Continental Casualty Co. v. Dominick D'Andrea, Inc.

150 F.3d 245
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided September 8, 1998·No. No. 97-5004·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinions

OPINION ANNOUNCING THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

ROSENN, Circuit Judge.

In this appeal, the appellant primarily presents a troublesome challenge to the authority of a magistrate judge to impose a substantial monetary sanction as a condition of allowing a pre-trial amendment to its answer. After the magistrate judge issued a final pre-trial order setting the end of discovery and scheduling trial, and almost two years after the appellant filed its original answer, counsel for the appellant moved for leave to amend the answer to assert a controlling affirmative defense. During discovery, previous counsel for the appellant had delayed the litigation several times because of his severe illness. Frustrated with the delays, the magistrate judge ultimately permitted the appellant to amend its answer and file a motion for summary judgment, but not before imposing the condition that the appellant pay the opposing party’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs for the additional discovery necessitated by the amendment. Later, the district court granted summary judgment based on the affirmative defense.

The appellant did not object to the condition at the time it was imposed, paid the amount of the sanction without objection, and did not appeal to the district court within 10 days as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(a) and a local district court rule. We conclude that, unless exceptional circumstances exist, a party may not obtain relief in this court without making an objection and seeking review of the magistrate judge’s order in the district court. Because we find no exceptional circumstances, we affirm.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Continental Casualty Co. v. Dominick D'Andrea, Inc., 150 F.3d 245 (3d Cir. 1998).

150 F.3d 245 (Continental Casualty Co. v. Dominick D'Andrea, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related