Chartis Specialty Insurance Company et al v. United States of America

Filing 114

AMENDED ORDER by Judge Edward M. Chen granting 105 Plaintiffs' Request for Leave to File a Motion for Reconsideration (emclc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/2/2014)

Download PDF
1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 8 CHARTIS SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, et al., 9 Plaintiffs, 10 v. 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court No. C-13-1527 EMC UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 12 ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ REQUEST FOR LEAVE TO FILE A MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION Defendant. ___________________________________/ (Docket No. 105) 13 14 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff Chartis Specialty Insurance Company’s (“Chartis”) 15 request for leave to file a motion for reconsideration. Chartis' request is GRANTED and the 16 proposed motion for reconsideration, located at docket number 105-1, will be filed. 17 The Court concludes that Plaintiff's reliance on the Ninth Circuit's recent decision in 18 ASARCO, LLC v. Union Pacific R.R. Co., 765 F.3d 999 (9th Cir. 2014), as intervening authority is 19 misplaced. ASARCO addressed a narrow question of first impression regarding the application of 20 Rule 15's relation back doctrine: “Can an amended pleading relate back if it includes allegations that 21 were expressly disclaimed in the original pleading?” Id. at 1005. Chartis’ original complaint in this 22 action did not expressly disclaim any claim or allegation later alleged in the First Amended 23 Complaint. ASARCO did not break new ground in any way material to this case. Accordingly, 24 Chartis has failed to meet the standard for reconsideration under N.D. Cal. Local Rule 7-9(b). 25 Despite the fact that Chartis’ “motion is technically defective, the Court nonetheless has the 26 inherent authority to revisit and modify any interlocutory orders at any time prior to final 27 judgement.” Gong v. City of Alameda, No. C03-5495 TEH, 2007 WL 1223693, at *1 (N.D. Cal. 28 Apr. 24, 2007). “A district court may reconsider and reverse a previous interlocutory decision for 1 any reason it deems sufficient, even in the absence of new evidence or an intervening change in or 2 clarification of controlling law.” Abada v. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., 127 F. Supp. 2d 1101, 1102 3 (S.D. Cal. 2000). 4 Chartis is correct that the Court in its prior order on the United States’ motion to dismiss 5 determined, sua sponte, that the statute of limitations for Chartis’ subrogration claims should be 6 based on the date of the filing of the First Amended Complaint. Accordingly, the Court did not have 7 the benefit of briefing by the parties on whether the subrogration claims should relate back to the 8 filing of the original complaint for purposes of the statute of limitations. Chartis’ motion for 9 reconsideration raises a substantial question as to whether its subrogation claim should be deemed to 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 relate back to the filing of the original complaint. The United States is ORDERED to file a response to Chartis’ substantive arguments in 12 favor of applying the relation back doctrine in these circumstances. This response shall not exceed 13 seven pages and shall be filed by Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 5:00pm. Chartis may file a reply 14 not to exceed three pages by Tuesday, December 16, 2014 at 5:00pm. 15 This order disposes of docket number 105. 16 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 19 Dated: December 2, 2014 20 _________________________ EDWARD M. CHEN United States District Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?