Biller v. Cafe Luna of Naples, Inc. et al

Filing 22

OPINION AND ORDER granting 17 Plaintiff's Motion to Strike. Defendants' sixth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth affirmative defenses, and Defendants' demand for attorneys' fees are stricken. Defendants are granted leave to amend their sixth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and fourteenth affirmative defenses within 14 days of this Opinion and Order. See Opinion and Order for details. Signed by Judge John E. Steele on 4/13/2015. (MAW)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
KRISTEN BILLER, on her own
behalf and all similarly
situated individuals,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 2:14-cv-659-FtM-29DNF

CAFE LUNA OF NAPLES, INC., a
Florida profit corporation,
CAFE LUNA EAST, a Florida
limited liability company,
EDWARD
J.
BARSAMIAN,
individually, and SHANNON
RADOSTI, individually,
Defendants.
OPINION AND ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff's Motion to
Strike

Defendants’

January 26, 2015.
respond has expired.

Affirmative

Defenses

(Doc.

#17)

filed

on

No response has been filed and the time to
For the reasons set forth below, the motion

is granted.
I.
Plaintiff Kristen Biller has filed a Complaint (Doc. #1)
against Defendants Café Luna of Naples, Inc., Café Luna East,
Edward J. Barsamian, and Shannon Radosti, on her own behalf and on
behalf of other similarly situated individuals, for overtime and
minimum wage compensation relief under the Fair Labor Standards
Act (FLSA).

On January 5, 2015, Defendants filed their Answer and

Affirmative Defenses (Doc. #15).

Plaintiff now moves to strike

certain of those affirmative defenses as well as Defendants’ demand
for attorneys’ fees, arguing that they are inadequately pled and/or
are not valid defenses to an FLSA claim.
II.
Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f), “the Court may order stricken
from

any

pleading

any

insufficient

defense

immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter.”

or

redundant,

Courts disfavor

motions to strike and deny them unless the allegations have “no
possible relationship to the controversy, may confuse the issues,
or otherwise prejudice a party.”

Reyher v. Trans World Airlines,

881 F. Supp. 574, 576 (M.D. Fla. 1995).

“An affirmative defense

is generally a defense that, if established, requires judgment for
the defendant even if the plaintiff can prove his case by a
preponderance of the evidence.”

Wright v. Southland Corp., 187

F.3d 1287, 1303 (11th Cir. 1999).

Affirmative defenses must

follow the general pleading requirements contained in Rule 8 of
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

A party must “state in

short and plain terms its defenses to each claim asserted against
it.”

Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(b)(1)(A).
As with any pleading, an affirmative defense must provide

“fair notice” of the nature of the defense and the grounds upon
which it rests, Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555
(2007), and state a plausible defense, Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S.
662, 679 (2009).

Thus, “[w]hile an answer need not include a
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detailed statement of the applicable defenses, a defendant must do
more than make conclusory allegations.

If the affirmative defense

comprises no more than bare bones conclusory allegations, it must
be stricken.”

Microsoft Corp. v. Jesse's Computers & Repair,

Inc., 211 F.R.D. 681, 684 (M.D. Fla. 2002) (internal quotations
omitted).

The purpose of this pleading requirement “is simply to

guarantee that the opposing party has notice of any additional
issue that may be raised at trial so that he or she is prepared to
properly litigate it.”

Hassan v. U.S. Postal Serv., 842 F.2d 260,

263 (11th Cir. 1988).
III.
A.

Affirmative Defenses
Plaintiff moves to strike Defendants’ sixth, tenth, eleventh,

twelfth,

fourteenth,

and

sixteenth

affirmative

defenses.

numerical order, those defenses allege in their entirety:


Defendants invoke the defenses, protections and
limitations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C.
201 et seq.



Plaintiff’s claims are barred in whole or in part by
the doctrines of waiver, estoppel or laches.



Plaintiff’s claims are barred in whole or in part by
accord and satisfaction, settlement or payment and
release.



Plaintiff has failed to exhaust all administrative
remedies.



Plaintiff has failed to mitigate her alleged damages.



Defendants reserve the right to assert
affirmative defenses as discovery proceeds.
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further

In

(Doc. #15, pp. 8-9.)
The first five of the challenged defenses are pled in the
broadest

possible

terms

and

do

not

provide

connecting them to Plaintiff’s claims.

any

information

Such defenses fail to

provide Plaintiff with adequate notice of the issue(s) Defendants
seek to raise and therefore are precisely the type of bare-bones
conclusory allegations that must be stricken.
F.R.D. at 684.
The

last

Microsoft, 211

Defendants will be granted leave to amend.
of

the

challenged

defenses

is

an

attempt

by

Defendants to reserve their right to assert additional affirmative
defenses in the future.
of

the

Complaint

and

Plaintiff's claims.
defense

and

will

It does not respond to the allegations
does

not

raise

any

facts

to

vitiate

As such, it is not a proper affirmative
be

stricken.

If,

as

discovery

proceeds,

Defendants wish to amend their Answer to add additional affirmative
defenses, they may seek to do so via an appropriate motion.
B.

Attorneys’ Fees
Defendants’ Answer concludes with a demand for attorneys’

fees.

Although attorneys’ fees are statutorily authorized to a

prevailing plaintiff under the FLSA, a prevailing defendant is not
entitled to attorneys’ fees unless the litigation was in bad
faith.

Turlington v. Atlanta Gas Light Co., 135 F.3d 1428, 1437

(11th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 962 (1998).

A request

for attorneys’ fees does not respond to the allegations of the
Complaint and does not raise any facts to vitiate Plaintiff's
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claims.

Therefore, it is not a viable defense and will be

stricken.
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED:
Plaintiff's
Defendants’
sixteenth

Motion

sixth,

to

tenth,

affirmative

Strike

eleventh,

defenses,

attorneys’ fees are STRICKEN.
amend

their

sixth,

tenth,

and

(Doc.

#17)

twelfth,

is

GRANTED.

fourteenth,

Defendants’

demand

and
for

Defendants are granted leave to

eleventh,

twelfth,

and

fourteenth

affirmative defenses within FOURTEEN (14) DAYS of this Opinion and
Order.
DONE and ORDERED at Fort Myers, Florida, this
of April, 2015.

Copies:
Counsel of Record

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13th

day