524, 1528 (9th
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Cir. 1993) rev'd on other grounds, 510 U.S. 517 (1994); see also Carolina Cas. Ins. Co., 994 F.
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Supp. 2d at 1091 (“The absence of prejudice is a sufficient reason to deny moving defendants'
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motion to strike.”). Plaintiffs’ motion selectively quotes the Amended Answer, creating the
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illusion of a problem when there is none, cites outdated case law, and mischaracterizes the nature
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of a number of PG&E’s answers. For example, plaintiffs seek to strike, and deem admitted, the
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Amended Answer’s denials for lack of knowledge or information of the allegations in FAC ¶¶108-
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109 regarding Pacific Herring, on the basis that these are “sham” denials. Mot at 12 (citing
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Harvey Aluminum, Inc. v. N.L.R.B., 335 F.2d 749 (9th Cir. 1964)). But, as a result of the 1983
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amendment to Rule 11, the Ninth Circuit held that “our suggestion in Harvey Aluminum that a
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district court has ‘free-standing authority to strike pleadings simply because’ it believes them to be
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a sham is no longer valid.” In re Mortgages Ltd., 771 F.3d 623, 631 (9th Cir. 2014). “In sum,
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courts cannot examine statements in an answer or other pleading and decide, on the basis of their
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own intuition that the statements are implausible or a sham and thus can be disregarded.” Id. at
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632. A factual determination by the Court regarding the extent of PG&E’s knowledge is improper
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at this stage.
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Additionally, plaintiffs seek to strike numerous paragraphs of the Amended Answer as
“akin to statements that the ‘document speaks for itself’” Mot at 11. While it may be
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inappropriate to respond simply that the “document speaks for itself,” that is not what PG&E did.
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The majority of the identified paragraphs deny the characterization of documents or information
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taken from documents and admit allegations only to the extent that they accurately reflect the
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documents at issue. The disputed paragraphs also include a generalized denial of all matters not
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admitted. See, e.g., Amended Answer ¶47 (“To the extent the allegations of Paragraph 47 are
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based on the contents of written documents, PG&E admits that to the extent such allegations
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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accurately reflect the contents of the documents, such statements exist, and otherwise denies them.
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PG&E denies that Plaintiffs’ characterization of these documents is accurate, and denies Plaintiffs’
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framing of these issues. PG&E denies the remaining allegations of Paragraph 47.”). In these
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instances PG&E “satisfies its burden under Rule 8(b)(1) by providing partial admission or denial
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and then a more generalized denial.” Barnes v. AT & T Pension Benefit Plan-Nonbargained
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Program, 718 F. Supp. 2d 1167, 1175 (N.D. Cal. 2010).
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Similarly plaintiffs argue that PG&E has improperly asserted that numerous of its
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allegations constitute “legal conclusions.” Mot at 13. However, PG&E does not simply refuse to
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answer plaintiffs’ allegations on the basis that they state a legal conclusion. Instead, PG&E denies
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the allegations that attempt to draw a legal conclusion while also responding to the remaining
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allegations. See, e.g., Amended Answer ¶150 (“PG&E admits the allegations in the third sentence
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of Paragraph 150. PG&E denies the allegations of Paragraph 150 that attempt to draw legal
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conclusions from statutes and/or regulatory programs and denies the allegations to the extent any
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of these allegations are incomplete and/or inconsistent with the sources from which they originate.
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PG&E denies the remaining allegations of Paragraph 150.”). “Where defendants deny factual
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allegations in addition to identifying legal conclusions, Ninth Circuit district courts generally
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decline to strike defendants' answers.” Guifu Li v. A Perfect Franchise, Inc., No. 5:10-cv-01189-
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LHK, 2011 WL 2971046, at *3 (N.D. Cal. July 21, 2011); see also Barnes, 718 F. Supp. 2d at
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1175 (denying plaintiff’s motion to deem certain allegations admitted when “[defendant] has
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refused to either admit or deny the ultimate legal conclusions alleged by [plaintiff and] [defendant]
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has denied all of the factual allegations on which those legal conclusions rest.”). To the extent the
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allegations do not contain legal conclusions, as plaintiffs assert, PG&E’s denial of the remaining
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allegations operate as their answer.
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In short, PG&E’s answers are sufficient under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(b)(1).
CONCLUSION
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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Plaintiffs’ motion to strike is untimely. I decline to exercise discretion under Federal Rule
of Civil Procedure 12(f)(1) for the reasons described above. Plaintiffs’ motion is DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: December 10, 2015
______________________________________
WILLIAM H. ORRICK
United States District Judge
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