French et al v. Allstate Indemnity Company

Filing 202

ORDER granting 178 Motion for Leave to Amend Pre-Trial Order. The pretrial order is hereby amended to add paragraph 26(a)under the list of contested issues of fact, which paragraph shall state "Whether Allstate timely initiated loss adjustment on the contents claim?". Signed by Judge Carl Barbier on 01/13/2009. (Reference: All Cases)(mmm, )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA KATHRYN FRENCH, ET AL VERSUS ALLSTATE INDEMNITY COMPANY, ET AL ORDER Before the Court is the plaintiffs' Motion for Leave to Amend Pretrial Order (Rec Doc. 178). This motion, which is CIVIL ACTION NO: 06-8251 Ref. All Cases SECTION: "J" (1)

opposed, was set for expedited hearing and taken under advisement on January 7, 2009 on the briefs. Upon review of the record, the

memoranda of counsel, and the applicable law, this Court now finds that plaintiffs' motion should be granted. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(e) provides that a pretrial order "shall be modified only to prevent manifest injustice." Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(e). The Fifth Circuit has

instructed that "an amendment to a pretrial order should be permitted where no substantial injury will be occasioned to the opposing party, the refusal to allow the amendment might result in injustice to the movant, and the inconvenience to the court is

slight."

DP Solutions, Inc. v. Rollins, Inc., 353 F.3d 421, 435

(5th Cir. 2003)(quoting Sherman v. United States, 462 F.2d 577, 579 (5th Cir. 1972)). Considering the claims in the complaint

and the contested issues of fact already listed in the pretrial order, there would be no substantial injury and no inconvenience occasioned by permitting this amendment to the pretrial order, which might avoid some injustice. Accordingly,

IT IS ORDERED that the plaintiffs' Motion for Leave to Amend Pretrial Order (Rec Doc. 178) is hereby GRANTED. The pretrial order is hereby amended to add paragraph 26(a)under the list of contested issues of fact, which paragraph shall state "Whether Allstate timely initiated loss adjustment on the contents claim?" New Orleans, Louisiana, this 13th day of January, 2009.

_____________________________ CARL J. BARBIER UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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