Piper v. Pioneer Plastics, LLC et al

Filing 14

ORDER denying 7 Motion to Consolidate Cases. Signed by Honorable Jimm Larry Hendren on March 5, 2009. (lw)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS HARRISON DIVISION PAUL PIPER, JR. v. Civil No. 09-3001 PLAINTIFF

PIONEER PLASTICS, LLC, an Arkansas Limited Liability Company; and AMERICAN ACQUISITION, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company ORDER Now on this 5th day of March, 2009,

DEFENDANTS

comes

on

for

consideration Defendant American Acquisition, LLC's Motion To Consolidate (document #7), and from said motion, and the response thereto, the Court finds and orders as follows: 1. Plaintiff Paul Piper, Jr. ("Piper") requests that this

case be consolidated with another case pending in this district. Defendants object to consolidation. and ripe for decision. 2. F.R.C.P. 42(a) provides that actions which "involve a The matter is fully briefed

common question of law or fact" may be consolidated or joined for hearing or trial on any or all matters. held that the threshold issue is The Eighth Circuit has the cases to be

whether

consolidated involve both a common party and common issues of fact or law. Consolidation is permitted as a matter of convenience and economy, but it "does not merge the suits into a single cause, or change the rights of the parties, or make those who are parties in one suit parties in another." Enterprise Bank v. Saettele, 21

F.3d 233, 235 (8th Cir. 1994)(internal citations and quotation marks omitted). 3. Plaintiff objects to consolidation, and points out that

it would be premature to consolidate this action with Case No. 085263. The Court agrees, given that there is no evidence that any

defendant in Case No. 08-5263 has been served, although that case was filed and summons issued on December 19, 2008. The motion

will, therefore, be denied, but without prejudice to its renewal should circumstances change. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendant American Acquisition, LLC's Motion To Consolidate (document #7) is denied. IT IS SO ORDERED. /s/ Jimm Larry Hendren JIMM LARRY HENDREN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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