Jasco Products Company, LLC v. Prime Wire & Cable, Inc.

Filing 34

ORDER granting 27 MOTION for Leave to File Second Amended Complaint; Amended Complaint due within 5 days. Granting 25 MOTION to Intervene and denying 12 MOTION to Dismiss and 17 MOTION to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction. Magistrate Judge's 24 MEMORANDUM AND RECOMMENDATIONS is terminated as moot. Signed by District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr on 10/29/2018. (nvc)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
STATESVILLE DIVISION
5:18-cv-44-RJC-DSC
JASCO PRODUCTS COMPANY, LLC

)

)
)
)
vs.
)
)
)
PRIME WIRE & CABLE, INC., and
)
YFC-BONEAGLE ELECTRIC CO.,
)
LTD.,
)
)
Defendants.
)
____________________________________ )
Plaintiff,

ORDER

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to File
Second Amended Complaint, (Doc. No. 27); Cantigny Lighting Controls, LLC’s
(“Cantigny”) Motion to Intervene, (Doc. No. 25); Defendant Prime Wire & Cable, Inc.’s
Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction, (Doc. No. 12); Defendant
YFC-BonEagle Electric Co., Ltd.’s Motion to Dismiss for Insufficient Service of
Process and for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction, (Doc. No. 17); and the Magistrate
Judge’s Memorandum and Recommendation (“M&R”), (Doc. No. 24), recommending
that Defendant Prime Wire’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter
Jurisdiction be granted and Defendant YFC-BonEagle’s Motion to Dismiss be denied
as moot.
Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governs amendments to
pleadings. Rule 15(a)(1) grants a party the right to “amend its pleading once as a
1

matter of course,” if done within twenty-one (21) days after serving the pleading, Fed.
R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1)(A), or “if the pleading is one to which a responsive pleading is
required,” a party may amend once as a matter of course, provided that it does so
within “21 days after service of a responsive pleading or 21 days after service of a
motion under Rule 12(b), (e), or (f), whichever is earlier.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1)(B).
The Rule further provides that leave to amend shall be freely given “when justice so
requires.” Id.
Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governs intervention:
(a) INTERVENTION OF RIGHT. Upon timely motion, the court must
permit anyone to intervene who:
...
(2) claims an interest relating to the property or transaction
which is the subject of the action, and is so situated that
disposing of the action may as a practical matter impair or
impede the movant's ability to protect its interest, unless the
existing parties adequately represent that interest.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2). Cantigny is the owner of the patent-in-suit, U.S. Patent No.
9,320,122 (“the ‘122 patent”). As such, it claims an interest relating to the property
that is the subject of the action—the ‘122 patent—and is so situated that disposing of
the action may, as a practical matter, impair or impede Cantigny’s ability to protect
its interest, unless Jasco Products Company, the existing Plaintiff, adequately
represents that interest.
For the reasons stated in the briefs of Plaintiff and Cantigny, and finding that
justice so requires, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to File Second
Amended Complaint and Cantigny’s Motion to Intervene.
2

It is well settled that an amended pleading supersedes the original pleading,
and that motions directed at superseded pleadings are to be denied as moot. Young
v. City of Mount Ranier, 238 F. 3d 567, 573 (4th Cir. 2001) (amended pleading renders
original pleading of no effect); Turner v. Kight, 192 F. Supp. 2d 391, 397 (D. Md. 2002)
(denying as moot motion to dismiss original complaint on grounds that amended
complaint superseded original complaint).
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that:
1. Plaintiff’s Motion for Leave to File Second Amended Complaint, (Doc.
No. 27), is GRANTED.

Plaintiff shall file its Second Amended

Complaint within five days of this Order.
2. Cantigny’s Motion to Intervene, (Doc. No. 25), is GRANTED.
3. Defendant Prime Wire’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject
Matter Jurisdiction, (Doc. No. 12), and Defendant YFC-BonEagle’s
Motion to Dismiss for Insufficient Service of Process and Lack of
Personal Jurisdiction, (Doc. No. 17), are DENIED as moot.
4. The Magistrate Judge’s M&R, (Doc. No. 24), is TERMINATED as
moot.
5. The Clerk is directed to send copies of this Order to counsel for the
parties, including but not limited to moving counsel.
Signed: October 29, 2018

3