Warning
Info
- - tl;dr
- - ICRA
- - Facts & Holding
- - DeepDive
0 0
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York - 639 F. Supp. 532
Tags: Civil Procedure, Pleadings
tl;dr:
This case illustrates examples of a motion for a more definite statement, and a motion to dismiss for failure to state fraud with particularity.Video Summary
Case Summary
In the 1986 case Bower v. Weisman, Sachiko Bower sued Frederick Weisman for breaking agreements and causing harm after ending their personal and business partnership. The case took place in the Southern District of New York's District Court. Bower had helped Weisman, a wealthy art collector and businessman, for 15 years, in exchange for financial support for her and her daughter, even after their partnership ended. Weisman also let Bower live in a New York townhouse he owned. When their relationship ended in 1985, he failed to fulfill his promises and evicted her from the townhouse.
Bower sued Weisman in state court for seven claims: 1) breach of contract, 2) fraud, 3) breach of fiduciary duty, 4) conversion, 5) false imprisonment, 6) private nuisance, and 7) intentional infliction of emotional distress. Weisman moved the case to federal court due to diversity of citizenship, and then requested a dismissal for various reasons. The court partially agreed to Weisman's motions but held jurisdiction because of his business dealings in New York and dismissed the fraud, false imprisonment and private nuisance claims. However, it denied Weisman's motions to dismiss the contract claim and to impose sanctions under Rule 11.
This case shows the application of jurisdiction and choice of law theories in cases with diverse citizenship and how courts enforce procedural and state laws in such cases. It also showcases the interpretation and application of various civil procedure rules.
DeepDiveHighlight a legal term to see the definition
The plaintiff, Bower, filed a lawsuit against Weisman, FWC, and Rare Properties for breach of contract and seeking damages. Weisman's motion to dismiss was granted in part and denied in part. The court ordered expedited discovery and a trial date to resolve the dispute before a scheduled sale of a townhouse to a third party. The court is determining whether it has personal jurisdiction over Weisman in a diversity of citizenship case. Evidence suggests that Weisman engaged in "purposeful activity" in New York, allowing personal jurisdiction over Weisman to be asserted by the court under section 302(a)(1) of the CPLR. The court has granted the defendant's motion for a more particular statement and denied the motion for a more definite statement. The court has also denied the defendant's motion to stay certain claims in the complaint. The plaintiff's claim for misrepresentation, fraud, and deceit is dismissed with leave to replead. The plaintiff's claim for trespass is sustained, while the claim for false imprisonment is dismissed. The plaintiff's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress is likely to survive a 12(b)(6) challenge. However, the plaintiff's claim for private nuisance must be dismissed. Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure applies.
LSD+ Case Briefs
Features
- DeepDive for detailed case analysis
- Over 50,000 existing case briefs
- Instant briefs for another 6,000,000 cases
- Highlight dictionary for legal term definitions
- Social learning with chat and high points
Over 50,000 Cases Briefed
LSD+ gives you access to over 50,000 case briefs, more than anyone else. Be the first to email us the website of a case brief product that offers you more case briefs and we'll give you a free year of LSD+.
14-Day Free Trial
Unlimited access. Read as much content as you want during your trial with no device limitations. Cancel any time during your trial and keep access for the full 14 days.
Integrated Legal Dictionary
Lawyers and judges love to use big words. And Latin, for some reason.
Highlight a legal term in LSD Briefs and get an instant, plain English definition. Try highlighting contract or specific performance. No need to search or read through a list of definitions, simply highlight the words you don’t know and our LSDefine integration will instantly give you a definition to any of over 30,000 legal terms.
DeepDive
DeepDive allows you to explore legal cases like never before. DeepDive offers multiple levels of case summaries, which empowers you to quickly and easily find the information you need to stay on top of readings. Easily navigate through summary levels and click on any text to get more detail, all the way down to the original legal case text.
Brief anything. Instantly.
Our proprietary state-of-the-art system can instantly brief over 6,000,000 US cases. That means we can probably brief that case that your professor assigned last night when she sent you a poorly scanned pdf and told you to read every third paragraph. Or maybe she uploaded it to Canvas and didn’t really tell you to read it, but you know you probably should. Tenure does wild things to good people.
Social Learning with Chat and High Points
Study groups are a great way to learn and explore a case. LSD has chat rooms for each case to let you ask questions across the community and hear what other students struggled with and how they put it all together. Learn the key points of every case from other LSD+ users and share your knowledge with LSD High Points.
Real-Time Brief Feedback
Don’t settle for mistakes in briefs that have been there for 10 years and never fixed. Find an issue or something missing from a brief? Down vote and we will make improvements. All of our case brief editors graduated from from T14 law schools.