Glenwood Farms, Inc. v. Ivey

228 F.R.D. 47, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20345, 2005 WL 1164066
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maine
DecidedFebruary 1, 2005
DocketNo. 03-217-P-S
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 228 F.R.D. 47 (Glenwood Farms, Inc. v. Ivey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glenwood Farms, Inc. v. Ivey, 228 F.R.D. 47, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20345, 2005 WL 1164066 (D. Me. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT

DAVID M. COHEN, United States Magistrate Judge.

On the deadline set by the scheduling order in this case for amendment of the pleadings, the plaintiffs filed a motion to amend the complaint by (i) adding a new individual defendant, (ii) adding claims alleging fraudulent transfer against defendant Thomas M. Sobol, (iii) “clarifying” their claim for punitive damages, (iv) adding claims of unjust enrichment against all defendants, (v) “clarifying” the term “common interest materials,” and (vi) making “minor clarifications” to certain paragraphs and counts. Motion of Glen-wood Farms, Inc. and Carrabassett Spring Water Company, Inc. to Amend Complaint, [49]*49etc. (“Motion”) (Docket No. 105) at 1-3. All of the current named defendants oppose most of the motion, with defendants Garve Ivey and Ivey & Ragsdale joining in the opposition filed by defendants Thomas M. Sobol and Hagens Berman, LLP. Objection of Defendants Garve Ivey and Ivey & Rags-dale to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Amend Complaint, etc. (“Ivey Opposition”) (Docket No. 108) at 1; Defendants’ Objection and Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Amend Complaint (“Sobol Opposition”) (Docket No. 109). There is no objection to the “clarification” of the term “common interest materials,” Sobol Opposition at 2, and the motion is therefore granted as to that request. Similarly, there is no objection to the “minor clarifications” identified by the plaintiffs as being made to paragraphs 11, 19 and 39-41 of the complaint, as well as Counts 8, 12, 16, 24, 28 and 32. Motion at 3; Sobol Opposition at 2.1 The motion is accordingly granted as to those proposed changes as well.

The defendants challenge the remaining proposed amendments “primarily on the grounds of ‘futility,’ ” but also mention “in some varying degrees” dilatory tactics, bad faith and undue burden and delay. Sobol Opposition at 3. Leave to amend a pleading “shall be freely given when justice so requires.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a). A court acts within its discretion to deny such leave under the following circumstances: undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party and futility of the proposed amendment. Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182, 83 S.Ct. 227, 9 L.Ed.2d 222 (1962). When leave to amend is sought before discovery is complete and neither side has moved lor summary judgment, as is the case here, futility is “gauged by reference to the liberal criteria of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).” Hatch v. Department for Children, Youth & Families, 274 F.3d 12, 19 (1st Cir.2001). “In this situation, amendment is not deemed futile as long as the proposed amended complaint sets forth a general scenario which, if proven, would entitle the plaintiff to relief against the defendant on some cognizable theory.” Id.

The defendants first contend that this court lacks personal jurisdiction over Steven Berman, the proposed new individual defendant, and that the proposed amended complaint fails to state a claim against Berman in his individual capacity upon which relief may be granted. Sobol Opposition at 4-6. This court has already rejected, after holding an evidentiary hearing, the argument of the current defendants that it lacks personal jurisdiction over them, finding that those defendants “sought out and represented Maine clients,” “undertook substantial investigation in Maine and hired experts in Maine.” Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (Docket No. 77) at 15. These actions, the court held, “encompass the minimum contacts necessary to satisfy due process” for purposes of specific personal jurisdiction. Id. The defendants attempt to avoid application of this conclusion to Berman by asserting that “it is not clear ... whether the same ‘joint venture’ agency concept [which the court used in its analysis of specific personal jurisdiction with respect to the other named defendants) would apply to all other employees, agents, or attorneys at Hagens Berman, LLP,” Sobol Opposition at 4, of which Berman is one. However, in the absence of any indication from Berman or the defendants of a factual basis for distinguishing Berman from defendant Thomas Sobol, who is also an attorney at defendant Hagens Berman and over whom the court has concluded that it may exercise specific personal jurisdiction, I see no basis in the proposed amended complaint for making such a distinction. The same allegations are made against Sobol and Berman in the proposed amended complaint. E.g., Proposed Amended Complaint Till 51, 53-55, 73-75, 120, 197-98, 200-01. When Berman is not individually mentioned, it is clear that he is one [50]*50of the “defendants” against whom factual allegations are made. E.g., id. UU 54, 59, 66, 69-70, 73-75, 79, 83, 122-23, 128, 135, 138, 142-43, 148-49, 152-53. While it is true that few, if any, specific factual allegations are made in the proposed amended complaint concerning Berman alone, it is not correct to say, as the defendants contend, that the plaintiffs therefore “fail to allege jurisdictional facts for a prima facie showing of personal jurisdiction over Berman.” Sobol Opposition at 5. The defendants contend, without submitting the transcript, that “one could scour the transcript on the personal jurisdiction hearing” and find that Berman “is hardly, if ever, even mentioned in testimony,” id. at 4, but that is not surprising since Berman was not named as a defendant at the time of the hearing. On the record presented to the court at this time, and given the liberal standard to be applied at the pleading stage of a proceeding, I see no basis to distinguish Berman from the other individual defendants with respect to this court’s exercise of specific personal jurisdiction. If, as the defendants assert, Berman was “not involved in this case or in any of the ‘contacts’ with the State of Maine that this Court relied on to premise the exercise of personal jurisdiction over Sobol and Hagens Berman,” id. at 5, Berman may present evidence of those facts to the court, and further consideration of the issue of personal jurisdiction may then be in order.

The defendants contend that the proposed amended complaint fails to state a claim against Berman on which relief may be granted, apparently because they read the proposed amended complaint to allege only that Berman signed a joint representation agreement on behalf of Hagens Berman in 2002.2 Id. at 5. As I have already indicated, the proposed amended complaint alleges much more than that against Berman. The proposed amended complaint may fairly be read to allege that Berman advised one or more of the plaintiffs in an attorney-client capacity and participated in the representation of one or more of the defendants. The defendants’ mere assertions that he did not, id., unaccompanied by anything of evidentiary value, are insufficient to justify dismissal of otherwise adequately pleaded claims.

The defendants next challenge the proposed addition of Counts 33 and 34, id.

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Bluebook (online)
228 F.R.D. 47, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20345, 2005 WL 1164066, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glenwood-farms-inc-v-ivey-med-2005.