Watchit Technologies, Inc. v. Big Apple Consulting USA, Inc. et al

Filing 69

ORDER Consolidating Cases All further pleadings to be docketed to: 1:08cv51. Member Case: 1:09cv299, 1:09cv300 to be administratively closed. Signed by Magistrate Judge Dennis Howell on 08/31/2009. (thh)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT F O R THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA A S H E V IL L E DIVISION 1 :0 8 cv 5 1 W A T C H I T TECHNOLOGIES, INC., e t al., P la in t if fs , V s. B I G APPLE CONSULTING USA, I N C ., et al., D efen d an ts. _______________________________ B I G APPLE CONSULTING USA, I N C ., et al., P la in t if fs , V s. F R A N K A. MOODY, II, D efen d an t. ____________________________________ B I G APPLE CONSULTING USA, I N C ., et al., P la in t if fs , V s. W A T C H I T TECHNOLOGIES, INC., e t al., D efen d an ts. ____________________________________ ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

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O R D E R OF C O N S O L ID A T IO N

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T H I S MATTER is before the court upon the Order of Honorable Mary S. S c riv e n , United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, entered in C a s e No. 6:09-cv-00073- Orl-35GJK and Case No. 6:09-v-00074-Orl-35KRS on A u g u s t 3, 2009, transferring such cases to this district for consolidation with 1 :0 8 c v 5 1 . Upon transfer into this district, each Florida civil action was assigned a s e p a ra te case number and counsel advised this court of Judge Scriven's decision by w a y of Notice as required by Judge Scriven. It now appearing that both cases have been transferred into this district, such c a s e s will be consolidated with this action. As noted by Judge Scriven, there appears to be conflicting alignment of parties in the Florida actions and in the action p r ev io u s ly pending before this court. Further, it appears that there has been

s u b s ta n tia l delay in reaching the now pending and ripe Motion to Dismiss filed in the N o r th Carolina action.1 Thus, the court has four tasks: (1) realignment of the parties; (2 ) determining whether amendment of the pleadings is necessary in light of such re a lig n m e n t; (3) disposing of all pending motions, which may be mooted by a m e n d m e n t; and (4) a plan for the prompt resolution of this dispute. See Taylor v. A b a te, 1995 WL 362488, *2 (E.D.N.Y.1995) 2 ("Defendants' motion to dismiss is a d d res s e d solely to the original complaint···· Consequently, upon the filing of the a m e n d e d complaint, their motion is mooted and, therefore, denied."); In re Colonial

The court notes that Judge Scriven mooted all pending motions in the F lo rid a actions before transfer.
1

Due to the limits of ECF, copies of unpublished decisions cited in this O rd e r are incorporated into the court record through reference to the Westlaw c ita tio n .
2

Ltd. Partnership Litig., 854 F.Supp. 64, 80 (D.Conn.1994) (noting where "a plaintiff a m e n d s its complaint while a motion to dismiss is pending" the court may "deny[ ] the m o tio n as moot"); Rathke v. HCA Management Co., Inc., 1989 WL 161431, at *1 n. 1 (D.Kan.1989) (holding that "motion to dismiss ··· became moot when plaintiff filed a n amended complaint"); Gresham v. Waffle House, Inc., 586 F.Supp. 1442, 1444 n. 1 (N.D.Ga.1984) (same). T h e s e will be time consuming tasks in light of the procedural history of these c a s e s , and the court will require respective counsel to meet and use best efforts to re s o lv e as many of these issues as possible. Respective counsel, who may or may not p ra c tic e regularly in this district, are advised that the district court expects cases to be c lo s e d within one year of joinder of the issues. Unless resolved amicably, a status h e a rin g will be set 30 days hence at which time the court will address the above is s u e s .

ORDER IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that the above actions are

C O N S O L I D A T E D for all pretrial proceedings and trial under docket number 1 :0 8 c v 5 1 . I T IS FURTHER ORDERED that a Status Conference is CALENDARED fo r hearing on October 13, 2009, at 2 p.m.

Signed: August 31, 2009