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
- 5 -
13th
day
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