Edenfield v. Hiscox, Inc.

• Court: District Court, S.D. Georgia
• Decided: July 6, 2022
• Docket: 4:22-cv-00146
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA SAVANNAH DIVISION CHERYL EDENFIELD, as Legal ) Guardian and Next Friend of ) QUINCY EDENFIELD, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) CV422-146-WTM ) HISCOX, INC., HISCOX ) INSURANCE COMPANY INC., ) LLOYD’S AMERICA, INC., d/b/a ) Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, ) London, and CERTAIN ) UNDERWRITERS AT LLOYD’S, ) LONDON, ) ) Defendants. )

CATHERINE MOORE, as Legal ) Guardian and Next Friend of ) JONATHAN MOORE, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) CV422-147-WTM ) HISCOX, INC., HISCOX ) INSURANCE COMPANY, INC., ) LLOYD’S AMERICA, INC., d/b/a ) Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, ) London, and CERTAIN ) UNDERWRITERS AT LLOYD’S, ) LONDON, ) ) Defendants. ) SADIE EDWARDS, as Legal ) Guardian and Next Friend of ) ADAM EDWARDS, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) CV422-148-RSB ) HISCOX, INC., HISCOX ) INSURANCE COMPANY, INC., ) LLOYD’S AMERICA, INC., d/b/a ) Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, ) London, and CERTAIN ) UNDERWRITERS AT LLOYD’S, ) LONDON, ) ) Defendants. )

CERTAIN UNDERWRITERS AT ) LLOYD’S, LONDON SUBSCRIBING ) TO POLICY NO. AH00000154-01, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) CV422-035-RSB ) CHERYL EDENFIELD as Mother ) and as Legal Guardian of QUINCY ) EDENFIELD, an Incapacitated Adult; ) SADIE EDWARDS, as Mother and as ) Legal Guardian of ADAM EDWARDS, ) an Incapacitated Adult; and ) CATHERINE MOORE, as Next of Kin ) and as Legal Guardian of JONATHAN ) MOORE, an Incapacitated Adult, ) ) Defendants. ) ORDER Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London (“Underwriters”) filed a

declaratory judgment action in this Court seeking a coverage determination related to three default judgments entered by the State Court of Liberty County, Georgia. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s,

London Subscribing to Policy No. AH00000154-01 v. Edenfield, et al., CV422-035 (the “Coverage Action”). Meanwhile, the three defendants in the Coverage Action, who hold the default judgments, each filed their

own lawsuits against Underwriters and related entities in the State Court of Liberty County, Georgia. Underwriters then removed those three cases to this Court based on alleged diversity of citizenship. See

Edenfield v. Hiscox, Inc., et al., CV422-146; Moore v. Hiscox, Inc., et al., CV422-147; Edwards v. Hiscox, Inc., et al., CV422-148 (the “Removed Actions”).

Underwriters has moved in the Coverage Action and in each of the Removed Actions for reassignment to the same District Judge and for consolidation of all four cases. See CV422-146, doc. 10; CV422-147, doc.

9; CV422-148, doc. 11; CV422-035, doc. 29. Those motions are pending before the District Judge currently assigned to each case. Id. Additionally, the defendants in the Coverage Action have filed a motion to dismiss Underwriters’ complaint, CV422-035, doc. 12, and both Hiscox,

Inc. and Lloyd’s America, Inc. have filed motions to dismiss in each of the Removed Actions, CV422-146, docs. 9, 14, & 15; CV422-147, docs. 8, 12,

& 13; CV422-148, docs. 9, 18, & 19. The defendants also seek a stay of discovery in the Coverage Action, which Underwriters opposes. See CV422-035, docs. 22, 25, & 31.

Considering the pending motion to consolidate, and the pending dispositive motions in each case, the Court sua sponte STAYS all discovery deadlines in the above-captioned cases. See Landis v. North

American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936) (the power of a trial court to stay an action is “incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for

itself, for counsel, and for litigants.”). The Clerk is DIRECTED to lift the stay upon entry of the district judge’s Order on the last of the pending Motions to Reassign Case and Consolidate Cases. See CV422-146, doc.

10; CV422-147, doc. 9; CV422-148, doc. 11; CV422-035, doc. 29. Within fourteen days of the lift of the stay, the parties are DIRECTED to confer and submit a Rule 26(f) Report in whichever cases remain pending at that time. The Clerk is DIRECTED to terminate the Rule 26(f) Report in the Coverage Action. CV422-035, doc. 20. The defendants’ motion to stay in the Coverage Action is DISMISSED as moot. CV422-0385, doc. 22. SO ORDERED, this 6th day of July, 2022.

CHRISTOPHER L. RAY UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA