Constellation NewEnergy, Inc. v. 4220 Kildare LLC

Filing 20

MEMORANDUM Order Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 8/12/2013. Mailed notice by judge's staff. (srb,)

Constellation NewEnergy, Inc. v. 4220 Kildare LLC

Doc. 20

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
Constellation NewEnergy, Inc.
Plaintiff,
v.
4220 Kildare, LLC.,
Defendant.

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No. 13 C 2241

MEMORANDUM ORDER
4220 Kildare, LLC. (“4220 Kildare”) has filed its Amended
Answer and Affirmative Defenses to the Complaint brought against
it by Constellation NewEnergy, Inc.

Because other (and more

substantive) matters have been occupying this Court’s time fully
since that filing, this memorandum order is being issued
belatedly to require correction of one aspect of that Amended
Answer.
Because Fed.R.Civ.P. (“Rule”) 8(b)(5) allows a defendant to
avoid its Rule 8(b)(1)(B) mandate to answer certain allegations
in a plaintiff’s complaint, defendants must be particularly
meticulous in adhering to the requirements of Rule 8(b)(5) -- see
App’x ¶ 1 to State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Riley, 199 F.R.D.
276, 278 (N.D. Ill. 2001).

And it is obviously a good deal more

demanding for a defendant to satisfy the required absence of
enough information to form a belief than merely to assert the
lack of knowledge sufficient to form a belief.
Accordingly the disclaimers in Answer ¶¶ 3, 4, 14, 19, 26,

Dockets.Justia.com

27, 31 and 34 are stricken, with leave granted to replace them
with proper disclaimers if 4220 Kildare actually lacks enough
information to form a belief as to the truth of the corresponding
Complaint allegations.

If that is not true in any respect, 4220

Kildare must answer such an allegation rather than disclaim the
need to answer the allegation in question.

That amendment to the

Amended Answer must be filed on or August 23, 2013, failing which
all of the corresponding Complaint allegations will be deemed to
have been admitted.1

_______________________________
Milton I. Shadur
United States District Judge
Dated:

August 12, 2013

1

As a matter of form, this Court would much appreciate it if
4220 Kildare’s future filings are printed on one side rather than
on both sides of a page, as the current submission has been.
Although this Court is as conservation-minded as anyone, the
manner in which it maintains its hard copy chambers files makes a
resort to two-sided documents awkward.
2