In Re VAN WELL NURSERY INC.

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
• Decided: September 11, 2025
• Docket: 25-131
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 25-131 Document: 11 Page: 1 Filed: 09/11/2025

NOTE: This order is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

In Re VAN WELL NURSERY INC., MONSON FRUIT CO. INC., GORDON GOODWIN, SALLY GOODWIN, Petitioners ______________________

2025-131 ______________________

On Petition for Writ of Mandamus to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington in No. 2:20-cv-00181-SAB, Judge Stanley Allen Bastian. ______________________

ON PETITION ______________________

Before REYNA, HUGHES, and STOLL, Circuit Judges. STOLL, Circuit Judge. ORDER Petitioners Van Well Nursery, Inc., Monson Fruit Co. Inc., and Gordon and Sally Goodwin seek a writ of manda- mus directing the district court to reinstate its prior order granting Petitioners summary judgment of invalidity. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as Represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri Food (“AAFC”) op- poses the petition. Petitioners reply. AAFC sued Petitioners alleging their Glory cherry va- riety infringed AAFC’s plant patent covering a cherry Case: 25-131 Document: 11 Page: 2 Filed: 09/11/2025

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variety called Staccato. AAFC also asserted non-patent claims. In November 2022, the district court granted sum- mary judgment of invalidity of AAFC’s patent claims based on a spreadsheet that purportedly showed the Staccato cherries on sale before the critical date. The parties later agreed to a bench trial on whether Glory was the same va- riety as Staccato and on the asserted non-patent claims. But, in March 2025, before the trial, the court granted AAFC’s motion to reconsider the summary judgment order. In doing so, it found Petitioners had falsely represented that the spreadsheet was accurate when the submitted doc- ument excluded the first ten rows demonstrating the sales were of a different variety of cherries. Having concluded that there were genuine issues of material fact regarding whether Staccato was sold before the critical date, the court vacated its prior ruling. Petitioners then filed this petition seeking to reinstate that decision. Mandamus is “reserved for extraordinary situations.” Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Mayacamas Corp., 485 U.S. 271, 289 (1988) (citation omitted). Under the well-estab- lished standard for such relief, a petitioner must: (1) show that he has a clear and indisputable right to relief; (2) show he does not have any other adequate method of obtaining relief; and (3) convince the court that the “writ is appropri- ate under the circumstances.” Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for D.C., 542 U.S. 367, 380–81 (2004) (citation omitted). Peti- tioners have not met that demanding standard. As to their primary challenge, Petitioners have not shown that the law of the case doctrine clearly and indis- putably precluded the district court from reconsidering its summary judgment order. See City of Los Angeles v. Santa Monica Baykeeper, 254 F.3d 882, 888 (9th Cir. 2001) (not- ing that doctrine is “wholly inapposite” to a “district court’s power to reconsider its own interlocutory order provided that the district court has not been divested of jurisdiction over the order”). Nor can we say that Petitioners lack Case: 25-131 Document: 11 Page: 3 Filed: 09/11/2025

IN RE VAN WELL NURSERY INC. 3

adequate alternative means to raise any specific challenge to the district court’s findings or to raise its invalidity chal- lenge such as in an ordinary appeal following final judg- ment. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED THAT: The petition is denied. FOR THE COURT

September 11, 2025 Date