Allied Atlantic, Inc. et al v. The Georgia Department of Transportation

Filing 20

ORDER denying 18 Motion for Reconsideration. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 4/16/13. (wwp)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
ALLIED ATLANTIC, INC.,
ALLIED ATLANTIC MARINE, INC.,
Plaintiff,
Case No. CV412-277

V.

THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION,
Defendant.

Plaintiffs have alleged that their vessel was destroyed by the
negligence of a Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) bridge
tender, whose failure to raise a waterway bridge high enough caused the
prototype ship's mast to smash into the bottom of the bridge. Doe. 1.
Asserting Eleventh Amendment immunity, GDOT moved to dismiss.
Doe. 4. That motion is before the district judge. So is plaintiffs' motion
for summary judgment on liability. Doe. 11.
The undersigned granted GDOT's emergency motion (doe. 15) for a
protective order, relieving it of discovery expense pending the district
judge's ruling on whether GDOT is an arm of the state and thus immune

under the Eleventh Amendment. Doc. 17. "Because the Court ha[d]
not waited for plaintiffs to file a response brief," however, "they [were]

Id. at 5. The Court said that on

free to move for reconsideration."

January 28, 2013. Doc. 17. Plaintiffs moved to reconsider on March 11,
2013. Doc. 18.
The Court agrees with GDOT that plaintiffs "have submitted
nothing new in their Motion for Reconsideration," doc. 19 at 2, and that
what they did present is essentially argument best directed to the district
judge on GDOT's dismissal motion. Were this Court to reach the
argument, it would risk treading on the district judge's analysis. And
nothing the plaintiffs have said has diminished the Court's prior ruling
that GDOT likely will be found immune, thus warranting the discovery
stay.
Hence, plaintiff's reconsideration motion (doc. 18) is DENIED.
SO ORDERED this / day of April, 2013.

UNITER STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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