J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Drywall Service & Supply Co.

265 F.R.D. 341, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9820, 2010 WL 455502
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedFebruary 3, 2010
DocketNo. 3:07 CV 202
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 265 F.R.D. 341 (J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Drywall Service & Supply Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Drywall Service & Supply Co., 265 F.R.D. 341, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9820, 2010 WL 455502 (N.D. Ind. 2010).

Opinion

ORDER and OPINION

JAMES T. MOODY, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on a motion for leave to amend the complaint (Pl.’s Mot. for Leave to File Am. Compl. and to Extend Certain Management Deadlines, DE # 68) and a joint motion to modify the deposition deadline. (Joint Mot. to Modify Dep. Deadline, DE #74.) For the reasons explained below, the motion to amend the complaint will be DENIED and the motion to modify the deposition deadline will be GRANTED.

[344]*344I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

A brief overview of the facts underlying this case is helpful for understanding the motion for leave to amend.1 Defendant Drywall Service & Supply Co., Inc. (“Drywall”) had a checking account with plaintiff J.P. Morgan Chase Bank NA (“JPMC”). (Aff. of James Treat in App. to Def.’s Brief in Opp’n to Summ. J. 3, DE # 59-2.) In June 2002, the two parties entered an agreement whereby JPMC would extend Drywall a line of a credit, with a limit of $250,000, which would be deposited into Drywall’s cheeking account upon request. (Id; Aff. of Esther R. Bullock in Attach, to Brief in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. 2, DE # 39-11.) Drywall agreed to pay interest on any amount that it drew on the line of credit. (Promissory Note 1 in Attach, to Compl. 1, DE # 1-2.) To secure the line of credit, Drywall granted JPMC a security interest in all its inventory, accounts, chattel paper, equipment, and general intangibles and JPMC perfected that interest. (Bullock Aff. 2, DE # 39-11.)

The security agreement was formalized in a promissory note signed by Drywall’s president and whole-owner, James Treat (“Treat”). (Promissory Note in Attach, to Compl. 1-2, DE # 1-2.) The promissory note was supplemented by a commercial security agreement (Commercial Security Agreement in Attach, to Compl. 1-5, DE # 1-3), and JPMC also required Drywall to submit a “corporate resolution” that designated Treat as the only officer able to take certain actions, including borrowing and incurring any indebtedness or credit accommodations, on Drywall’s behalf. (Corporate Resolution in Attach, to Def.’s Answer 1, DE # 9-2.)

Treat alleges that he never authorized anyone else to take action on Drywall’s line of credit agreement and that he never requested any draws against the line of credit. (Treat Aff. 3, DE # 59-2.) Still JPMC ended up depositing $250,000, drawn from the line of credit, into Drywall’s checking account in three deposits. (Bullock Aff. 2-3, DE # 39-11.) These deposits were indicated on checking account statements and statements for the line of credit that JPMC claims to have sent to Drywall. (Bullock Aff. 3, DE #39-11.) Some interest payments were made on the line of credit. (Treat Aff. 4, DE # 39-11.) JPMC claims that Treat “personally requested at least one draw” and cites to a letter it received on Drywall letterhead with Treat’s alleged signature. (Pl.’s Brief in Supp. of Summ. J. 6, DE # 39; Letter from Treat in Attach, to Pl.’s Brief in Supp. of Summ. J. 4, DE # 39-4.)

Drywall claims that its former employee, Christina Robbins (“Robbins”), was the person who requested the draws against the line of credit, received the bank statements, and made the interest payments on its behalf. (Treat Aff. 5-8, DE # 59-2.) In a separate criminal proceeding, Robbins plead guilty to the felony of wire fraud, admitting that she defrauded Drywall and Treat by writing checks from Drywall’s checking account to herself and her husband and by wiring money from Drywall’s accounts to her creditors to pay her personal debt. (Id. at 46.) She also admitted to hiding her fraud from Drywall by manipulating its books, mail, and records. (Id.) Drywall defaulted on the line of credit and has not returned the amounts owed on it. (Bullock Aff. 4, DE #39-11.)

B. Procedural Background

The original complaint in this suit listed two claims—enforcement of note and foreclosure of security interest—-and was filed on May 1, 2007 by JPMC. (Pl.’s Compl., DE # 1.)2 On October 17, 2008, JPMC moved for summary judgment on these claims. (Pl.’s Mot. for Summ. J. 1, DE # 38; Pl.’s Compl. 3^4, DE # 1.) This court denied that motion on April 22, 2009. (Order Den. Mot. for Summ. J., DE # 62.) JPMC filed a motion for reconsideration of the summary judgment [345]*345order (Pl.’s Mot. for Recons., DE # 63) which was denied by the undersigned on June 3, 2006. (Order Den. Mot. for Recons., DE # 65.) On August 7, 2009, JPMC moved to amend its complaint to include claims of unjust enrichment, recoupment, breach of account rules and regulations, and rescission. (Pl.’s Mot. to Am. Compl. 6-9, DE # 68-2.) Drywall responded (Def.’s Resp. in Opp’n to Mot. to Am. Compl., DE # 73), plaintiff replied (Pl.’s Reply to Def.’s Resp. in Opp’n to Mot. to Am. Compl., DE # 76), and Drywall was granted leave to file a sur-reply which it did on September 9, 2009. (DE ## 77, 78, 79). JPMC was granted leave to file a limited response to Drywall’s sur-reply and did so on September 16, 2009. (DE ## 80, 81, 82.)

During a preliminary pretrial conference on July 24, 2007, the initial discovery deadline in this case was set for April 30, 2008. (Rule 16 Prelim. Pretrial Conference, DE # 17.) In April, 2008, the parties agreed that the deadline for completing depositions should be sixty days following the ruling on any dispositive motion. (Pl.’s Mot. for Extension of Time to Complete Disc. 3, DE #27; Order Granting Mot. for Extension of Time to Complete Disc., DE # 28.) The parties gave three reasons for requesting that the deposition deadline be set for after the dispositive motion deadline: 1) the parties hoped to limit the number of depositions by covering topics relevant to the state and federal litigation in the same depositions and the state suits were just beginning; 2) the parties wished to reduce costs by attempting mediation before the depositions were held; and 3) the parties anticipated that dispositive motions would be filed and sought to reduce costs by having these motions decided before undertaking depositions that may be rendered unnecessary by the decisions. (Pl.’s Mot. for Extension of Time to Complete Disc. 3, DE # 27.) The court granted that motion, setting the deadline for all non-deposition discovery for May 30, 2008 and the dispositive motion deadline for sixty days later. (Order Granting Mot. for Extension of Time to Complete Disc, DE # 28.)

On September 16, 2008, after the disposi-tive motion deadline had passed, JPMC moved to extend the dispositive motion deadline to October 17, 2008 (Pl.’s Mot. for Extension of Time to File Dispositive Mot., DE # 30), and this court granted that motion on September 23, 2008. (Order Granting Mot. for Extension of Time to File Dispositive Mot., DE #35.) In the same order, this court reassigned the case to the magistrate judge to handle any discovery issues that had not been resolved, noting that discovery appeared to be ongoing in this case because depositions had not been taken and there was possibly a dispute about JPMC’s responses to Drywall’s discovery requests. (Id. at 3.) However, after this order, neither party moved to reopen or extend the discovery period. (Order Den. Mots, to Compel and Mot. for Extension of Time 1, DE # 55.)

Almost a month later, JPMC moved for summary judgment. (Pl.’s Mot. for Summ. J., DE # 38.) Drywall twice moved for an extension of time to file its response and the motion was granted twice.

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265 F.R.D. 341, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9820, 2010 WL 455502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jp-morgan-chase-bank-na-v-drywall-service-supply-co-innd-2010.