Moore v. Balthellas Chartering SA et al

Filing 12

ORDER granting Moore's unopposed 11 Motion to Add Party. It is hereby ORDERED that Mid-South Feeds, Inc. is made a party defendant to this action, Unterio Moore will amend his complaint accordingly within 14 days of today's Order, and Moore will cause a copy of the amended complaint to be served upon all party defendants in accordance with law. Signed by Chief Judge Lisa G. Wood on 4/3/2017. (ca)

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FILED
Scott L. Poff, Clerk
United States District Court

By casbell at 2:19 pm, Apr 03, 2017

UNTERIO MOORE,

Plaintiff,
No. 2:16-CV-120

V.

PALANGA SPIRIT, in rem;
BALTHELLAS CHARTERING SA; and
PALANGA SPIRIT NAVIGATION,
LTD.;
Defendants.

ORDER

Plaintiff Unterio Moore's unopposed Motion to Add Party,
dkt.

no.

11,

is

GRANTED.

Federal

Rule

of Civil

Procedure

19(a)(1)(A) requires addition of a person ^'subject to service

of process . . . whose joinder will not deprive the court of
subject-matter jurisdiction" if,
the

court

parties."

cannot

accord

^'in that person's absence,

complete

relief

among

existing

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 allows the Court

to, ^'on just terms, add . . . a party."
Moore seeks to add Mid-South Feeds, Inc.

he

was

injured

while

working

as

a

He alleges that

longshoreman

aboard

the

Palanga Spirit; the Palanga Spirit was under a time charter
between

A0 72A

(Rev. 8/82)

Defendant

Palanga

Spirit

Navigation,

Ltd.

and

Mid-

South

Feeds, Inc. at the time; and he has ''been unable to

conclusively establish [Mid-South Feeds, Inc.'s] relationship
to Defendants."

Dkt. No. 11 at 1-2.

It thus appears that the

Court cannot afford complete relief unless Mid-South Feeds,
Inc. is added.

It further seems that Mid-South Feeds, Inc. is

subject to service of process, as Moore presented evidence
that it is a Georgia corporation.

Dkt. No. 11-3.

Lastly, it

does not appear that Mid-South Feeds, Inc.'s joinder would
destroy the Court's subject-matter jurisdiction, as there is
an action under admiralty and other federal laws here, and so
the

Court

could

retain

supplemental

jurisdiction

other claims even in the absence of total diversity.

over

the

Dkt. No.

1 f 28; Am. Hous. Preservation Corp. v. NEF Assignment Corp.,

No. CV414-004, 2015 WL 1419508, at *2 n.2 (S.D. Ga. Mar. 27,
2015).

Thus,

the

present

motion

is

GRANTED.

It

is

hereby

ORDERED that Mid-South Feeds, Inc. is made a party defendant

to

this

action,

Unterio

Moore

will

amend

his

complaint

accordingly within 14 days of today's Order, and Moore will
cause a copy of the amended complaint to be served upon all
party defendants in accordance with law.

so ORDERED, this 3rd day of April, 2017.

LISA GODBEY WOOD, CHIEF JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

A0 72A

(Rev. 8/82)