Whaley v. Amazon.com

1

ROBERT WHALEY, Plaintiff, v. AMAZON.COM, INC.; AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC; AMAZON LOGISTICS, INC.; CARCAST EXPRESS, LLC; and ADAM YAHIA, Defendants.

No. 2:23-cv-04317-DCN

United States District Court, D. South Carolina, Charleston Division

February 1, 2024

ORDER

DAVID C. NORTON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

The following matter is before the court on defendants Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”), Amazon.Com Services LLC (“Amazon Services”) and Amazon Logistics Inc.'s (“Amazon Logistics”) (collectively the “Amazon Defendants”)^[1]motion to dismiss. ECF No 19. It is alternatively before the court on the Amazon Defendants' motion to strike.^[2] Id. For the reasons set forth below, the court denies in part and grants in part the motion to dismiss and denies the motion to strike.

I. BACKGROUND

This action arises out of a tractor-trailer collision between plaintiff Robert Whaley (“Whaley”) and defendant Adam Yahia (“Yahia”). ECF No. 1, Compl. ¶¶ 1, 63. On January 5, 2022, at approximately 6:44 a.m., Yahia, a Class A licensed commercial motor vehicle operator, was driving a 2017 Freightliner tractor and towing a trailer under the motor carrier operating authority of defendant Carcast Express, LLC (“Carcast Express”). Id. ¶¶ 1, 63-92. As Whaley turned left at a green traffic light onto U.S. Highway 17, Yahia sped through the red traffic light and collided with Whaley's vehicle. Id. ¶¶ 8087.

At the time of the subject collision, the Amazon Defendants had entered into an agreement with Carcast Express (the “Agreement”) to participate in the Amazon Relay Program. Id. ¶¶ 21-26, 36-54, 59-79. The Amazon Defendants established Amazon Relay Program, a shipping logistics network, as part of their strategy to vertically integrate and take control of shipping and logistics. Id. ¶¶ 21-26. This transportation network is specifically managed by Amazon Logistics. Id. The program is used to transport goods from manufacturers and retailers to Amazon warehouses, distribution centers, and ultimately to customers throughout the country, including in South Carolina. Id. To facilitate this program, the Amazon Defendants routinely enter contracts with shippers, transportation companies, interstate motor carriers, and local delivery partners. Id. The Amazon Defendants purportedly “do not conduct any safety investigation into motor carriers or truck drivers beyond verifying current operating authority, proof of insurance, and that the motor carrier does not have a safety rating of ‘Unsatisfactory.'” Id. ¶ 37.

The Agreement between the Amazon Defendants and Carcast Express required Carcast Express and its employees and drivers, including Yahia, to comply with the Agreement, which included, inter alia, Amazon's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Amazon's Supplier Code of Conduct. Id. The Agreement also specified that Amazon would retain control of many aspects of transportation related services, such as receiving, loading, storing, transporting, delivering, and unloading Amazon products, as well as complying with Amazon and any third party's safety and security policies related to premises and cargo. Id. Notwithstanding these requirements, Carcast Express hired Yahia as a driver despite him allegedly having a history of unsafely operating motor vehicles. Id. ¶¶ 93-97.

On August 28, 2023, Whaley filed the complaint against the defendants alleging fourteen causes of action principally grounded in South Carolina common law negligence.^[3]ECF No. 1, Compl. ¶¶ 99-239. Whaley brings no federal causes of action and therefore this case is before the federal court based on diversity jurisdiction.^[4] See id. ¶¶ 2-17; 28 U.S.C. § 1332. On November 20, 2023, Amazon filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim or, in the alternative, motion to strike. ECF No. 19. On December 1, 2023, Whaley responded in opposition, ECF No. 20, to which Amazon has not replied and the time to do so has since expired. On January 29, 2024, the court held a hearing on the pending motions. ECF No. 29. As such, the motions are now ripe for review.

II. DISCUSSION

The Amazon Defendants request that the court dismiss the complaint in its entirety, or alternatively, that the court strike the unrelated allegations in the complaint and issue an order directing Whaley to comport with the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. ECF No. 19 at 5. First, the Amazon Defendants contend that Whaley failed to provide a short and plain statement of the claims as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(d)(1). Id. at 6-10. Whaley purportedly fails to meet that requirement such that the complaint operates as an impermissible shotgun pleading. Id. In pertinent part, the Amazon Defendants claim that, while plaintiffs are entitled to plead alternatively, hypothetically, and inconsistently, Whaley's complaint is excessively inconsistent and full of “conclusory, vague, and immaterial facts.” Id. As such, the Amazon Defendants claim it fails to give them adequate notice of the claims against them and the grounds upon which each claim rests. Id. Additionally, they allege that the complaint is unnecessarily convoluted such that Whaley has not met the plausibility standard required for pleadings. Id. at 10. Second, the Amazon Defendants argue that Whaley has not pleaded facts to support causes of action for his claims of vicarious liability, joint venture and partnership, or negligent conduct, such that those claims must be dismissed for failure to state a claim. Id. at 10-14.

In response, Whaley first emphasizes that the purportedly unrelated facts regarding the Amazon Relay Program establish that the Amazon Defendants “exercised significant control over the details of the subject transport.” ECF No. 20 at 2 (citing Compl. ¶¶ 21-26, 36-56, 60-62). Second, Whaley argues that he has sufficiently pleaded claims for vicarious liability, joint venture and partnership, and negligence such that the motion to dismiss should be denied. Id. at 6-17. Third, Whaley contends that the motion to strike should be denied because this case arises from a collision involving the transport of Amazon goods by a driver and trucking company who partnered with the Amazon Defendants as part of the Amazon Relay Program, which the Amazon Defendants significantly controlled; consequently, he says paragraphs 20-79 of his complaint are relevant to establish the foregoing and should not be stricken. Id. at 18-19. Moreover, to the extent that the Amazon Defendants request the court strike paragraphs 16-18, Whaley contends that those paragraphs establish the citizenship and basis for personal jurisdiction for the named defendants Yahia and Carcast Express, which are therefore key to a complaint naming multiple defendants such that the motion to strike those paragraphs should be denied. Id. at 19-20. Fourth and finally, Whaley argues that his claims should not be dismissed based on the length or complexity of the complaint and suggests that if ambiguity is an issue, the Amazon Defendants should have moved for a more definite statement under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(e).^[5]Id. at 20. Whaley notes that even if the Amazon Defendants had filed such a motion, they would not have met the requirements for the court to grant a Rule 12(e) motion. Id. at 20-21.

The court first considers the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and thereafter considers the alternative motion to strike.

A. Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a party may move to dismiss for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” When considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the court must accept the plaintiff's factual allegations as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Kolon Indus., 637 F.3d 435, 440 (4th Cir. 2011). But “the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). On a motion to dismiss, the court's task is limited to determining whether the complaint states a “plausible claim for relief.” Id. at 679. Although Rule 8(a)(2) requires only a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). Instead, the “complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570).

The court first determines whether the complaint complies with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8 before considering whether Whaley has stated facts which plausibly give rise to his fourteen causes of action.

1. Shotgun Pleading

Rule 8 requires a complaint to contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). Under Rule 8(d) “[e]ach allegation must be simple, concise, and direct.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(d)(1). A “shotgun pleading” is one that “fails to articulate claims with sufficient clarity to allow the defendant to frame a responsive pleading” or one in which “it is virtually impossible to know which allegations of fact are intended to support which claims for relief.” SunTrust Mortg., Inc. v. First Residential Mortg. Servs. Corp., 2012 WL 7062086, at *7 (E.D. Va. Sept. 11, 2012), report and recommendation adopted, 2013 WL 505828 (E.D. Va. Feb. 8, 2013). “Not only do pleadings of this sort fail to apprise the opposing party of the particular claims against it (and the potential extent of its liability), they also water down the rights of parties to have valid claims litigated...