Reno Technology Center 1, LLC v. New Cingular Wireless PCS, LLC
Filing
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ORDER that RTC's motion for reconsideration (ECF No. 39 ) is DENIED. Signed by Judge Larry R. Hicks on 8/16/2019. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - LH)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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DISTRICT OF NEVADA
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Case No. 3:17-cv-00410-LRH-WGC
RENO TECHNOLOGY
CENTER 1, LLC.,
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ORDER
Plaintiff,
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v.
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NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS
PCS LLC,
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Defendant.
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Plaintiff Reno Technology Center 1, LLC (“RTC”) has filed a motion for reconsideration
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of the Court’s summary judgment order (ECF No. 37). (ECF No. 39). In the Court’s previous
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order, the Court denied RTC’s motion for summary judgment and denied the defendant New
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Cingular Wireless PCS LLC’s (“AT&T”) motion for summary judgment in part and granted it in
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part. RTC now requests partial reconsideration of the Court’s denial of its motion for summary
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judgment. RTC argues that the Court “mistakenly held” that the site lease agreement, whereby
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RTC agreed to lease space on the rooftop of a building it owned to AT&T, no longer existed at the
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time of this litigation. (ECF No. 39 at 4). It also argues that the Court erred when it found that
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AT&T’s failure to install a separate power meter and “pay all costs associated therewith” was not
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a “contractual debt.” (Id.)
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Although the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not explicitly allow for an aggrieved
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party to seek reconsideration of a court’s judgment, federal courts have typically construed such
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requests as falling under Rule 59(e). A district court may reconsider a prior order only where the
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court is presented with newly discovered evidence, an intervening change of controlling law, the
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original decision was manifestly unjust, or where the prior order was clearly erroneous. United
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States v. Cuddy, 147 F.3d 1111, 1114 (9th Cir. 1998); School Dist. No. 1J, Multnomah County v.
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AcandS, Inc., 5 F.3d 1255, 1263 (9th Cir. 1993). Motions for reconsideration are “extraordinary
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remed[ies],” and they should only be used “sparingly in the interests of finality and conservation
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of judicial resources.” Kona Enters., Inc. v. Estate of Bishop, 229 F.3d 887, 890 (9th Cir. 2000).
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Whether or not to grant reconsideration is within the sound discretion of the district court. Navajo
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Nation v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation, 331 F.3d 1041, 1046 (9th
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Cir. 2003).
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RTC is mistaken when it states that the Court believed that the site lease agreement was
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terminated at some point prior to this litigation. In the factual background section of the Court’s
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summary judgment order, the Court stated that since AT&T installed a separate power meter to
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power its telecommunications equipment, it has been paying the utility company directly for its
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power usage. (ECF No. 37 at 4). Based on the record before the Court, it was readily apparent that
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the site lease agreement was and is still in effect, and there is no language in the Court’s order to
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the contrary.
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RTC also misunderstands the nature of a “contractual debt” and the holding from the
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Nevada Supreme Court case Riff v. Kowal, 352 P.2d 819 (Nev. 1960). In the Court’s summary
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judgment order, the Court explained that NRS §11.200, which tolls the statute of limitations for
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enforcing a debt when payment is made on an existing contract, is inapplicable in this case for two
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separate reasons. First, §11.200 only applies when a partial payment is made on a contractual
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“debt.” Pursuant to the terms of the site lease agreement, AT&T agreed to make monthly rent
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payments to RTC in exchange for space on its rooftop to operate telecommunications equipment.
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The relationship between RTC and AT&T is clearly not debtor-creditor but rather that of a
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landlord-lessee. RTC argues that §7(b) of the site lease agreement requires AT&T to “pay all costs
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associated” with the installation of the power meter, and therefore, AT&T was indebted to RTC
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once it failed to install a separate power meter and RTC paid for its power usage. (ECF No. 39 at
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4). But AT&T was to pay these “costs” to the utilities company, not to RTC. AT&T was not
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indebted to RTC in any way. The only way RTC is entitled to these “costs” is by way of monetary
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damages if it can demonstrate to the trier of fact that the statute of limitations on its breach of
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contract claim has not lapsed.
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This leads into the second reason why §11.200 does not apply in this case. As the Nevada
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Supreme Court clarified in Riff, a partial payment on a debt only tolls the statute of limitations if
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that debt comes from an “existing contract.” Riff v. Kowal, 352 P.2d 819, 820 (Nev. 1960).
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“Existing contract” means “an existing [enforceable] contract and not a contract the enforcement
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of which has already been [barred] by the statute of limitations.” Id. Thus, if the trier of fact finds
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that the statute of limitations bars enforcement of a breach of the site lease agreement, the fact that
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AT&T later paid RTC for electricity usage does not make the breach of contract claim enforceable.
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For example, if a breach of contract claim premised on a failure to make debt repayments is
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discovered in 2010, the creditor has six years to file a lawsuit, with the statute of limitations
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running in 2016. But if the debtor makes a partial payment in 2013, then the statute of limitations
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is extended from the time of the partial payment, and the creditor would have until 2019 to file
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suit. But if the debtor makes a partial payment in 2017, the creditor cannot use that payment as a
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way to toll the statute of limitations because any suit filed past 2016 would be time barred.
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This is precisely the situation here. There is an issue of material fact as to whether RTC
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discovered AT&T’s breach in 2001 or 2015. (ECF No. 37 at 3). If the trier of fact determines that
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RTC discovered the breach in 2001, then the fact that AT&T paid RTC for its utilities usage in
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2017 (which, as discussed above, is not a “debt”) does not take RTC’s claim for breach of contract
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outside the statute of limitations.
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RTC has not provided any evidence of new or controlling law, new factual evidence that
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was not available at the time of the Court’s original decision, and it has not demonstrated that the
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Court’s order was manifestly unjust. It merely attempts to relitigate the same arguments presented
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in its motion for summary judgment, arguments that the Court previously considered and rejected.
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There is no basis for which the Court to reconsider its previous order, and the Court will
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accordingly deny RTC’s motion for reconsideration.
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IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that RTC’s motion for reconsideration (ECF No. 39) is
DENIED.
DATED this 16th day of August, 2019.
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LARRY R. HICKS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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