Armour et al v. Wilson et al

Filing 50

ORDER - The court directs the clerk to TERMINATE four of the parties motions 40 Motion to Amend. ; 41 Motion ; 47 Motion for Leave; 48 Motion for Leave to File Excess Pages. RE- Noting Date 8/17/2012 - re 46 MOTION to Compel Discovery, 42 MOTION to Stay Discovery. In-court Hearing set for 9/5/2012 at 10:00 AM before Judge Richard A Jones on the remaining motions 42 46 , by Judge Richard A Jones.(MD)

HONORABLE RICHARD A. JONES

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE

8
9

PAUL ARMOUR, et al.,

10
11
12

Plaintiffs,

CASE NO. C12-851RAJ
ORDER

v.
REBECCA WILSON, et al.,

13

Defendants.

14
15

The parties have filed seven motions in twelve days. This order disposes of four

16

of them and sets a hearing on the remaining three. The court also imposes a limited stay

17

of proceedings pending that hearing. The court directs the clerk to TERMINATE four of

18

the parties’ motions (Dkt. ## 40, 41, 47, 48) and to RENOTE two of their remaining

19

motions (Dkt. ## 42, 46) for August 17, 2012. The court sets a hearing on the remaining

20

motions for September 5, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.

21

Plaintiffs brought this case in mid-May and immediately asked the court to issue

22

an ex parte temporary restraining order to bar Defendants from unlawfully accessing

23

several of their online accounts. Concerned about the possible harm to Plaintiffs from

24

continued access, the court granted the ex parte TRO. If Plaintiffs believe that the court

25

granted the TRO because they had made a strong case on the merits, they are mistaken.

26
27
28

ORDER – 1

Once Defendants had a chance to submit their own evidence and argument at a

1
2

May 23 hearing, the court vacated the TRO. The court set a July 5 deadline for Plaintiffs

3

to renew a motion for injunctive relief; at the same time, the court cautioned Plaintiffs

4

that they would not win injunctive relief by relying on the same evidence they had

5

already put before the court. By June 21, Plaintiffs extended that deadline to August 17

6

with Defendants’ consent. Now they ask to extend the deadline again to September 28.

7

Defendants oppose the most recent request.
Not long after Plaintiffs’ request, Defendants filed a motion for judgment on the

8
9

pleadings. 1 If the court granted that motion in its entirety, it would dismiss this case.

10

Defendants simultaneously moved for a stay of discovery pending a ruling on the motion

11

for judgment on the pleadings. Plaintiffs then moved to compel discovery, filed an

12

admittedly unnecessary motion for leave to amend their complaint, and a motion for

13

leave to file an overlength brief that they could have avoided by simply calling opposing

14

counsel.
Much of the briefing on these motions is incomplete. Even in their incomplete

15
16

form, however, the motions raise concerns that the parties are using this litigation not as a

17

means of resolving a legal dispute, but as a means of resolving personal disputes. The

18

court has pointed to that concern several times already, and nothing in the motions before

19

the court suggests that the parties have heeded the court’s admonitions. The record

20

suggests that the parties continue to use this proceeding to leverage their positions in a

21

state court dispute over the custody of the children that Plaintiff Paul Armour and

22

Defendant Rebecca Wilson share.

23

The court is in no position at this stage to assess whether Defendants are likely to

24

prevail on their motion for judgment on the pleadings. It is rare, however, for any party

25
1

26
27
28

Defendants improperly noted the motion for the third Friday following its filing in violation of
this District’s local rules, which set a fourth-Friday noting date for all dispositive motions. Local
Rules W.D. Wash. CR 7(d)(3). The clerk has already renoted the motion for August 17.

ORDER – 2

1

to completely succeed on a motion targeting pleadings. Even where a party succeeds, a

2

court must presumptively permit a party to amend its pleadings to remedy defects. In this

3

case, Plaintiffs have already announced their intent to amend their complaint, which they

4

may do as a matter of right, at least until August 15. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2)(B). Except

5

in unusual circumstances, the court does not cut off discovery while a dispositive motion

6

is pending. The court finds no clear reason, at least at this time, to cut off all discovery in

7

this case. The court will instead impose a limited stay, which it will describe at the

8

conclusion of this order.

9

The court also finds no reason to extend the “deadline” for Plaintiffs’ motion for

10

injunctive relief. When the court initially set that deadline, it intended to permit Plaintiffs

11

a brief period of time to prove their claim that Defendants were, on an ongoing basis,

12

unlawfully accessing Plaintiffs’ online accounts or disseminating the fruits of that access.

13

Rather than take advantage of that period, Plaintiffs wasted time on unnecessary

14

discovery (they chose, for example, to subpoena Mr. Wilson’s son’s high school

15

guidance counselor) and sought delay. Now they want more delay to take more

16

discovery. The reasons for which the court initially imposed a deadline are no longer

17

applicable. Plaintiffs’ willingness to extend the injunctive relief deadline to more than

18

four months after they filed their complaint is a strong indicator that they have no

19

evidence of ongoing or imminent irreparable harm. If they wish to renew a motion for

20

injunctive relief, they may do so. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure impose no time

21

limit on injunction motions, they dictate instead that the court cannot grant injunctive

22

relief unless a party demonstrates an ongoing irreparable harm or a threat of future

23

irreparable harm. If Plaintiffs cannot meet that standard, they ought not file another

24

motion for injunctive relief.

25
26
27
28

ORDER – 3

1

The court sets a hearing for September 5, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. to resolve Plaintiffs’

2

motion to compel discovery, Defendants’ motion to stay discovery, and Defendants’

3

motion for judgment on the pleadings. In the interim, the court orders as follows:

4

1)

The court imposes a limited stay on discovery. No party may propound

5

any new discovery until further order of the court. As to existing

6

discovery, the parties shall comply with any deadlines (e.g., deposition

7

noting dates, response deadlines for interrogatories) that arise before

8

September 5, 2012. The court vacates any discovery deadlines on or

9

after September 5, 2012.

10

2)

The parties shall file no further motions until further order of the court.

11

If the court authorizes additional motions, the parties must first meet and

12

confer to determine if they can agree on the relief requested, and the

13

moving party must certify its compliance with this requirement.

14

3)

The court has no objection to the combined reply and opposition brief

15

that Plaintiffs filed on August 2, and the clerk shall TERMINATE the

16

motion for leave to file that brief. Dkt. # 48.

17

4)

The court will not grant Plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint where

18

they may do so as a matter of right, and the clerk shall TERMINATE

19

their motion to for leave to amend. Dkt. # 47.

20

5)

The clerk shall TERMINATE Plaintiffs’ motion to change the deadline

21

for moving for injunctive relief (Dkt. # 40) and Defendants’ motion to

22

renote that motion (Dkt. # 41). Both motions are moot.

23

6)

For purely administrative purposes, the court will note all the remaining

24

motions for August 17, the noting date of Defendants’ motion for

25

judgment on the pleadings. The clerk shall therefore RENOTE two of

26
27
28

ORDER – 4

1

the pending motions (Dkt. ## 42, 46) for August 17. The parties shall

2

brief those two motions in accordance with their original noting dates.

3

DATED this 9th day of August, 2012.

4

A

5
6

The Honorable Richard A. Jones
United States District Court Judge

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

ORDER – 5