Boeynaems v. LA Fitness - ED Pa. - September 12, 2011
Section 205 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts states that “[e]very contract imposes on each party a duty of good faith and fair dealing in its performance and its enforcement[.]” Kamco Indus. Sales, Inc. V. Lovejoy, Inc., No. 09-1407, 2011 WL 891825, at -24-*7 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 10, 2011) (Pollak, J.) (quoting Ash v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 932 A.2d 877, 884 n. 2 (Pa. 2007)).
Many courts sitting in diversity have predicted that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will adopt Section 205 to hold that every contract includes an implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. See id. at *8 (collecting cases). However, even the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recognized a conflict amongst Pennsylvania lower courts regarding whether that implied duty creates a cause of action. Id.
As the undersigned discussed at length recently, concerning claims by contracting parties, in Goleman v. York Intern. Corp., No. 11–1328, 2011 WL 3330423 (E.D. Pa. Aug. 3, 2011) (Baylson, J.), “[u]ntil the Pennsylvania Supreme Court holds otherwise, this Court is inclined to conclude there is no independent cause of action for breach of a duty of good faith and fair
dealing.” Id. at *6-7 (citing Duquesne Light Co. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 66 F.3d 604, 617 (3d Cir. 1995)). See also LSI Title Agency, Inc. v. Evaluation Servs., Inc., 951 A.2d 384, 391
(Pa. Super. Ct. 2008) (“This court finds that Pennsylvania law would not recognize a claim for breach of [a] covenant of good faith and fair dealing as an independent cause of action separate
from the breach of contract claim since the actions forming the basis of the breach of contract claim are essentially the same as the actions forming the basis of the bad faith claim.”). The
Court concludes, instead, that “a breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing merges with a breach of contract claim.” Zaloga v. Provident Life and Accident Ins. Co. of Am.,
671 F. Supp. 2d 623, 631 (M.D. Pa. 2009) (Kosik, J.) (citing Meyer v. Cuna Mut. Group, No. 03-CV-602, 2007 WL 2907276, at *14-15 (W.D. Pa. Sept. 28, 2007)). Consistent with the Court’s interpretation of Pennsylvania law, the Boeynams Plaintiffs have, in fact, subsumed their allegations of Defendant’s breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing within their breach of contracts claims.
Plaintiffs’ allegations regarding the breach of this implied duty simply incorporate by reference the allegations supporting the breach of contract claims and Plaintiffs allege no additional facts in support. The Court has determined that Boeynams and the Cohens have failed to state a claim for breach of contract and, thus, cannot raise an independent claim for the breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. To the extent that Silver has stated a claim for breach of contract and attempts to rely on those identical facts in support for a contractual good faith claim, this Court concludes that such a claim must merge with Silver’s breach of contract claim.
While Florida law recognized an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing associated with every contract, “a breach of this covenant – standing alone – does not create an independent cause of action.” Intertape Polymer Corp. v. Inspired Technologies, Inc., No. 6:09-cv-289-Orl-GAP-GJK, 2010 WL 2776510, at *4 (M.D. Fla. July 14, 2010) (Presnell, J.) (citing Centurion Air Cargo v. UPS Co., 420 F.3d 1146, 1151 (11th Cir. 2005)). Such a claim must not only attach to the “performance of a specific contractual obligation,” Onuss Ortak Nokta Uluslararasi Haberlesme Sistem Servis Bilgisayar Yazilim Danismanlik ve Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi v. Terminal Exchange, LLC, No. 09-80720-CIV-MARRA, 2010 WL 935972, 3 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 10, 2010) (Marra, J.) (citing Centurion Air, 420 F.3d at 1151; Snow v. Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell, P.A., 896 So. 2d 787, 792 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2005)), it “cannot be advanced when the allegations underlying that claim are duplicative of the allegations supporting the breach of contract claim[,]” id. (citing Enola Contracting Svcs, Inc. v. URS Group, Inc., No. 5:08cv2-RS-EMT, -26- 2008 WL 1844612, at* 3 (N.D. Fla. Apr. 23, 2008); Trief v. Am. Gen.Life Ins. Co., 444 F. Supp. 2d 1268, 1270 (S.D. Fla. 2006); Shibata v. Lim, 133 F. Supp. 2d 1311, 1319 (M.D. Fla. 2000)).
