Opinion ID: 197814
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Conversion of 12(b)(6) Motions

Text: 18 Plaintiffs allege that the district court improperly converted the series of 12(b)(6) motions at issue into motions for summary judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Plaintiffs argue that such a conversion is necessarily improper where defendants have offered no materials outside the pleadings and where the court has not given express notice of its intent to convert the motions. As a matter of law, plaintiffs are correct. However, a close reading of the district court opinion reveals that the court dismissed these claims based solely on the insufficiency of the pleadings, and we affirm on those grounds. 19 In Moody v. Town of Weymouth, 805 F.2d 30, 31 (1st Cir.1986), we held that when a district court fails to give express notice to the parties of its intention to convert a 12(b)(6) motion into a motion for summary judgment, there is no reversible error if the party opposing the motion (1) has received materials outside the pleadings, (2) has had an opportunity to respond to them, and (3) has not controverted their accuracy. The Moody exception to the rule that the district court must notify the parties of an intent to convert motions is limited, and unless the three factors listed above are present the exception does not apply. See Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito Aguada v. Kidder, Peabody & Co., 993 F.2d 269, 273 (1st Cir.1993) (in deciding a 12(b)(6) motion, a district court normally must either ignore extraneous materials or give the parties notice and an opportunity to respond to the conversion to a summary judgment motion). In the present case, the plaintiffs filed a detailed pleading with several documentary exhibits. Defendants argue that this fact alone put plaintiffs on notice that any 12(b)(6) motion could be converted into a 56(c) motion for summary judgment. This argument fundamentally misinterprets Moody and therefore fails. 20 Plaintiffs were therefore surprised to find that the district court had converted the motions. Throughout its opinion, the district court used language consistent with an award of summary judgment, ruling that Plaintiffs have failed to adduce sufficient evidence to create a material issue of fact. However, an opinion's plain language does not always mirror its plain logic, and while a quick perusal of the opinion might lead one to believe that the district court had applied the wrong standard of decision, looking past the terminology employed by the court reveals an opinion illustrating the legal insufficiency of the pleadings for each claim in this suit. See Garita Hotel Ltd. Partnership v. Ponce Fed. Bank, F.S.B., 958 F.2d 15, 18 (1st Cir.1992) (the determination of whether a district court has converted a 12(b)(6) motion is functional rather than mechanical). On that basis, we affirm the standard of decision actually employed by the district court, and we now examine each of the district court's rulings regarding the insufficiency of the pleadings in this case.