Te

Minato Qsfer Form (0697)

United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Name of Assigned Judge
or Magistrate Judge

Milton 1. Shadur

Sitting Judge if Other
than Assigned Judge

-B 1

Notified counsel by telephone.

CASE NUMBER 02 C 121 DATE 2/12/2002
CASE Mountain Funding-Z, Inc. vs. James B. Goldenberg, et al
TITLE
[In the following box (a) indicate the party filing the motion, e.g., plaintiff, defendant, 3rd party plaintiff, and (b) state briefly the nature

MOTION: of the motion being presented. }

DOCKET ENTRY:

qd) a Filed motion of [ use listing in “Motion” box above.]

(2) Oo Brief in support of motion due

(3) QO Answer brief to motion due. . Reply to answer brief due.

(4) a Ruling/Hearing on set for _at

(5) i) Status hearing[held/continued to] [set for/re-set for] on set for at

(6) a Pretrial conference[held/continued to] [set for/re-set for] on set for at :

(7) q Trial{set for/re-set for] on at

(8) oO [Bench/Jury trial] [Hearing] held/continued to at

9) im} This case is dismissed [with/without] prejudice and without costs[by/agreement/pursuant to]

COFRCP4(m) OGeneral Rule21 CIFRCP41(a)(1) 1 FRCP41(a\(2).

(to) «oi [Other docket entry] | Enter Memorandum Order. Answer J913, 14, 17-20 and 25 are stricken.
Accordingly all eight affirmative defenses are stricken as well. Because the matters identified here should
be readily curable, defense counsel is granted until February 22, 2002 to file a suitable amendment to the
answer in this Court’s chambers. Absent such a timely filing, all allegations of the complaint that
correspond to the stricken paragraphs in the Answer will be deemed admitted and all potential Ads will
be deemed to have been waived by defendants.

al @ [For further detail see order on the reverse side of the original minute order.]

No notices required, advised in open court. Document
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION

MOUNTAIN FUNDING-Z, INC.,
Plaintiff,

v. No. 02 C 121

DOCKETED

FEB 1 3 2002

JAMES B. GOLDENBERG, et al.,

Defendants.
MEMORANDUM _ ORDER

All three defendants in this diversity of citizenship action
brought against them by Mountain Funding-Z, Inc. have filed their
Answer to the Complaint, coupled with a counterclaim and a number
of affirmative defenses (“ADs”). This memorandum order is issued
sua sponte to require defense counsel to cure some patent flaws
in that responsive pleading.

To begin with, Answer §§13, 14, 17-20 and 25 decline to
respond to corresponding allegations in the Complaint--all of
which relate to the subordinate loan guaranty on which suit is
brought--“because the document speaks for itself.” But Fed. R.
Civ. P. (“Rule”) 8(b) does not confer such a right of self-
determination on a responding party--and even less so on such a
flawed notion of personification (see App. {3 to State Farm Mut.

Auto. Ins. Co. v. Riley, 199 F.R.D. 276, 279 (N.D. Ill. 2001)).

All of those nonresponsive paragraphs are therefore stricken.
As for defendants' ADs, they generally echo a number of the

labels set out in Rule 8(c)--but here the problem is one of


excessive generality. Every AD, even in the federal regime of
notice pleading, has to conform to a concept equivalent to that
set out in Rule 8(a): It must be stated in a manner that is
sufficient to apprise opposing counsel and the court of the basis
for the defense. That function is not satisfied by simply
parroting “doctrine of waiver,” “doctrine of estoppel” or any of
the other conclusory terms employed by defense counsel.
Accordingly all eight ADs are stricken as well.

Because the matters identified here should be readily
curable, defense counsel is granted until February 22, 2002 to
file a suitable amendment to the Answer in this Court's chambers
(with a copy of course served upon opposing counsel). Absent
such a timely filing, all allegations of the Complaint that
correspond to the stricken paragraphs in the Answer will be
deemed admitted and all potential ADs will be deemed to have been

waived (or more accurately, forfeited) by defendants.

Che Maul Lanrab

Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge

Date: February 11, 2002