Heyer v. Schwartz & Assocs. PLLC
Heyer v. Schwartz & Assocs. PLLC
Opinion of the Court
Eric Heyer brings claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent misrepresentation against Schwartz & Associates and its sole member, Christopher Schwartz. Before the Court is the defendants' Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Dkt. 7. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant the motion in part and deny it in part.
I. BACKGROUND
The following facts are taken from the complaint, which is presumed truthful at this stage. Ashcroft v. Iqbal ,
*302Schwartz, on behalf of Schwartz & Associates, signed a written agreement with the principal client that required the client to pay Schwartz & Associates a fixed fee each month. Id. ¶¶ 15-16. Schwartz and the client also agreed orally that the client would pay a 25 percent contingency fee on any recovery resulting from Schwartz & Associates' representation. Id. Heyer and Schwartz agreed orally that Heyer would be entitled to a fixed monthly distribution along with a portion of any contingent fee recoveries received from the client. Id. ¶ 13.
In spring 2013, Schwartz & Associates successfully negotiated a settlement that allowed the client to recover $2.1 million. Id. ¶¶ 17-18. But the client failed to promptly pay the 25 percent contingency fee-$525,000-and Schwartz failed to press the client for payment. Id. ¶ 19. In late summer 2013, Heyer and Schwartz agreed to increase Heyer's equity share to 30 percent and that Heyer would receive 30 percent of future contingency fees from the client. Id. ¶ 21. Heyer and Schwartz also agreed that Heyer would receive $150,000 of the $525,000 already earned. Id. ¶ 22.
Unbeknownst to Heyer, however, Schwartz had struck a deal with the client that significantly reduced the $525,000 amount. Id. ¶ 26. Another law firm had assisted Schwartz & Associates on one of the client's cases, and under the deal, the law firm was paid from the $525,000. Id. Heyer learned about the deal several months later from the client. Id. ¶ 27. Schwartz initially denied that he had made such deal, but in early January 2014 he notified Heyer that he had accepted an amount of $305,484.29 instead of $525,000 from the client. Id. ¶¶ 29, 33. Heyer ultimately received 30 percent of the $305,484.29 amount, which at $91,645.29 was $58,354.71 less than the $150,000 he was promised. Id. ¶ 38.
Also in early January, the client indicated that it might end the litigation for which it had retained Schwartz & Associates, cutting off Schwartz & Associates' primary source of revenue. Id. ¶ 31. The client assured Heyer, however, that it would continue to pay the funds necessary for Heyer to take his fixed monthly distribution for the next three months. Id. ¶ 35. Schwartz, in turn, promised Heyer that he would receive that monthly distribution through May 2014. Id. ¶ 36.
Meanwhile, Schwartz & Associates helped the client settle three additional cases in January and February, and Schwartz promised Heyer that he would ensure that they would receive the 25 percent contingency fees from the client. Id. ¶ 39. Heyer continued to work for Schwartz & Associates, assuming that he would continue to receive his fixed monthly distribution and his portion of the contingency fees. Id. ¶ 41.
On February 19, however, the client told Heyer that beginning in March it would no longer pay the funds corresponding to his fixed monthly distribution. Id. Schwartz then decided to withhold Heyer's fixed monthly distribution for February. Id. ¶ 42. Heyer left Schwartz & Associates and resumed work at the national law firm in mid-March. Id. ¶ 43. After Heyer left, the client settled two additional cases that Schwartz & Associates had worked on. Id. ¶ 44. Schwartz, however, never pressed the client to pay the contingency fees-for these two cases or the three that had settled earlier. Id. ¶¶ 40, 44.
As Heyer prepared to sue the client for the promised fixed monthly distribution and contingency fees that summer, Schwartz and the client entered into a release agreement covering all potential claims of Schwartz & Associates principals, *303agents, and authorized representatives. Id. ¶ 46. In exchange, the client's majority owner-who also owned an entity that acted as Schwartz & Associates' landlord-gave Schwartz & Associates free rent for ten months. Id. ¶ 48. Heyer's claims were ultimately heard by an arbitration board, which awarded Heyer an amount corresponding to his fixed monthly distribution for the first half of March 2014 during which he was unemployed. Id. ¶ 47.
Heyer brought this suit in April 2016, the defendants moved to dismiss in September 2016, and the case was reassigned to the undersigned judge in December 2017.
II. LEGAL STANDARDS
Rule 12(b)(1) allows a defendant to move to dismiss an action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). Federal law empowers federal district courts to hear only certain kinds of cases, and it is "presumed that a cause lies outside this limited jurisdiction." Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. ,
Rule 12(b)(6), meanwhile, allows a defendant to move to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a complaint must contain factual matter sufficient to "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly ,
Well-pleaded factual allegations are "entitled to [an] assumption of truth,"
When deciding a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court may consider only the complaint itself, documents attached to the complaint, documents incorporated by reference in the complaint, and judicially noticeable materials. EEOC v. St. Francis Xavier Parochial Sch. ,
III. ANALYSIS
Heyer alleges four counts: breach of contract against Schwartz & Associates, breach of contract against Schwartz, breach of fiduciary duty against Schwartz, and negligent misrepresentation against Schwartz. Compl. ¶¶ 50-73. Heyer alleges several injuries: he did not receive the promised $150,000 portion of the contingency fee for the first settlement; he did not receive the promised 30 percent of contingency fees obtained in other cases; and he did not receive his fixed monthly distribution for February 2014. Id. ¶¶ 51-53.
A. Shareholder Standing
The defendants argue that Heyer's breach of contract claim against Schwartz & Associates and breach of fiduciary duty claim against Schwartz violate the shareholder standing rule. See Defs.' Br. at 1-2, 7-13, Dkt. 7-1. According to the defendants, this rule "flow[s] from" the prudential standing doctrine. Id. at 7.
It is unclear whether the shareholder standing rule should be categorized under the label of prudential standing or Article III standing. The Constitution empowers the federal judiciary to adjudicate only cases or controversies. U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1. The doctrine of Article III standing, which requires a plaintiff to allege that the defendant injured the plaintiff in a judicially redressable manner, enforces this limitation. Summers v. Earth Island Inst. ,
Unlike Article III standing, the prudential standing doctrine involves "judicially self-imposed limits on the exercise of federal jurisdiction." Bennett v. Spear ,
*305Historically, the prudential standing label has covered the prohibition against suing on behalf of another, which includes the shareholder standing rule. See Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Alcan Aluminium Ltd. ,
The shareholder standing rule prohibits shareholders, with some exceptions, "from initiating actions to enforce the rights of the corporation." Franchise Tax Bd. ,
According to the defendants, most of Heyer's claims really belong to Schwartz & Associates. Defs.' Br. at 9-11, 15-16. That precludes the claims, the defendants continue, because Heyer did not follow the requirements for derivative claims. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23.1 (establishing a procedural roadmap for shareholders wishing to bring a derivative claim). The defendants premise the derivative-claims argument on the contention that "any recovery for the alleged breach[es] would flow through [Schwartz & Associates] before it reached Heyer." Defs.' Br. at 9. That is, because Heyer's injuries are based on fees unpaid by the client to Schwartz & Associates-fees that if paid would have been apportioned to Heyer-any injury to Heyer derives purely from injury to Schwartz & Associates.
The defendants' argument is too clever by half. The complaint alleges that after the parties and client agreed on a particular fee structure in which Heyer would receive a particular portion of the fees, the defendants altered the fee structure in ways that reduced Heyer's proceeds. This alleged redirection of funds did not necessarily injure the company-which was allegedly offsetting would-be injuries with compensating benefits-but it certainly injured Heyer.
That resolves the issue. "[A] shareholder may proceed against his company on an individual basis" when there is a "special injury to the individual stockholder." Cowin ,
B. Breach of Contract against Schwartz
The D.C. Uniform Limited Liability Company Act provides that "[t]he debts, obligations, or other liabilities of a limited liability company, whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise shall: (1) [b]e solely the debts, obligations, or other liabilities of the company; and (2) [n]ot become the debts, obligations, or other liabilities of a member ... solely by reason of the member acting as a member."
The complaint does not allow for a reasonable inference that Schwartz agreed to personally guarantee the promised funds to Heyer; the complaint suggests instead that Schwartz and Heyer made the agreements as members of the LLC. The complaint alleges breaches of three contractual duties: (1) the promise that Heyer "would receive $150,000 of the contingent fee received from the [client] for the cases that were settled in February 2013,"
C. Negligent Misrepresentation
"[A] plaintiff alleging negligent misrepresentations or omissions must show (1) that the defendant made a false statement or omitted a fact that he had a duty to disclose; (2) that it involved a material issue; and (3) that the plaintiff reasonably relied upon the false statement or omission to his detriment."
*307Sundberg v. TTR Realty, LLC ,
The Uniform Limited Liability Company Act imposes duties on LLC members apart from any contractual obligations. For example, "[a]n act outside the ordinary course of the activities and affairs of [a member-managed limited liability company] may be undertaken only with the consent of all members."
Finally, the defendants argue that Schwartz & Associates should be categorized as a manager-managed LLC, Reply at 9 n.11, Dkt. 13; in such LLCs a member does not "have any fiduciary duty ... to any other member solely by reason of being a member,"
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court grants in part and denies in part the defendants' Motion to Dismiss. Dkt. 7. Specifically, the motion is granted only with respect to Count Two (for breach of contract against Schwartz), which is dismissed with prejudice. The motion is denied in all other respects. Thus, Count One (breach of contract against Schwartz & Associates), Count Three (breach of fiduciary duty against Schwartz), and Count Four (negligent misrepresentation against Schwartz) are not dismissed. A separate order consistent with this decision accompanies this memorandum opinion.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Eric N. HEYER v. SCHWARTZ & ASSOCIATES PLLC
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published