Admiral Insurance Company v. Center Contracting Company of Central Florida, LLC et al

Filing 46

ORDER denying 38 Motion for Reconsideration. Signed by Judge William T. Moore, Jr on 04/17/2019. (evk)

r'^LED
C0UK7
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT :FOR;Kf|/\H DIV.
THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

SAVANNAH DIVISION

I 7 RH |:tj9

ADMIRAL INSURANCE COMPANY,

so. omr'CF GA.
Petitioner,
CASE NO. CV418-029

V.

CENTER CONTRACTING COMPANY OF

CENTRAL FLORIDA, LLC,
CONTRAVEST MANAGEMENT COMPANY,
TERESSA BLONDELL, ALVIN

BLONDELL, RAM PARTNERS, LLC,
and RICKEY INDUSTRIES, INC.,

Respondents.

ORDER

Before

the

Court

Reconsideration.

(Doc.

is

38.)

Petitioner's

After

Motion

carefully

for

reviewing

Petitioner's motion and the record in this case, the Court

can find no reason to disturb its prior order. Accordingly,
Petitioner's motion is DENIED.

In

its

motion.

Petitioner

asks

this

Court

to

reconsider that portion of its prior Order (Doc. 35) that
dismissed as moot Respondents Center Contracting Company of
Central

Florida,

Contravest

LLC's

Management

Company's

set aside default. (Doc.

"an

inquiry

in

to

("Center

Contracting")

("Contravest")

motion

and

to

38 at 2.) Petitioner argues that

subject

matter

jurisdiction

does

not

negate or moot motions that were pending before the Court
prior to the inquiry." (Id.)
''Under

the

Federal

Rules,

an

amended

complaint

supersedes the original complaint." Fritz v. Standard Sec.
Life Ins. Co. of New York, 676 F.2d 1356, 1358 (11th Cir.

1982). Thus, " 'the original pleading is abandoned by the
amendment,

averments
Dresdner

and

is

against
Bank

AG

no

his
in

longer

a

part

adversary.'

Hamburg

v.

"

M/V

of

the

pleader's

Dresdner

OLYMPIA

Bank

AG,

VOYAGER,

4 63

F.3d 1210, 1215 (11th Cir. 2006) (quoting Proctor & Gamble
Defense

Corp.

1945)).

Courts

renders

v.

moot

Bean,

146

routinely
motions

F.2d

find

598,

that

directed

an

601

n.7

(5th

amended

against

the

Cir.

complaint
original

complaint. See Robinson v. Wings of Alpharetta, Inc., No.
1:11-CV-01579, 2011 WL 13308540, at *3 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 19,

2011) (denying the defendants' motions to dismiss as moot
because the court was granting the plaintiff's motion to
file

an

amended

complaint);

Reeves

Constr.

Co.

v.

Baker

Constructors, Inc., No. 4:18-CV-73, 2019 WL 1292306, at *2
(S.D. Ga. Mar. 20, 2019) (denying as moot the defendant's
motion

to

dismiss

due

to

the

filing

of

the

plaintiff s

first amended complaint). In this case, the Clerk's entry

of

default

against

Respondent

Contravest

and

Respondent

Center Contracting (Doc. 13) and Respondents Contravest's

and Center Contracting's Motion to Set Aside Default (Doc.
15)

pertained

to

the

original

complaint

which

has

been

superseded by the amended complaint. The original complaint
is no longer the operative pleading before the Court and
any attendant default for failing to answer that complaint
is moot. Accordingly, the motion to set aside that default
is

also

rendered

complaint.

See

moot

due

Montgomery

to

the

Bank,

filing

N.A.

v.

of

the

Alico

amended

Rd.

Bus.

Park, LP, No. 2:13-CV-802, 2014 WL 757994, at *2 (M.D. Fla.
Feb. 26, 2014) (collecting cases).
This

Court also

notes the

Eleventh

Circuit's "strong

preference for deciding cases on the merits—not based on a
single missed deadline—whenever reasonably possible." Perez
V. Wells Farqo N.A., 774 F.3d 1329, 1332 (11th Cir. 2014);

Wahl V. Mclver, 773 F.2d 1169, 1174 (11th Cir. 1985) ("[W]e

must respect the usual preference that cases be heard on
the merits rather than resorting to sanctions that deprive
a

litigant

Petitioner's

of

his

Motion

day
for

in

court.").

Reconsideration

Accordingly,
(Doc.

38)

is

DENIED.

SO ORDERED this

day of April 2019.

WILLIAM T. MOORE,
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN

DISTRICT OF GEORGIA