La Jolla Cove Investors, Inc. v. GoConnect Limited et al

Filing 43

ORDER granting 42 Joint Motion to File Amended Answer and Counterclaim: GoConnect SHALL FILE its amended answer and counterclaim within 7 days of the date this Order is electronically docketed. Signed by Judge Janis L. Sammartino on 4/18/12. (lmt)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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LA JOLLA COVE INVESTORS, INC. a
California corporation,

CASE NO. 11CV1907 JLS (JMA)

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ORDER RE JOINT MOTION RE
COUNTERCLAIM OF
GOCONNECT LIMITED

Plaintiff,
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vs.

(ECF No. 42)

GOCONNECT LIMITED, an Australian
corporation, and DOES 1–10, inclusive,
Defendants.

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Presently before the Court is the parties’ joint motion re counterclaim of GoConnect

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Limited (“GoConnect”). (Jt. Mot., ECF No. 42) On October 27, 2011, GoConnect filed an answer

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to La Jolla Cove Investors, Inc.’s (“La Jolla Cove”) original complaint, and also asserted a

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counterclaim. (ECF No. 11) Subsequently, La Jolla Cove filed an amended complaint, (ECF No.

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23), which GoConnect answered on January 27, 2012. (ECF No. 27) GoConnect did not,

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however, refile its counterclaim. Accordingly, the parties have now requested that the Court

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“[i]ssue an order confirming that the Counter-Claim filed on October 27, 2011 by

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GoConnect . . . is the operative Counter-Claim and has not been superseded by any subsequent

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pleading.” (Jt. Mot. 2, ECF No. 42)
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11cv1907

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As the parties are well aware, an amended pleading “supersedes the original, the latter

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being treated thereafter as nonexistent.” Loux v. Rhay, 375 F.2d 55, 75 (9th Cir. 1987). And so,

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here, GoConnect’s answer to La Jolla Cove’s amended complaint superseded the answer and

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counterclaim asserted in response to the original complaint. See 6 Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R.

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Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1476 (3d ed. 2010) (“[W]hen the

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complaint is amended defendant should be entitled to amend the answer to meet the contents of the

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new complaint and, if this is done, any admissions in the initial responsive pleading will be

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superseded by the amended answer.”).

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Notwithstanding the above, because the parties agree that GoConnect’s October 27, 2011,

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counterclaim was not intended to be superseded by its subsequent answer to the amended

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complaint, the Court will permit GoConnect to file an amended answer and counterclaim in

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response to the amended complaint. GoConnect SHALL FILE its amended answer and

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counterclaim (attached as Exhibit A to the instant motion) within seven days of the date this Order

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is electronically docketed.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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DATED: April 18, 2012
Honorable Janis L. Sammartino
United States District Judge

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11cv1907