NANCY F. ATLAS, District Judge.
This case is before the Court on the Motion to Strike Defendants' Affirmative Defenses ("Motion to Strike") [Doc. # 57] filed by Plaintiff MetroPCS, to which Defendants SMBNW Enterprises, Inc., Iraciti, Inc., Zawar H. Shah, and Moeed H. Shah filed a Response [Doc. # 64], and Plaintiff filed a Reply [Doc. # 66]. Having reviewed the record and applied relevant legal authorities, the Court
Plaintiff alleges that Defendants engaged in the unauthorized bulk purchase and resale of MetroPCS wireless handsets. Defendants answered and asserted four affirmative defenses — duress, estoppel, fraud, and waiver. Plaintiff filed its Motion to Strike the affirmative defenses pursuant to Rule 12(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Motion to Strike has been fully briefed and is ripe for decision.
Rule 12(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits the district court to strike "an insufficient defense" from a pleading. FED. R. CIV. P. 12(f). The Court has broad discretion to determine whether the challenged matter should be stricken. See In re Beef Indus. Antitrust Litig., 600 F.2d 1148, 1168 (5th Cir. 1979); Berry v. Lee, 428 F.Supp.2d 546, 563 (N.D. Tex. 2006) (Fitzwater, J.). "Striking an affirmative defense is warranted if it cannot, as a matter of law, succeed under any circumstance." United States v. Renda, 709 F.3d 472, 479 (5th Cir. 2013).
Rule 8(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a defendant to "plead an affirmative defense with enough specificity or factual particularity to give the plaintiff `fair notice' of the defense that is being advanced."
In this case, Defendants identify and give fair notice of the basis for their affirmative defenses of duress, estoppel, and waiver. With reference to the duress defense, Defendants allege that Plaintiff's investigator placed undue duress on Defendants to purchase the MetroPCS handsets that Defendants would not have purchased but for that duress. In connection with the estoppel defense, Defendants allege that MetroPCS representatives engaged in conduct that caused Defendants to purchase MetroPCS handsets. Defendants assert a waiver defense, alleging that Plaintiff waived its right to recover because it sold the phones to Defendants without the terms, conditions, and restrictions on which Plaintiff bases the complaint. Although the allegations are sparse, there is sufficient information to give fair notice of these three affirmative defenses. Plaintiff can obtain additional detail through discovery and, if appropriate, move for summary judgment after discovery is complete.
Defendants' statement of their fraud affirmative defense, however, is insufficient. Defendants allege that Plaintiff "made a material misrepresentation," but they do not identify the substance of that misrepresentation. As a result, the Motion to Strike the fraud affirmative defense is granted.
Based on the foregoing, the Court exercises its discretion to strike the fraud affirmative defense, and exercises its discretion not to strike the duress, estoppel, and waiver affirmative defenses that the Court finds are sparse but adequate. Accordingly, it is hereby