FEDERAL JUDGE IN HOUSTON DISMISSES EC CLAIMS IN HURRICANE CASE BASED ON INADEQUATE PLEADINGS BY MOSTYN FIRM

Recently, in Luna v. Nationwide Property and Casualty Insurance Company, 2011 WL 2565354, a federal District Court judge in the Southern District of Texas, Judge Melinda Harmon, granted Nationwide’s renewed motion for partial dismissal of Plaintiff’s extra-contractual claims for violations of the Texas Insurance Code, common law fraud, and  breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing due to inadequate pleadings.  In this case, Plaintiff filed suit against Nationwide arising out of alleged underpayment of his insurance claims for damages to his home caused by Hurricane Ike.  Judge Harmon agreed with Nationwide noting: “Plaintiff merely tracks the statutory language and insists he states claims against Nationwide and provides no particular factual support to illustrate how his claims meet those elements.” And in response to Plaintiff’s argument that “this is exactly the type of information that was intended to be developed through discovery,” Judge Harmon explained: “Rule 8 does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.” Ultimately, the Court found the Plaintiffs’ complaint was “composed of vague, general conclusions without the kind of factual support that would state a plausible complaint under Rules 8 and 12(b)(6), no less a fraud claim under Rule 9(b).” The Court then granted Nationwide’s motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s extra-contractual claims under the Texas Insurance Code, common law fraud claim, and—on its own initiative—Plaintiff’s claim for breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing.