McNamara v. Natural Organics, Inc., No. 10 C 3544, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 1, 2010) (Shadur, Sen. J.).
Judge Shadur denied defendant’s motion to stay this false patent marking case pending the Federal Circuit’s standing decision in Stauffer (Stauffer has since been decided). The Court also dismissed plaintiff’s second amended complaint for failure to plead the requisite intent to deceive pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) heightened pleading standards. Plaintiff attempted to plead intent upon information and belief using a nine-year-old statement made on defendant’s behalf about its skilled legal representative in an FTC proceeding. But that quoted language referred to a lawyer who was deceased, and he had passed away even before the FTC proceeding. Because plaintiff had already been given two chances to replead, the Court dismissed the case.