10-C-751 Harley Marine Services, Inc., v. Manitowoc Marine Group, LLC

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Contracts
Pleading

Where a plaintiff asserts a breach of contract claim and fails to allege any facts from which it could at least be inferred that the contract on which that claim is based might be invalid, the plaintiff is precluded from pleading in the alternative claims that are legally incompatible with the contract claim.

Granting Defendants’ motion will not harm Plaintiffs since the dismissal will be without prejudice. If Defendants’ position changes and they challenge the existence of the contract, or facts arise in discovery which call into question its validity, Plaintiffs will be free to amend their complaint and reassert these or other claims. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). On the other hand, by dismissing claims that have no legal viability at this point, both parties will be spared the time and expense of requesting and providing irrelevant and costly discovery, and the court will be spared the time and effort of refereeing the disputes that frequently arise over such matters. For it is the plaintiff’s claims, as well as the defenses thereto, that determine the scope of discovery that is allowed. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) (‘Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense . . . .’). Claims for unjust enrichment and promissory estoppel, depending as they do on broad equitable considerations, open avenues of discovery far beyond what is needed to dispose of a breach of contract claim. Where, as here, it appears clear from the complaint that such claims have no basis in law, dismissal is not only appropriate but also the surest path to “the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination” of the action that the Rules are intended to further. Fed. R. Civ. P. 1.”

10-C-751 Harley Marine Services, Inc., v. Manitowoc Marine Group, LLC

E.D.Wis., Griesbach, J.