OPINION & ORDER Plaintiff Branded Apparel Group LLC (“Branded”), a clothing supplier, brings this action against defendant Joshua Muthart, president and sole owner of Branded’s sales representative, Supreme Showroom, Inc. (“Supreme”). Branded alleges that Muthart, as Supreme’s principal, breached a fiduciary duty of loyalty to Branded-and aided in Supreme’s breach of the same duty-when Supreme, under contract with Branded, negotiated with and later represented one of Branded’s competitors. Pending now is Muthart’s motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint on the ground that he cannot be held individually liable for Supreme’s conduct.On August 23, 2018, the Court commissioned supplemental briefing on whether this case (the “New Action”) should be dismissed as duplicative of Supreme Showroom, Inc. v. Branded Apparel Group LLC, 16 Civ. 5211 (PAE) (the “Related Action”). See Dkt. 30.1 That case, which is pending, was filed in this Court in June 2016. Most recently, in June 2018, the Court issued a decision largely denying the parties’ cross-motions for partial summary judgment. The effect of that decision was to preserve for trial most of Branded’s counterclaims, including one, relevant here, asserting that Supreme breached its fiduciary duty of loyalty to Branded by undertaking the allegedly conflicted representation described above.On review of the parties’ supplemental submissions, the Court is persuaded that the New Action is duplicative of the Related Action, and that the proper remedy is dismissal of the New Action. Accordingly, the Court declines to address the merits of Muthart’s motion to dismiss, and instead dismisses this action as duplicative.I. BackgroundA. The Related ActionOn June 30, 2016, Supreme filed the initial complaint in the Related Action. Related Action Dkt. 1. Supreme alleged primarily that Branded had breached the parties’ “Sales Representative Agreement” (and, later, an unwritten agreement with similar terms) by failing to pay Supreme agreed-upon commissions and showroom fees. See id.
9, 16-20. After Supreme filed a first and second amended complaint, see Related Action Dkts. 10, 18, on October 7, 2016, Branded filed an answer asserting several counterclaims against Supreme, see Related Action Dkt. 21.2 Relevant here, Branded alleged that Supreme, acting through Muthart, had surreptitiously agreed to act as sales representative for Gant, one of Branded’s competitors, and in that capacity had favored Gant’s products over Branded’s. See Branded Counterclaims
