Frito-Lay of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Cañas

92 F.R.D. 384, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15712
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedOctober 8, 1981
DocketCiv. No. 78-1813
StatusPublished
Cited by67 cases

This text of 92 F.R.D. 384 (Frito-Lay of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Cañas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frito-Lay of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Cañas, 92 F.R.D. 384, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15712 (prd 1981).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PEREZ-GIMENEZ, District Judge.

On February 12, 1981, this Court issued an Opinion and Order granting a motion for partial summary judgment filed by plaintiff, Frito-Lay of Puerto Rico, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Frito-Lay), with certain modifications as to the amount of damages originally sought by Frito-Lay. Several motions are now pending before the Court in connection therewith.

The defendant, José Martínez Cañas (hereinafter referred to as Martínez), has filed a Motion for Reconsideration of Opinion and Order and a separate Motion Requesting a Hearing with respect to the Motion for Reconsideration. While Martinez’ Motion for Reconsideration was not made strictly within the framework of Rule 59(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure since the motion was filed before entry of judgment,1 the Motion may properly be entertained as a motion to alter or amend a judgment under that rule. Smith v. Hudson, 600 F.2d 60, 62 (6 Cir., 1979), cert. dismissed 444 U.S. 986, 100 S.Ct. 495, 62 L.Ed.2d 415 (1979). Frito-Lay has submitted an Opposition to the Motion for Reconsideration, together with a Cross-Motion for Amendment of Judgment, which was unopposed.

Martínez has also moved under Rule 60(b)(3), F.R.C.P., claiming Frito-Lay’s judgment was procured by “fraud”. An opposition to said Motion was filed by Frito-Lay on June 29, 1981.

In addition, Frito-Lay has filed a verified request seeking various relief in connection with its attempt to execute on its judgment against Martinez, his former wife and the conjugal society which existed between them. The Court held a hearing on Frito-Lay’s application on June 16,1981, at which time Marti nez orally “moved” for a stay of execution pending the Court’s determination of Martinez’ Rule 59(e) and Rule 60(b)(3) motions.

Since all motions are ripe for this Court’s determination, the matters will be considered seriatim. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, Martinez’ motions are denied, Frito-Lay’s cross-motion is granted, and execution is ordered as set forth infra.

A. Marti nez’ Motion for Reconsideration.

Martinez’ Motion for Reconsideration seeks the reversal or vacation of the Court’s February 12, 1981, Opinion and Order, primarily on the ground that the Court did not consider Martinez’ untimely opposition to the Reply filed by Frito-Lay in further support of its motion for partial summary judgment. While this Court is not persuaded by Martinez’ argument that the Court erred in not considering Marti nez’ untimely sur-reply papers,2 since Martinez’ [390]*390Motion for Reconsideration concededly repeats the substance of the sur-reply previously ignored by the Court, and since our examination of the Motion for Reconsideration reveals no basis for vacating the judgment previously entered, Martinez’ motion is denied.

The alteration, amendment or vacation of a judgment previously entered is a matter addressed to the Court’s discretion. Willens v. University of Massachusetts, 570 F.2d 403 (1 Cir., 1978); Florencio Román v. Puerto Rico Maritime Shipping, 454 F.Supp. 521 (D.P.R., 1978). To the extent that the Motion for reconsideration merely reasserts legal arguments previously made by Martinez in his opposition to Frito-Lay’s motion, all of which were carefully considered by the Court prior to its issuance of the Opinion and Order, and, for the most part, were rejected by the Court,3 we hold that there is no reason to vacate the Court’s earlier Opinion and Order. As another District Court has stated:

“Although plaintiff has labeled his motion a ‘Motion to Alter Judgment’ allegedly pursuant to Rule 59(e), in actuality the plaintiff is moving the Court to reverse its order granting summary judgment to defendant and instead grant summary judgment to plaintiff or, in the alternative, grant plaintiff a trial of an allegedly disputed material fact.
“The plaintiff in his brief brings forward no matter that could not have been argued before judgment was entered herein. His brief in support of his motion is no more than an expression of a view of the law contrary to that set forth in the Court’s opinion. Whatever may be the .purpose of Rule 59(e) it should not be supposed that it is intended to give an unhappy litigant one additional chance to sway the judge.
“Since the plaintiff has brought up nothing new — except his displeasure — this Court has no proper basis upon which to alter or amend the order previously entered. The judgment may indeed be based upon an erroneous view of the law, but, if so, the proper recourse is appeal— not reargument.”

Durkin v. Taylor, 444 F.Supp. 879, 889 (E.D.Va., 1977); accord Erickson Tool Co. v. Balas Collet Co., 277 F.Supp. 226, 233 (N.D.Ohio, 1967), aff’d. 404 F.2d 35 (6 Cir., 1968); Blair v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 344 F.Supp. 367 (S.D.Fla., 1972), aff’d. 477 F.2d 564 (5 Cir., 1973). See also: Chastain v. Kelley, 510 F.2d 1232, 1233, 1238, f.n.7 (D.C.Cir., 1975); Parks v. “Mr. Ford’’, 68 F.R.D. 305, 310 (E.D.Pa., 1975); Spatz v. Nascone, 368 F.Supp. 352 (W.D.Pa., 1973); Cf. Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. of New York v. Third National Bank of Hampden County, 545 F.2d 758, 760 (1 Cir., 1976) (erroneous interpretation of law may be proper subject of Rule 59(e) motion).

Nor does Marti nez present any new legal arguments, or any issues of fact, which justify vacation of the Court’s Opinion and Order. As was discussed at length in our previous Opinion and Order, Frito-Lay has demonstrated that there are no genuine issues of material fact with respect to Frito-Lay’s entitlement to recover from Martinez on account of a variety of misappropriations by Martinez when he was the president of Frito-Lay, and most of Frito-Lay’s allegations have been confirmed by Martinez’ own admissions made during the course of his many-sessioned deposition. There can be no question that it was incumbent upon Martinez to refute Frito-Lay’s showing by sufficient and substantial specific factual evidence supporting the existence of a factual dispute. Hahn v. Sargent, 523 F.2d 461 (1 Cir., 1975), cert. denied 425 U.S. 904, 96 S.Ct. 1495, 47 L.Ed.2d 54 (1976).

Furthermore, there can be no question that, in considering the factual record [391]*391made by Martinez in opposition to Frito-Lay’s motion for summary judgment, the Court could consider only facts properly put into evidence by the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions on file, and affidavits. 56(c), (e) F.R.C.P. Accordingly, the Court was obligated to — and did — ignore any “facts” set forth only in Martinez’ unsworn memorandum of law, for legal memoranda and oral argument are not evidence. Lacey v. Lumber Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 554 F.2d 1204 (1 Cir., 1977); British Airways Board v.

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Bluebook (online)
92 F.R.D. 384, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frito-lay-of-puerto-rico-inc-v-canas-prd-1981.