Impossible Foods Inc. v. Impossible LLC, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California grants Impossible Foods Inc.’s motion to strike four affirmative defenses—waiver, acquiescence, estoppel, and unclean hands—because they lacked sufficient factual matter and fair notice. The court grants Defendants leave to amend and sets a deadline of July 2, 2025, for filing the amended pleading.

Holdings

1. Affirmative defenses must include sufficient factual matter to provide fair notice of their factual basis; bare legal conclusions unsupported by factual allegations are insufficient.
2. Defendants should be granted one opportunity to amend the deficient affirmative defenses because the record did not establish undue delay, bad faith, futility, repeated failure to cure, or undue prejudice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether defendants' bare allegations of waiver, acquiescence, estoppel, and unclean hands sufficiently pleaded affirmative defenses under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f) and the applicable fair-notice standard.
2. Whether defendants should receive leave to amend the stricken affirmative defenses.

Disposition

other