SARAH S. VANCE, District Judge.
The Court has received from defendant Amazon.com, Inc., a motion to dismiss the claims against Amazon contained in plaintiff Clem Dalrymple's Second Supplemental and Amended Complaint.
This case arises from a motor vehicle accident.
On June 21, 2018, plaintiff submitted a tort claim to the USPS, pursuant to its administrative procedures.
On February 1, 2019, plaintiff filed his First Supplemental and Amended Complaint.
On August 14, 2019, Plaintiff then filed his Second Supplemental and Amended Complaint.
On November 26, 2019—following Amazon's motion to dismiss— plaintiff moved to amended his complaint a third time.
The Magistrate Judge granted leave to file the complaint,
Amazon now renews its motion to dismiss plaintiff's claims.
To overcome a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, a party must plead "sufficient factual matter, 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, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). "A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id. A court must "accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true" and "must also draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor." Lormand v. US Unwired, Inc., 565 F.3d 228, 232 (5th Cir. 2009).
A legally sufficient complaint must establish more than a "sheer possibility" that the party's claim is true. See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. It need not contain "`detailed factual allegations,'" but it must go beyond "`labels and conclusions' or `a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action.'" See id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). In other words, "[t]he complaint (1) on its face (2) must contain enough factual matter (taken as true) (3) to raise a reasonable hope or expectation (4) that discovery will reveal relevant evidence of each element of a claim." Lormand, 565 F.3d at 257 (citations omitted). The claim must be dismissed if there are insufficient factual allegations "to raise a right to relief above the speculative level," Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, or if it is apparent from the face of the complaint that there is an insuperable bar to relief, see Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 215 (2007).
"In considering a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a district court must limit itself to the contents of the pleadings, including attachments thereto." Collins v. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, 224 F.3d 496, 498 (5th Cir. 2000). "The court may also consider documents attached to either a motion to dismiss or an opposition to that motion when the documents are referred to in the pleadings and are central to a plaintiff's claims." Brand Coupon Network, L.L.C. v. Catalina Mktg. Corp., 748 F.3d 631, 635 (5th Cir. 2014). Otherwise, if "matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion must be treated as one for summary judgment under Rule 56." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d).
Because the Court has struck the Third Supplemental and Amended Complaint,
The Court finds that plaintiff fails to state a claim against Amazon, because his claims are prescribed.
Plaintiff alleges that Amazon "is liable for the negligent actions of Jonathan Jones."
The complaint states that the accident occurred on January 15, 2017.
These dates show that the complaint is prescribed on its face. Plaintiff had until January 2018—a year after his accident—to file suit. But he did not do so until December 2018—approximately two years after his accident. And Amazon was not added until August 2019—over two and a half years after the accident. Cf. In re Whitaker Const. Co., Inc., 439 F.3d 212, 218 (5th Cir. 2006) ("[T]he essence of interruption of prescription by suit has been notice to the defendant of the legal proceedings based on the claim involved." (quoting Nini v. Sanford Bros., Inc., 276 So.2d 262, 264-65 (La. 1973))).
Moreover, the face of the complaint does not provide a basis for finding prescription tolled. Plaintiff argues that "[p]rescription was certainly interrupted, when the Administrative Claim was submitted on June 21, 2018."
Indeed, Fifth Circuit precedent forecloses this proposition. In Drury v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 359 F.3d 366 (5th Cir. 2004) (per curiam), the Fifth Circuit considered whether a "mandatory FTCA administrative claim . . . interrupted prescription regarding . . . third party tort claims"—the exact circumstances here. See id. at 368. The court reasoned that "federally required administrative claims" do not constitute "actions . . . commenced `in a court of competent jurisdiction and venue,'" which would interrupt prescription under Louisiana law. See id. (quoting La. Civ. Code art. 3462). Consequently, the court held that the "FTCA claim did not toll prescription of [the] third party state tort claim." Id. at 369 (emphasis added).
Furthermore, independent of the rule in Drury, the filing of the administrative claim could not have interrupted prescription, because the prescriptive period already had run. Plaintiff states that "the Administrative Claim was submitted on June 21, 2018, well within one year from the date of the accident."
Because the Court finds the complaint prescribed on its face, the Court does not address Amazon's additional arguments regarding failure to state a claim based on vicarious liability.
For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Amazon's first motion to dismiss and DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE plaintiff's claims against Amazon. The Court DENIES AS MOOT Amazon's second motion to dismiss.