GREGORY F. VAN TATENHOVE, District Judge.
Before the Court is the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. [R. 66.] For the reasons explained below, the Court concludes that Plaintiff Robert H. Jones's complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The Defendants' motion is therefore GRANTED.
On April 21, 2012, Jones's car was struck by Defendant Taylor Lenhart's vehicle. The resulting dispute between Jones and Lenhart's insurance company, Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance, formed the foundation of this lawsuit. Filing pro se, Jones first alleged a broad conspiracy involving multiple defendants, including Lenhart, Liberty Mutual, Jones's former attorney, and many others. According to Jones, these Defendants collectively devised "A SKEME TO CHEAT, SWINDlE, DEFRA,00UD, PLAINTIFF ROBERT HJONES OF OVER $20,000.00 WITH A POTENTIAL LOSS OF OVER $1,000,000.00." [R. 1-1 at 4.]
Most of the original defendants in this case were citizens of Kentucky, the same state in which Jones resides, and all of Jones's claims are grounded in state law. [Id. at 3-5.] In an order entered on December 30, 2015, however, the Court found that, because Jones had stated "no colorable cause of action" against the non-diverse defendants, these parties had been fraudulently joined to the case. [R. 52 at. 8.] The Court thereafter dismissed the non-diverse defendants from this action. [Id.] The only remaining Defendants before the Court are Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance and David H. Long, the CEO of Liberty Mutual. For many of the same reasons outlined in the Court's order dismissing the non-diverse defendants from this case, the Court now concludes that Jones's allegations against the remaining Defendants fail at the pleading stage.
In evaluating the sufficiency of a complaint under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), this Court must "construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accept its allegations as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff." DirecTV, Inc. v. Treesh, 487 F.3d 471, 476 (6th Cir. 2007) (citing Carver v. Bunch, 946 F.2d 451, 454-55 (6th Cir. 1991)). Additionally, complaints filed by pro se plaintiffs are held "to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers[.]" Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972).
Dismissal is ordinarily appropriate when "it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." DirecTV, Inc., 487 F.3d at 476 (quoting Ricco v. Potter, 377 F.3d 599, 602 (6th Cir. 2004)). When measuring a pleading against this standard, the Court "need not accept as true legal conclusions or unwarranted factual inferences." Id. (quoting Gregory v. Shelby County, 220 F.3d 433, 446 (6th Cir. 2000)). Moreover, the facts pled in support of the plaintiff's claims must rise to the level of plausibility, not just possibility — "facts that are merely consistent with a defendant's liability . . . stop[ ] short of the line between possibility and plausibility." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 557 (2007)).
To demonstrate facial plausibility, "a plaintiff must plead factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). These requirements "serve[] the practical purpose of preventing a plaintiff with `a largely groundless claim' from `tak[ing] up the time of a number of other people, with the right to do so representing an in terrorem increment of the settlement value.'" Twombly, 550 U.S. at 545-46 (quoting Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Broudo, 544 U.S. 336, 347 (2005)).
Jones makes two claims against Liberty Mutual. In addition to those joint allegations against its CEO (discussed below), Jones also suggests that Liberty Mutual's former counsel, Jeffrey Taylor, somehow participated in a nebulous conspiracy with Jones's former attorney, Joseph L. Rosenbaum,
Jones's claims against Defendant David H. Long also appear on only two occasions. The first is in the conclusory, catch-all allegation that all of the Defendants collectively devised "A SKEME TO CHEAT, SWINDlE, DEFRA,00UD, PLAINTIFF ROBERT HJONES OF OVER $20,000.00 WITH A POTENTIAL LOSS OF OVER $1,000,000.00." [R. 1-1 at 4.] The second is in the equally conclusory statement that Liberty Mutual and Long "DID CREATE AN ENVIROMENT THAT FOSTERED AND LED TO ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES BY ITS ATTORNEYS." [Id.] Because neither of these summary allegations provide any factual support, they are not entitled to a presumption of truth at the pleading stage. See, e.g., Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 664 (holding plaintiff's claims that one defendant was the "principal architect" of a disputed policy and another was "instrumental" in its adoption and execution, without supporting facts, were "conclusory and not entitled to be assumed true."); Ctr. for Bio-Ethical Reform, Inc. v. Napolitano, 648 F.3d 365, 374 (6th Cir. 2011) (dismissing plaintiff's claims and noting "[n]one of these bare allegations provide the factual context that would render them plausible and thus entitle them to a presumption of truth at this stage in the litigation."). In the absence of this support, the Court concludes that Jones's claims "stop[ ] short of the line between possibility and plausibility."
For the reasons outlined above, the Court finds that Jones has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Accordingly, having reviewed the record and being otherwise sufficiently advised, it is hereby
(1) Defendants' Motion to Dismiss
(2) The Court will enter an appropriate Judgment contemporaneously herewith.