Nichols Nursery Inc. v. Lobdell, N17C-05-001 ALR

Nichols Nursery, Inc. (Plaintiff) sued Scott Lobdell, Brian Ellis, Delaware Sports Complex, LLC (DSC), and Daniel Watson alleging breach of contract and tort claims; Lobdell proceeded pro se.
Lobdell moved to dismiss under Superior Court Civil Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim; Ellis did not appear.
DSC filed for bankruptcy on May 23, 2017, triggering an automatic stay as to DSC in federal bankruptcy court.
DSC moved to stay the entire state-court action, asserting the bankruptcy filing required a stay of claims against non-debtor parties; Plaintiff opposed both motions.
The Superior Court evaluated the sufficiency of the complaint against Lobdell under the 12(b)(6) standard and considered whether to stay the action as to individual defendants given DSC’s bankruptcy.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether complaint should be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) as to Lobdell	Complaint adequately alleges facts giving notice and could allow recovery under conceivable proofs	Complaint fails to state a claim as matter of law	Denied — allegations accepted as true; plausible relief conceivably available to Plaintiff
Whether DSC’s bankruptcy requires staying claims against non-debtors	Stay of entire action is unnecessary; Plaintiff opposes broad stay	Bankruptcy filing mandates stay of related proceedings, including actions touching DSC and associated individuals	Court rejected automatic imputation of stay to non-debtors and declined broad stay
Whether court should exercise its discretionary authority to stay proceedings against individual defendants	Proceedings should continue against individuals not protected by automatic stay	DSC requested discretionary stay under Superior Court Civil Rule 41(g) to pause entire action	Court declined to exercise discretion to stay individual defendants; instead imposed limited 90-day stay
Duration and scope of any stay	Plaintiff opposed extended stay; wants prompt resolution against individuals	DSC sought a stay of entire action pending bankruptcy resolution	Court granted a 90-day stay for parties seeking bankruptcy protection to apply to bankruptcy court; stay lifts after 90 days unless bankruptcy court extends it

Ramunno v. Cawley, 705 A.2d 1029 (Del. 1998) (12(b)(6) standard: accept well-pleaded allegations and draw inferences for non-movant)
Spence v. Funk, 396 A.2d 967 (Del. 1978) (complaint need only provide notice; dismiss only when recovery is not reasonably conceivable)