Inglis v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

Filing 33

ORDER granting 28 Defendant Wells Fargo Bank N.A.'s Motion to Stay All Discovery Pending Court's Ruling on its Pending Motion to Dismiss. The parties will have fourteen (14) days from the date of the Court's Order on the Motion to Dismiss to meet for the case management conference. The parties will have fourteen (14) days from the date of the case management conference to file their Case Management Report with the Court. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol Mirando on 5/18/2015. (ANW)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
RICHARD K. INGLIS, as Special
Trustee to the trust under the will of
Rosa B. Schweiker, dated February 2,
1961, the Frederick W. Berlinger
Revocable Deed of Trust, dated
10/17/1991, as amended and restated.
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 2:14-cv-677-FtM-29CM

WELLS FARGO BANK N.A.,
Defendant.
ORDER
Before the Court is Defendant Wells Fargo Bank N.A.’s Motion to Stay All
Discovery Pending Court's Ruling on its Pending Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 28), filed
on April 8, 2015. Plaintiff filed its response in opposition on April 9, 2015. Doc. 32.
Defendant requests to stay discovery of this matter pending a ruling by the Court on
its Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 8), which asserts res judicata and Plaintiff’s failure to
state a claim.
The Eleventh Circuit has noted that “[f]acial challenges to the legal sufficiency
of a claim or defense, such as a motion to dismiss based on failure to state a claim for
relief, should . . . be resolved before discovery begins. Such a dispute always presents
a purely legal question; there are no issues of fact because the allegations contained
in the pleading are presumed to be true.” Chudasama v. Mazda Motor Corp., 123
F.3d 1353, 1367 (11th Cir. 1983). “Therefore, neither the parties nor the court have

any need for discovery before the court rules on the motion.” Id.; Horsley v. Feldt,
304 F.3d 1125, 1131 n.2 (11th Cir. 2002). However, Chadsuma does not stand for
the proposition that all discovery in every circumstance should be stayed pending a
decision on a motion to dismiss.

Koock v. Sugar & Felsenthal, LLP, 2009 WL

2579307, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 19, 2009). “Instead, Chudasama and its progeny
‘stand for the much narrower proposition that courts should not delay ruling on a
likely meritorious motion to dismiss while undue discovery costs mount.’” Id. (citing

In re Winn Dixie Stores, Inc., 2007 WL 1877887, at *1 (M.D. Fla. June 28, 2007)).
In deciding whether to stay discovery pending resolution of a motion to dismiss,
the Court must balance the harm produced by a delay in discovery against the
possibility that the motion will be granted and entirely eliminate the need for such
discovery. McCabe v. Foley, 233 F.R.D. 683, 685 (M.D. Fla. 2006) (citation omitted).
To this end, the court must take a “preliminary peek” at the merits of the dispositive
motion to see if it “appears to be clearly meritorious and truly case dispositive.” Id.
(citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
Defendant argues that it would be a waste of judicial and party resources to
conduct discovery at this juncture because if Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is
granted, it will extinguish the entire action. Doc. 28 at 4. Because the pending
Motion to Dismiss challenges the legal sufficiency of the complaint, the Court will
stay discovery until the resolution of the Motion to Dismiss. Moreover, discovery is
premature at this time as the parties have not conducted their case management
conference or submitted their Case Management Report to the Court.

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ACCORDINGLY, it is hereby
ORDERED:
1.

Defendant Wells Fargo Bank N.A.’s Motion to Stay All Discovery

Pending Court's Ruling on its Pending Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 28) is GRANTED. All
discovery is STAYED pending the Court’s ruling on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss
(Doc. 8).
2.

The parties will have fourteen (14) days from the date of the Court’s

Order on the Motion to Dismiss to meet for the case management conference. At that
time, the parties may agree on a deadline for Defendant to respond to Plaintiff’s
Request for Production, Interrogatories, and Request for Admissions.
3.

The parties will have fourteen (14) days from the date of the case

management conference to file their Case Management Report with the Court.
DONE and ORDERED in Fort Myers, Florida on this 18th day of May, 2015.

Copies:
Counsel of record

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