Molina v. Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. et al

Filing 12

ORDER granting 4 Motion to Dismiss. Closing Case. Signed by Judge Darrin P. Gayles See attached document for full details. (lfn)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
Case No. 18-cv-21765-GAYLES/OTAZO-REYES
ANTONIA E. MOLINA and EMMANUEL
MOLINA,

Plaintiffs,
v.
BURLINGTON COAT FACTORY
WAREHOUSE CORP., a Foreign Profit
Corporation and CAMILO GUZMAN,
An individual,
Defendants.
/
ORDER
THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Defendants’, Burlington Coat Factory
Warehouse Corporation (“Burlington”) and Camilo Guzman, Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s
Complaint for Judicial Review and Declaratory Relief (“Motion to Dismiss”). [ECF No. 4].
Defendants filed their Motion to Dismiss on May 9, 2018. [ECF No. 4]. Under the Local Rules,
Plaintiffs had 14 days to respond. S.D. Fla. L.R. 7.1(c)(1)(A). Plaintiffs have failed to do so. The
Court shall, therefore, grant the Motion to Dismiss without prejudice.
Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint suffers an additional fatal flaw: it is a shotgun pleading.
A district court has the obligation to identify and dismiss a shotgun pleading. See Paylor v.
Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 748 F.3d 1117, 1126-27 (11th Cir. 2014). The Eleventh Circuit has
enumerated four types of these pleadings, all of which require amendment because they fail to
give the defendants adequate notice of the claims against them and the grounds upon which each
claim rests. Weiland v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sheriffs Office, 792 F.3d 1313, 1323 (11th Cir. 2015).

One type is a complaint that “commit[s] the mortal sin of containing multiple counts where each
count adopts the allegations of all preceding counts, causing each successive count to carry all
that came before and the last count to be a combination of the entire complaint.” Id. at 1321-23.
Plaintiff’s Complaint falls into this category.
For the foregoing reasons, it is hereby
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that
1. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Complaint for Judicial Review and
Declaratory Relief [ECF No. 4] is GRANTED.
2. Plaintiffs’ Complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
3. This action shall be CLOSED, and all pending motions are DENIED as moot.
4. Plaintiffs may file an Amended Complaint on or before December 14, 2018.
Plaintiffs may move to reopen this case upon filing their Amended Complaint.
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Miami, Florida, this 30th day of November,
2018

________________________________
DARRIN P. GAYLES
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE