Western v. United Parcel Service, Inc.

Filing 42

MEMORANDUM Order Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 7/8/2010:Mailed notice(srn, )

Western v. United Parcel Service, Inc.

Doc. 42

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION LAWANDA WESTERN, Plaintiff, v. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, INC., Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No.

10 C 374

MEMORANDUM ORDER United Parcel Service, Inc. ("UPS") has filed its Answer and Affirmative Defenses to the Amended Complaint ("AC") brought against it by Lawanda Western under the auspices of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This memorandum order is issued sua

sponte to address one problematic aspect of that responsive pleading. Although all other paragraphs of the AC have been met with admissions or denials in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. ("Rule") 8(b)(1)(B), Answer ¶¶2, 6 and 8 seek to obtain the benefit of deemed denials via disclaimers under Rule 8(b)(5).1 But having

done so, UPS THEN goes on to deny the disclaimed allegations of the AC. That is of course oxymoronic--how can a party that

asserts (presumably in good faith) that it lacks even enough information to form a belief as to the truth of an allegation then proceed to deny it in accordance with Rule 11(b)?

Answer ¶¶2 and 8 track that Rule correctly, while Answer ¶6 does not--see App'x ¶1 to State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Riley, 199 F.R.D. 276, 278 (N.D. Ill. 2001).

1

Dockets.Justia.com

Accordingly those flat-out denials in Answer ¶¶2 and 8 are stricken without leave to amend, while the second sentence of Answer ¶6 is stricken in its entirety, but with leave granted to file an appropriate disclaimer if that can be done in compliance with the objective good faith requirement of Rule 11(b). such replacement must be filed on or before July 16, 2010, failing which the corresponding allegation of the AC will be deemed to have been admitted. Any

________________________________________ Milton I. Shadur Senior United States District Judge Date: July 8, 2010