Opinion
No. 09 C 1497.
July 8, 2009
MEMORANDUM ORDER
This previously dismissed and now refiled action is currently embodied in a First Amended Complaint ("FAC") that comprises no fewer than 291 paragraphs. Not surprisingly, the responsive pleadings that have been received to this point — one filed jointly by Illinois Development Services Corporation ("Illinois Development") and Anthony Bruno ("Bruno") and the other filed by Roy McCampbell ("McCampbell") — include batteries of affirmative defenses ("ADs") in addition to answering the FAC. And unlike the often-encountered situation in which a skeletal assertion of such defenses does not satisfy the concept of notice pleading applicable to both plaintiffs and defendants in the federal system, here a number of the ADs are pretty much self-explanatory and call for an early response from plaintiffs' counsel that may cabin the disputed issues in a meaningful way.
Accordingly plaintiffs' counsel is ordered to file a memorandum on or before July 24, 2009 responding to the limitations and immunity defenses set out in Illinois Development-Bruno ADs 1 through 7 and in McCampbell ADs 1 through 3 and 5 through 11. In light of the number and variety of those ADs, that response will not be subject to a 15-page limitation. This Court retains the status hearing now set for 9 a.m. July 28, 2009 to discuss future proceedings in the case.
This memorandum order is of course not necessarily exhaustive. If and to the extent that plaintiffs wish to target other ADs, they must do so by an appropriately-noticed motion or motions of proposed presentment.