American Packing and Crating of GA, LLC v. Resin Partners, Inc.

Filing 20

ORDER granting 17 Motion to Amend re 1 Complaint ; granting 18 Motion for Discovery. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 2/22/2016. (loh)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
AMERICAN PACKING AND
CRATING OF GA, LLC,
Plaintiff,
v.
Case No. CV415-256
RESIN PARTNERS, INC. a
Subsidiary of KETER PLASTICS,
LTD., an Israeli Corporation d/b/a
KETER NORTH AMERICA,
Defendant.

ORDER
In this breach of contract case, plaintiff American Packing and
Crating of Georgia, LLC (APC) moves to amend its Complaint to add two
additional defendants (doc. 17), and for jurisdictional discovery to ensure
that one of those defendants, Keter North America, does not destroy
diversity. 1 Doc. 18.

1

A bit of procedural background: defendant Resin Partners has moved to dismiss the
Complaint (doc. 10), claiming that APC has sued the wrong party (defendant
contends that APC should have sued Keter North America, not Resin). The Court
recently refused to stay discovery in light of that motion because, after a preliminary
peek (the motion to dismiss is before the district judge, not the undersigned), it
appeared that it was no “slam-dunk.” Doc. 16 at 5.

The motion to amend seeks to add Keter Plastics, Ltd. and Keter
North America (“Keter entities”) as defendants. Doc. 17. Observing
that (1) Resin will suffer no prejudice from those additions, (2) discovery
hasn’t yet begun, and (3) Resin moved to dismiss and thus hasn’t
answered, APC argues that joining the Keter entities in this action “will
allow full adjudication of Plaintiff’s claims” since they “are the same
claims that AP[I] has already brought against Resin.” Doc. 17 at 3-4.
In its motion for discovery, APC points out that Keter North
America is an LLC, and thus all its members must be diverse from APC’s
in order to maintain complete diversity. Doc. 18 at 1-2. APC believes
that’s the case, but nevertheless wants “an Order allowing it to conduct
jurisdictional discovery to determine the citizenship of the members of
Keter North America” just to make sure. Id. at 2.
Upon review, the Court finds both motions supported and
appropriate. Because they also are unopposed per Local Rule 7.5 (no
response means no opposition), APC’s motion to amend (doc. 17) and
motion for jurisdictional discovery (doc. 18) are GRANTED .

SO ORDERED , this 22nd day of February, 2016.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA