In Re Fort Totten Metrorail Cases

756 F. Supp. 2d 132, 2010 WL 5263229
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedDecember 23, 2010
Docket1:10-cr-00314
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 756 F. Supp. 2d 132 (In Re Fort Totten Metrorail Cases) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Fort Totten Metrorail Cases, 756 F. Supp. 2d 132, 2010 WL 5263229 (D.D.C. 2010).

Opinion

756 F.Supp.2d 132 (2010)

In the Matter of the FORT TOTTEN METRORAIL CASES Arising Out of the Events of June 22, 2009.
Lead Case: Jenkins,
v.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, et al.,
This Document Relates To: All Cases.

Case No. 10-MC-314 (RBW/JMF).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

December 23, 2010.

*133 Lawrence Searle Lapidus, Allan M. Siegel, Joseph Cammarata, Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel, P.C., Brian Keith McDaniel, McDaniel & Associates, David E. Haynes, Stephen D. Annand, The Cochran Firm, Harlow R. Case, Jack Harvey Olender, Karen E. Evans, Melissa Rhea, Sandra H. Robinson, Jack H. Olender & Associates, P.C., Ira Sherman, Chaikin & Sherman, PC, James Charles Bailey, Jason H. Ehrenberg, Bailey & Ehrenberg PLLC, Keith W. Watters, Keith Watters & Associates, Kim D. Brooks-Rodney, Cohen & Cohen, Michael Moureau Wilson, Patrick M. Regan, Regan Zambri & Long, PLLC, Richard A. Bussey, Stein, Mitchell & Muse, Victor E. Long, Regan, Zambri & Long, PLLC, Washington, DC, Alton C. Hale, Gary, Williams, Finney, Lewis, Watson & Sperando, P.L. & Sperando, Stuart, FL, Anna C. Huff Brunkenhoefer, Greg W. Turman, Brunkenhoefer, Almaraz & Turman, PLLC, Corpus Christi, TX, J. Stephen Simms, Marios John Monopolis, Simms & Showers LLP, Baltimore, MD, J. Mitchell Lambros, Lambros & Lambros, Cockeysville, MD, Joseph Alexander Malouf, Gaithersburg, MD, Laurin H. Mills, Leclair Ryan, Alexandria, VA, Lawrence M. Mann, Alper & Mann, Bethesda, MD, Michael Harris Feldman, P. Matthew Darby, Berman Sobin Gross Feldman & Darby LLP, Towson, MD, R. Blake Brunkenhoefer, Brunkenhoefer, Almaraz & Turman, PLLC, Corpus Christi, TX, W. Charles Bailey, Simms Showers, LLP, Maryland, MD, for Plaintiffs.

Brendan H. Chandonnet, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Mark F. Sullivan, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit a Office of General Counsel, Robert Bruce Wallace, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, LLP, Washington, DC, Jason R. Waters, William G. Gandy, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, LLP, McLean, VA, Craig Stephen Brodsky, Kristen Nichole Nesbitt, Goodell, Devries, Leech & Dann, LLP, Baltimore, MD, Brian Evan Hoffman, Saunders & Schmieler, P.C., Jeffrey R. Schmieler, Samuel T. Wolf, Law Offices of Saunders & Schmieler, Silver Spring, MD, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN M. FACCIOLA, United States Magistrate Judge.

This case was referred to me for resolution of discovery disputes. Currently pending and ready for resolution is Plaintiffs' Response to Defendant ADCO Circuit[s] Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Leave to Conduct Jurisdictional Discovery [# 108] ("Plains. Mot."). For the reasons stated herein, the motion will be granted.

INTRODUCTION

This case arises out of the June 22, 2009 Metrorail train accident that resulted in the deaths of nine individuals and the injury of between seventy and eighty others. Plains. Mot. at 1. Plaintiffs are various passengers on that train as well as the estates of those passengers who are deceased. Second Amended Master Complaint [# 125] ("SAMC") ¶¶ 20-155. Defendants are 1) the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ("WMATA"), *134 the owner of the subway system where the accident occurred (SAMC ¶ 3), 2) Alstom Signaling, Inc., a Delaware corporation that "provides train traffic control equipment, software and support services to Defendant WMATA" (SAMC ¶ 7), 3) Ansaldo STS USA, Inc., a Delaware corporation that "provided train traffic control equipment, software and support services to WMATA" (SAMC ¶¶ 10, 11), 4) ARINC, a Delaware corporation that "provided train traffic control equipment, including a safety warning system designed to detect the presence of other trains on the track, software and other support services to Defendant WMATA" (SAMC ¶¶ 13, 14), and 5) ADCO Circuits, Inc., a Michigan corporation that "provided circuit boards which were installed in train traffic control equipment manufactured and/or assembled by Defendants Alstom and/or ARINC and sold to Defendant WMATA" (SAMC ¶¶ 16, 17).

On August 2, 2010, ADCO moved to dismiss all claims against it on the grounds the Court lacked jurisdiction over it pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and that plaintiffs failed to state a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendant ADCO Circuits, Inc.'s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' First Amended Master Complaint for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Failure to State a Claim ("ADCO's MTD") [# 73]. Plaintiffs then sought leave of the Court to file a Second Amended Master Complaint ("SAMC") [# 125], which was granted nunc pro tunc by minute order. See Minute Order dated October 18, 2010. In that complaint, plaintiffs assert nine claims against ADCO: 1) Count VII: Negligent Train Traffic Control (SAMC ¶¶ 228-241), 2) Count IX: Strict Products Liability-Design Defect, Manufacturing Defect, Failure to Warn (SAMC ¶¶ 250-259), 3) Count X: Negligence-Design Defect, Manufacturing Defect, Failure to Warn (SAMC ¶¶ 260-267), 4) Count XI: Breach of Implied Warrant of Merchantability (SAMC ¶¶ 268-272), 5) Count XII: Breach of Express Warranty (SAMC ¶¶ 273-276), 6) Count XIV: Negligent Train Traffic Control (SAMC ¶¶ 284-298), 7) Count XV: Breach of Warranty & Implied Warranty of Fitness for Particular Purpose (SAMC ¶¶ 299-305), 8) Count XVI: Wrongful Death (SAMC ¶¶ 306-307), and 9) Count XVII: Survival Action for Injuries Prior to Death (SAMC ¶¶ 308-311). In its opposition to ADCO's motion to dismiss,[1] plaintiffs also moved the Court for an additional sixty days within which to conduct jurisdictional discovery.[2] Plains. Mot. at 2. That is the motion currently before the Court.

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

In the District of Columbia Circuit, the standard for permitting jurisdictional discovery is "quite liberal." Diamond Chem. Co. v. Atofina Chems., Inc., 268 F.Supp.2d 1, 15 (D.D.C.2003). Accord Davis v. Grant Park Nursing Home LP, 639 F.Supp.2d 60, 75 (D.D.C.2009). "[H]owever, in order to get jurisdictional *135 discovery a plaintiff must have at least a good faith belief that such discovery will enable it to show that the court has personal jurisdiction over the defendant." Caribbean Broad. Sys. Ltd. v. Cable & Wireless PLC, 148 F.3d 1080, 1090 (D.C.Cir.1998). Accord Farouki v. Petra Int'l Baking Corp., 683 F.Supp.2d 23, 28 (D.D.C.2010). In addition, plaintiffs must provide the Court with a "detailed showing of what discovery it wishes to conduct or what result it thinks such discovery would produce." United States v. Philip Morris, Inc., 116 F.Supp.2d 116, 130 n. 16 (D.D.C. 2000). Ultimately, the trial court has broad discretion to allow or disallow the discovery sought. FC Inv. Grp. LC v. IFX Markets. Ltd., 529 F.3d 1087, 1093 (D.C.Cir.2008). Accord NBC-USA Housing, Inc., Twenty-Six v. Donovan, 741 F.Supp.2d 55, 59-60, 2010 WL 3786502, at *4 (D.D.C. Sept. 27, 2010).

II.

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Bluebook (online)
756 F. Supp. 2d 132, 2010 WL 5263229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-fort-totten-metrorail-cases-dcd-2010.