American International Specialty Lines Insurance v. United States

71 Fed. Cl. 37, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 118, 2006 WL 1217235
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMay 5, 2006
DocketNo. 05-1020 C
StatusPublished

This text of 71 Fed. Cl. 37 (American International Specialty Lines Insurance v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American International Specialty Lines Insurance v. United States, 71 Fed. Cl. 37, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 118, 2006 WL 1217235 (uscfc 2006).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

SWEENEY, Judge.

The above-captioned case was transferred to this court on September 22, 2005, from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. On September 30, 2005, plaintiff filed its transfer complaint, styled “Amended Complaint Pursuant to Rule 3.1(a)(2).” Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the transfer complaint on November 29, 2005. Then, on January 27, 2006, plaintiff filed both a “First Amended Complaint” and its opposition to the motion to dismiss. [38]*38Defendant filed both a reply in support of its motion to dismiss and an opposition to the filing of plaintiffs First Amended Complaint on February 24, 2006. Finally, on March 10, 2006, plaintiff filed a reply to defendant’s opposition to the First Amended Complaint.

The parties’ memoranda raise two related procedural issues. The first issue is whether plaintiff is permitted to file the First Amended Complaint pursuant to Rule 15(a) of the Rules of the Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”). Second, if plaintiff is permitted to file the First Amended Complaint, what effect, if any, does the First Amended Complaint have on defendant’s previously-filed motion to dismiss? The court will address both issues, in turn.

I. The Rules of Court and the Interest of Justice Permit the Filing of Plaintiffs First Amended Complaint

RCFC 15(a) allows a party to amend a pleading “once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served.... ” However, if a responsive pleading has been served, “a party may amend the party’s pleading only by leave of court or by written consent of the adverse party; and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires.” RCFC 15(a).

Defendant argues that because plaintiff filed a pleading styled as the “First Amended Complaint” in district court prior to transfer, court permission is required to file plaintiffs proposed January 27, 2006 First Amended Complaint in this court. In support of its argument, defendant cites 28 U.S.C. § 1631 (“[T]he action ... shall proceed as if it had been filed in ... [this court] on the date upon it was actually filed in ... the court from which it is transferred.”); RCFC 3.1(a)(1) (“Where all required fees in the other court are shown to have been paid, no fifing fee will be required.”); and plaintiffs opposition to the motion to dismiss (arguing that the district court’s dismissal of certain claims was not a final judgment or order). The court is not persuaded by defendant’s argument.

RCFC 3.1(a)(2) allows a transfer plaintiff to file in this court either the same complaint filed in the district court or an amended complaint “setting forth the claim or claims transferred.” Further, RCFC 3.1(a)(3) indicates that the transfer complaint, whether or not it was filed as an amended complaint, should be treated as if it were an original complaint:

Procedure. After the fifing and service as provided for in subdivision (a)(2), all further proceedings shall be in accordance with the rules prescribed for cases filed in this court in the first instance.

RCFC 3.1(a)(3) does not exclude RCFC 15(a) from its scope. Thus, RCFC 15(a) applies to any transferred complaint.

In addition, defendant’s reliance on 28 U.S.C. § 1631 is misplaced. This section reads, in its entirety:

Whenever a civil action is filed in a court as defined in section 610 of this title or an appeal, including a petition for review of administrative action, is noticed for or filed with such a court and that court finds that there is a want of jurisdiction, the court shall, if it is in the interest of justice, transfer such action or appeal to any other such court in which the action or appeal could have been brought at the time it was filed or noticed, and the action or appeal shall proceed as if it had been filed in or noticed for the court to which it is transferred on the date upon which it was actually filed in or noticed for the court from which it is transferred.

28 U.S.C. § 1631 (emphasis added). The clause relied upon and quoted by defendant, underlined above, employs the original fifing date to determine whether a complaint was filed within the limitations period. The clause has no bearing on calculating the number of complaints filed in the district court. See United States v. County of Cook, Ill., 170 F.3d 1084, 1089 (Fed.Cir.1999) (stating that the legislative history of 28 U.S.C. § 1631 indicates that Congress intended to protect plaintiffs from a statute of limitations bar due to fifing a complaint in the wrong court). Indeed, the number of amended complaints filed in other courts is not dispositive as to whether plaintiff can file an amended complaint prior to a responsive pleading in this court.

Finally, the reasoning in Devon Energy Corp. v. United States, 45 Fed.Cl. 519 (1999), [39]*39is persuasive and supports plaintiffs position that it can file an amended complaint as a matter of course. In Devon Energy Corp., the court looked to precedent from other jurisdictions regarding the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”) to reach its holding that a motion to dismiss does not preclude plaintiff from filing an amended complaint as a matter of course pursuant to RCFC 15(a).1 45 Fed.Cl. at 525-26; see also Cuyahoga Metro. Hous. Auth. v. United States, 57 Fed.Cl. 751, 780 n. 4 (2008) (“It is well-accepted that neither a motion to dismiss nor one for summary judgment is a ‘responsive pleading’ within the meaning of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a). The court sees no reason why these precedents ought not apply to RCFC 15(a).” (citations omitted)).

Accordingly, the court finds that plaintiff is entitled to file the First Amended Complaint as a matter of course pursuant to RCFC 15(a). However, even if plaintiff was not permitted to file the First Amended Complaint as a matter of course, the court would, in the interest of justice, permit plaintiff to file the First Amended Complaint.

II. Defendant Shall Respond to Plaintiffs First Amended Complaint

Plaintiff raises two arguments with respect to the effect of the filing of its First Amended Complaint on defendant’s motion to dismiss. First, in its opposition to the motion to dismiss, plaintiff contends that the filing of an amended complaint moots defendant’s motion to dismiss because the motion was based upon the originally-filed complaint. But then, in its reply to defendant’s opposition to the First Amended Complaint, plaintiff changes stance and contends that defendant should be precluded from filing a new motion to dismiss because defendant’s reply addressed the First Amended Complaint. In short, plaintiff seeks to treat defendant’s reply as a motion to dismiss. The court rejects plaintiffs view.

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Related

United States v. County of Cook, Illinois
170 F.3d 1084 (Federal Circuit, 1999)
Devon Energy Corp. v. United States
45 Fed. Cl. 519 (Federal Claims, 1999)
Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority v. United States
57 Fed. Cl. 751 (Federal Claims, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
71 Fed. Cl. 37, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 118, 2006 WL 1217235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-international-specialty-lines-insurance-v-united-states-uscfc-2006.