IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTFOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIAATLANTA DIVISIONBENJAMIN BURGESS, RHONDABURGESS, HEIDI HOWARD,JOYCE MARTIN, BETHKARAMPELAS, TERRI DACY, andMICHAEL DACY, individually andon behalf of all others similarlysituated,Plaintiffs,v.Civil ActionFile No.: 1:13-CV-02217-JOFRELIGIOUS TECHNOLOGYCENTER, INC., ASSOCIATION FOR BETTER LIVING ANDEDUCATION INTERNATIONAL, NARCONON INTERNATIONAL,and NARCONON OF GEORGIA,INC.,Defendants.
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF NARCONON OF GEORGIA INC.’SMOTION TO DISMISS FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM
Defendant Narconon of Georgia, Inc. (“NNGA”) hereby submits thismemorandum in support of its motion, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), todismiss each count of the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.
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SUMMARY OF FACTS
Plaintiffs have filed their Complaint against NNGA, a nonprofit GeorgiaCorporation that for many years has provided drug and alcohol rehabilitationservices. Plaintiffs were not the recipients of those services but allege they suffered“actual physical, mental and economic harm” as a result of their reliance on alleged“false, deceptive, or misleading business practices” of NNGA and other defendants.(Compl. ¶ 34.)The Complaint seeks to assert claims for fraud, breach of contract, unjustenrichment, detrimental reliance, negligence per se, and Georgia RICO.
ARGUMENT AND CITATION OF AUTHORITYI. MOTION TO DISMISS STANDARD
“To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factualmatter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’”Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp v. Twombly, 550U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). The complaint must include sufficient factual allegations “toraise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. “[A]formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do[.]” Id. “[W]herethe well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibilityof misconduct, the complaint has alleged – but it has not ‘show[n]’ – that the pleader
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is entitled to relief.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679 (internal punctuation and citationomitted). “[C]onclusory allegations, unwarranted deductions of facts or legalconclusions masquerading as facts will not prevent dismissal.” Oxford Asset Mgmt.,Ltd. v. Jaharis, 297 F.3d 1182, 1188 (11th Cir. 2002). Moreover, when there aredispositive issues of law, a court may dismiss a claim regardless of the alleged facts.Marshall Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Marshall Cnty. Gas Dist., 991 F.2d 1171, 1174 (11thCir. 1993).
II.COUNT ONE
Count One of the Complaint purports to plead a fraud claim. Pursuant to Fed.R. Civ. P. 9(b), a complaint alleging fraud must state with particularity thecircumstances constituting fraud. The purpose of Rule 9(b)’s particularityrequirement is to “alert[ ] defendants to the precise misconduct with which they arecharged and protect[ ] defendants against spurious charges of immoral and fraudulent behavior.” Ziemba v. Cascade Int'l, Inc., 256 F.3d 1194, 1202 (11th Cir. 2001)(internal punctuation and citation omitted). To satisfy Rule 9(b), a complaint mustset forth:(1) precisely what statements were made in what documents or oralrepresentations or what omissions were made, and (2) the time and place of each such statement and the person responsible for making (or, in the case of omissions, not making) same, and (3) the content of such statements and themanner in which they misled the plaintiff, and (4) what the defendantsobtained as a consequence of the fraud.
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