BP West Coast Products LLC v. Crossroad Petroleum, Inc. et al

Filing 661

ORDER granting #654 Leave to File Motion for Summary Judgment. BP shall file its Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and supporting memorandum on or before February 28, 2017. The Lacey Defendants shall file their Opposition on or before March 30, 2017. BP shall file its response, if any, on or before April 17, 2017. Signed by Judge Janis L. Sammartino on 12/19/2016. (kcm)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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BP WEST COAST PRODUCTS, LLC,
Plaintiff and Counter-Defendant,
v.

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Case No.: 12cv665 JLS (JLB) Lead Case

ORDER GRANTING LEAVE TO
FILE MOTION FOR SUMMARY
JUDGMENT

CROSSROAD PETROLEUM, INC., ET
AL.,

(ECF No. 654)

Defendants and Counter-Claimants.
AND RELATED CONSOLIDATED
ACTIONS

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Presently before the Court is Plaintiff and Counter-Defendant BP West Coast

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Products, LLC’s (“BP”) Motion for Leave to File Motion for Partial Summary Judgment

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(“Leave Request”). (ECF No. 654.) Although the deadline for filing dispositive motions

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was set for April 15, 2016, (ECF Nos. 318, 486), BP requests leave to file a post-deadline

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Motion for Partial Summary Judgment “directed to one discrete issue: unpaid motor

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fuel[,]” (Mot. 1).

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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 permits a party to bring a motion for summary

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judgment “at any time until 30 days after the close of all discovery.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(b).

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However, Rule 56 also allows the deadline by which a party may bring a motion for

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summary judgment to be extended or shortened by “local rule or . . . court order[] . . . .”

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Id. “[S]o long as no prejudice results, the policies underlying [Rule] 56 favor extending
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12cv665 JLS (JLB) Lead Case

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the time in which summary judgment motions may be made when material facts are

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undisputed, and one of the parties is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”

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Tungjunyatham v. Johanns, No. 1:06-CV-01764-SMS, 2010 WL 1797264, at *2 (E.D. Cal.

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May 4, 2010) (citing Util. Control Corp. v. Prince William Constr. Co., 558 F.2d 716, 719

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(4th Cir. 1977)).

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In support of BP’s Leave Request, BP notes that: (1) it did, in fact, file motions for

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summary judgment prior to the dispositive motion deadline, (id. at 3); (2) that resolution

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of the remaining unpaid motor fuel claims will likely “eliminate the need for trial against”

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six Defendants and Counter-Claimants and thus narrow the issues such that those

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remaining can all be disposed of in one trial, (id.); (3) Defendants and Counter-Claimants

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have adequate notice of BP’s leave request and potential summary judgment filing, (id. at

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3–4); and (4) BP’s request is not the product of negligence, carelessness, or mistake[,]” but

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instead is designed “to expedite finality of claims in the most efficient form—briefing

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rather than a jury trial[,]” (id. at 3). Additionally, resolving the claims for unpaid motor

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fuel will likely implicate limited factual and legal issues, all of which have been narrowed

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by discovery. (See id. at 2–3.) Finally, litigation is unable to proceed for at least the next

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three months due to the Lacey Defendants’ Counsel’s recent accident. (See ECF Nos. 659,

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660.)

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Given the foregoing, and good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS BP’s Leave

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Request. However, the Court is mindful that Counsel for the Lacey Defendants will be

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unable to respond for at least ninety days. Accordingly, the Court sets the following

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12cv665 JLS (JLB) Lead Case

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briefing schedule for BP’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment. BP SHALL FILE its

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Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and supporting memorandum on or before February

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28, 2017. The Lacey Defendants SHALL FILE their Opposition on or before March 30,

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2017.1 BP SHALL FILE its response, if any, on or before April 17, 2017.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: December 19, 2016

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This is fourteen days after the next scheduled hearing and several weeks after the end of the period during
which Ms. Lacey’s doctor advised the Court that Ms. Lacey’s “cases must be stayed or delayed . . . .”
(Lacey Decl. 5, ECF No. 657.) However, should the Lacey Defendants need more time to file their
Opposition due to further medical complications, they may of course move the Court for additional time.
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12cv665 JLS (JLB) Lead Case