Araica v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, LTD.

United States District Court

for the

Southern District of Florida

Maria Araica and Leyla Gabuardi, )

Plaintiffs, )

)

v. ) Civil Action No. 19-24988-Civ-Scola

)

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and )

others, Defendants. )

Order on the Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss

Now before the Court are the Defendants’ motions to dismiss (ECF No. 23

and 24) filed by Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services, Inc. and Royal Caribbean

Cruises, Ltd respectively (collectively the “Defendants”). For the reasons set forth

below, the motions (ECF No. 23 and 24) are granted.

The Plaintiffs Maria Araica and Leyla Gabuardi filed suit to recover for

injuries sustained from falling photography backdrop and equipment. The

Plaintiffs sustained these alleged injuries when taking an embarkation photo

while attempting to board a cruise ship. (ECF No. 1 at ¶ 15.) The Plaintiffs bring

two counts for negligence against the Defendants—one for failure to warn and

another for general negligence.

The Defendants both move to dismiss the complaint arguing that it is a

shotgun pleading because it is difficult to differentiate between the allegations

and how they apply to each Defendant. The complaint instead alleges that all of

the Defendants engaged in the offensive conduct without distinguishing which

Defendants were responsible for which negligent conduct. To support their

argument that the Plaintiffs’ complaint is a shotgun pleading, the Defendants

cite to Magluta where the court dismissed the filing of a shotgun complaint

because it was “replete with allegations that the defendants’ engaged in certain

conduct, making no distinction among the fourteen defendants” even though “all

of the defendants could not have participated in every act.” Magluta v. Samples,

256 F.3d 1282, 1284 (11th Cir. 2001). Here, the Defendants could have

participated in every act, and the complaint “can be fairly read to aver that all

defendants are responsible for the alleged conduct.” State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins.

Co. v. Health & Wellness Services, 389 F. Supp. 3d 1137, 1147 (S.D. Fla. 2018)

(Scola, J.). In short, alleging multiple defendants are liable for the conduct

alleged in each count here is not fatal to their complaint.

Nevertheless, the Court agrees that the complaint is a shotgun pleading.

In their complaint, The Plaintiffs lumped at least twelve claims for relief into their

second negligence count. Many of these “breaches” raise distinct theories of

liability and must be plead as separate counts.

“Courts in the Eleventh Circuit have little tolerance for shotgun

pleadings.” Vibe Micro, Inc. v. Shabanets, 878 F.3d 1291, 1294-95 (11th Cir.

2018). They violate Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) and 10(b), “waste

scarce judicial resources, inexorably broaden the scope of discovery, wreak

havoc on appellate court dockets, and undermine the public’s respect for the

courts.” Id. (quotations and alterations omitted). When presented with a shotgun

pleading, a district court “should strike the pleading and instruct counsel to

replead the case—if counsel could in good faith make the representations

required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b).” Jackson v. Bank of Am., N.A., 898 F.3d 1348,

1357-58 (11th Cir. 2018) (“This is so even when the other party does not move

to strike the pleading”). One type of shotgun pleading is where a complaint fails

to “separate[] into a different count each cause of action or claim for relief.”

Weiland v. Palm Beach Cty. Sheriff’s Office, 792 F.3d 1313, 1322-23, n.13 (11th

Cir. 2015). The complaint here is this type of shotgun pleading.

Within their second “negligence” count, the Plaintiffs attempt to cram

multiple, distinct theories of liability into one claim. (Compl. at ¶ 33.) Each

distinct theory, however, is a separate cause of action that must be asserted

independently and with corresponding supporting factual allegations.1 See

Garcia v. Carnival Corp., 838 F. Supp. 2d 1334, 1337, n.2 (S.D. Fla. 2012)

(Moore, J.) (dismissing maritime negligence claim that “epitomizes a form of

‘shotgun’ pleading,” where the plaintiff alleged that the defendant owed a duty of

“reasonable care under the circumstances,” and then “proceed[ed] to allege at

least twenty-one ways in which [the d]efendant breached this duty”); Brown v.

Carnival Corp., 202 F. Supp. 3d 1332, 1338 (S.D. Fla. 2016) (Ungaro, J.) (“Simply

alleging that Carnival owed Plaintiff a duty of ‘reasonable care’ in a conclusory

fashion, while also pleading [“forty-one”] alleged breaches that purport to impose

a heightened duty upon Carnival, is not sufficient to state a valid negligence

claim under maritime law,” and holding that “the burden will remain on Plaintiff

to review her Complaint and ensure that each factual allegation is supported by

law and plausible facts, and is alleged in good faith.”); Gayou v. Celebrity Cruises,

Inc., No. 11-23359-Civ, 2012 WL 2049431, at *5-*6, n.2 (S.D. Fla. June 5, 2012)

(Scola, J.) (ordering plaintiff to amend complaint to “separately allege an

independent count” for various theories of liability that were lumped into a single

maritime negligence claim); Flaherty v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., No. 15-

1 For example, the facts supporting the Plaintiffs’ claim based on the Defendants’ failure to

inspect will most certainly be distinct from the Plaintiffs’ claim based on the Defendants’ failure

to train their employees.

22295, 2015 WL 8227674, *3 n.3 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 7, 2015) (Lenard, J.) (same);

Doe v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., 2016 WL 6330587, at *3 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 27, 2016)

(Ungaro, J.) (holding that Plaintiffs “boilerplate allegations” of breach of duty

failed to state a claim for negligent hiring and retention, training and supervision

under maritime law, and ordering Plaintiff to “allege each of these three claims

in separate Counts” in an amended complaint (emphasis in original)); Ciethami

v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., 207 F. Supp. 3d 1345, 1349-50 (S.D. Fla. 2016)

(Williams, J.) (holding that maritime negligence claim failed Rule 8(a), where the

Plaintiffs “shotgun-style recitation[]” of “34 breaches of duty,” “without any

factual context,” makes “any meaningful assessment of her claims difficult”);

Gharfeh v. Carnival Corp., No. 17-20499, 2018 WL 501270, at *3, *6-*7 (S.D. Fla.

Jan. 22, 2018) (Goodman, Mag. J.) (dismissing maritime negligence count that

“improperly commingles claims” as an “impermissible shotgun pleading”); Ward

v. Carnival Cruises, No. 17-24628, 2019 WL 342027, at **2-3, n.1, n.2 (S.D. Fla.

Jan. 28, 2019) (Scola, J.) (collecting cases).

Accordingly, the Court grants the motions to dismiss, (ECF No. 23, 24).

The Plaintiffs may file an amended complaint by March 16, 2020, provided it

complies with this order, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8(a) and 10(b), and the

Iqbal/ Twombly standard.

The Plaintiffs are forewarned that failure to comply with this order may

result in the dismissal of this case with prejudice or other appropriate sanctions.

See Jackson, 898 F.3d at 1358-59 (instructing that “if the plaintiff fails to comply

with the court’s order—by filing a repleader with the same deficiency—the court

should strike his pleading or, depending on the circumstances, dismiss his case

and consider the imposition of monetary sanctions.” (quotations omitted)).

Done and ordered, in Chambers, in Miami, Florida on March ) 2020.

obert N. Scola, Jr.

United States District Judge