Welton Enterprises, Inc. et al v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company
Filing
184
ORDER granting 178 Motion to Reopen Case by Defendant The Cincinnati Insurance Company for the limited purpose of enforcing the parties' settlement agreement; granting 182 Motion for Leave to Intervene as Interpleader Defendant by Future Foa m, Inc. Defendant may file and serve this order and its complaint and summons on the interpleader defendant, and deposit the full amount of settlement proceeds into the court within 14 days. Interpleader defendant may have 21 days from service of the complaint to answer, move or otherwise respond. Telephone Scheduling Conference set for 1/26/2017 at 1:00 PM before District Judge William M. Conley. Signed by District Judge William M. Conley on 12/13/2016. (arw)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
WELTON ENTERPRISES, INC., WELTON
FAMILY LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS, and 3PP
PLUS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP,
Plaintiffs,
ORDER
v.
13-cv-227-wmc
THE CINCINNATI INSURANCE COMPANY,
Defendant.
On September 29, 2015, the court dismissed this case, having been advised that
the parties had reached a settlement agreement. The court’s order dismissing the case
made clear that “[a]ny party may move to reopen for good cause shown,” signifying the
court’s intention to retain jurisdiction over the case for the purpose of enforcing the
settlement agreement in the event that the parties did not honor its terms. See Morisch v.
United States, 709 F. Supp. 2d 672, 675 (S.D. Ill. 2010) (“Retaining jurisdiction over the
enforcement of a settlement agreement does not require a district court to use ‘any magic
form of words’ and instead ‘all that is necessary is that it be possible to infer that the
court did intend to retain jurisdiction.’”) (brackets omitted) (quoting In re VMS Sec.
Litig., 103 F.3d 1317, 1321 (7th Cir. 1996) (overruled on other grounds by Envision
Healthcare, Inc. v. PreferredOne Ins. Co., 604 F.3d 983, 986 n.1 (7th Cir. 2010))).
Defendant The Cincinnati Insurance Company has filed a motion to reopen the
case and for leave to file an interpleader complaint (dkt. #178) on the basis that
plaintiffs have breached the parties’ settlement agreement, the terms of which the parties
memorialized via email. In particular, defendant claims that plaintiffs were obligated to
provide a release in exchange for its payment of $3.1 million. Plaintiffs’ failure to fulfill
their part of the bargain is presumably due to a dispute among plaintiffs, plaintiffs’
counsel and plaintiffs’ former counsel regarding the proper distribution of the settlement
proceeds.
Regardless, defendant has made a showing of good cause to reopen the case and
plaintiffs have filed no response to defendant’s motion. Accordingly, defendant’s motion
will be granted.
The court will also grant proposed intervenor Future Foam, Inc.’s
motion to intervene as an interpleader defendant (dkt. #182), given that Future Foam
also claims an interest to the settlement proceeds by virtue of an assignment from
plaintiff Welton Family Limited Partnerships.1
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. Defendant The Cincinnati Insurance Company’s motion to reopen the case (dkt.
#178) for the limited purpose of enforcing the parties’ settlement is GRANTED.
2. Defendant’s related motion for leave to file an interpleader complaint (dkt. #178)
and Future Foam’s motion for leave to intervene as an interpleader defendant
(dkt. #182) are also GRANTED.
3. Defendant may file and serve on the interpleader defendants a copy of this order
and its complaint and summons, as well as deposit the full amount of settlement
Accordingly, defendant and proposed intervenor’s other pending motions (dkt. ##181, 183) are
denied as moot.
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proceeds into the court pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 67(a) within
14 days of this order.
4. Interpleader defendant may have 21 days from service of that complaint to
answer, move or otherwise respond.
5. The court will hold a telephonic scheduling conference on this remaining dispute
on January 26, 2017, at 1:00 p.m., Welton is to initiate the call to the court.
Entered this 13th day of December, 2016.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
__________________________________
WILLIAM M. CONLEY
District Judge
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