KNAUF INSULATION, LLC v. JOHNS MANVILLE CORPORATION

District Court, S.D. Indiana·Decided August 22, 2024·No. 1:15-cv-00111·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

KNAUF INSULATION, LLC, ) KNAUF INSULATION GmbH, ) KNAUF INSULATION SPRL, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) No. 1:15-cv-00111-TWP-MJD ) JOHNS MANVILLE CORPORATION, ) JOHNS MANVILLE, INC., ) ) Defendants. ) ) ) JOHNS MANVILLE CORPORATION, ) JOHNS MANVILLE, INC., ) ) Counter Claimants, ) ) v. ) ) KNAUF INSULATION GmbH, ) KNAUF INSULATION SPRL, ) KNAUF INSULATION, LLC, ) ) Counter Defendants. )

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO VACATE This matter is before the Court on a Conditionally Unopposed Motion to Vacate in Anticipation of Settlement and Dismissal (the "Motion to Vacate") filed by Plaintiffs Knauf Insulation, LLC, Knauf Insulation GmbH, and Knauf Insulation SPRL (collectively, "Knauf") (Filing No. 1299). Knauf asks the Court to vacate its March 28, 2024 Sealed1 Order on Cross- Motions for Partial Summary Judgment and to Adopt Claim Constructions, and Parties' Motions

1 The SJ/CC Order was originally filed under seal but was later unsealed by agreement of the parties (Filing No. 1140; Filing No. 1142). to Reconsider (the "SJ/CC Order") (Filing No. 1136). Defendants Johns Manville Corporation and Johns Manville, Inc. (together, "JM") do not oppose the Motion to Vacate to the extent the Court grants the parties' contemporaneously filed Joint Motion to Dismiss (Filing No. 1298). The Court has granted the parties' Joint Motion to Dismiss (Filing No. 1311), so the Motion to Vacate is

unopposed. For the following reasons, the Motion to Vacate is denied. I. BACKGROUND Knauf initiated this action in January 2015, asserting that JM was infringing on seven of Knauf's patents. After seven years of dispositive and non-dispositive motions practice, amended pleadings, discovery, and stays, the parties filed their cross-motions for partial summary judgment and to adopt claim constructions (Filing No. 825; Filing No. 842). The Court held a hearing on the parties' cross-motions in June 2022. The parties submitted thousands of pages of briefing and evidence in support of their motions, which raised numerous complex and novel issues. As a result, the Court necessarily spent months reviewing, researching, and preparing a thorough order. On March 28, 2024, the Court issued its one-hundred-twenty-four-page SJ/CC Order,2 which disposed of all claims relating to six of the seven patents in suit (Filing No. 1136). Shortly

after issuing the SJ/CC Order, the Court ordered the parties to schedule a private mediation for no later than June 7, 2024, and set a settlement conference for June 25, 2024 (Filing No. 1137; Filing No. 1138). On April 19, 2024, Knauf filed a Motion to Reconsider a portion of the SJ/CC Order (Filing No. 1143). The Court denied the Motion to Reconsider (Filing No. 1176). The same day, June 24, 2024, the parties filed their remaining motions in limine in preparation for the upcoming trial. The final pretrial conference was set for July 23, 2024, with trial set to begin August 19, 2024.

2 In the SJ/CC Order, the Court declined to reach several additional issues raised in the parties' cross-motions, finding that those issues were moot. Had the Court addressed all issues raised by the parties or construed all disputed patent claims, the SJ/CC Order likely would have been substantially longer. The parties attended a settlement conference with the Magistrate Judge on June 25, 2024, but no settlement was reached (Filing No. 1203). On July 5, 2024, JM filed a motion for leave to file a second motion for summary judgment (Filing No. 1208). In light of the upcoming trial date, the Court ordered expedited briefing on JM's motion and spent considerable resources preparing

expedited rulings on the motions in limine (Filing No. 1211; Filing No. 1266; Filing No. 1276). On Friday, July 19, 2024, the parties advised the Court that a settlement had been reached. The Court vacated all dates, including the trial dates, and denied as moot several still-pending motions (Filing No. 1279). The Court ordered the parties to file dismissal paperwork within thirty days. On August 16, 2024, the parties timely filed their Joint Motion to Dismiss (Filing No. 1298) and the instant Motion to Vacate (Filing No. 1299). Because the Motion to Vacate is unopposed, it is now ripe for the Court's review. II. DISCUSSION An interlocutory order that "does not end the action as to any of the claims or parties . . . may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties' rights and liabilities." Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 54(b). Put another way, "every order short of a final

decree is subject to reopening at the discretion of the district judge." Moses H. Cone Mem'l Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 12 (1983). "The burden rests with the party seeking relief to demonstrate equitable entitlement to vacatur." Toutov v. Curative Labs Inc., No. 2:20-cv-11284, 2024 WL 1351391, at *2 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 28, 2024) (citing U.S. Bancorp Mortg. Co. v. Bonner Mall P'ship, 513 U.S. 18, 26 (1994)). A district court may vacate its own interlocutory orders upon settlement if the parties move for vacatur. Although an appellate court will not force a district court to vacate its orders absent "exceptional circumstances," district courts are granted more discretion and apply a balancing test to determine whether vacatur is appropriate. A number of courts have considered the factors identified in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Telcordia Technologies, Inc., 590 F. Supp. 2d 828, 830 (E.D. Tex. 2008). The Cisco factors include "1. The public interest in the orderly operation of the federal judicial system; 2. The parties' desire to avoid any potential preclusive effect; 3. The court's resources that will be expended if the case continues; and 4. The parties' interest in conserving

their resources." Id. at 831. The Court will address each Cisco factor in turn. A. Public Interest in Orderly Operation of Federal Judicial System "Government resources, as well as time and money of the parties, are expended in litigation. There is a general public interest in final decisions that may guide future action. Having submitted a dispute to federal jurisdiction, parties are not free to arbitrarily nullify court judgments." Cisco, 590 F. Supp. 2d at 830. Knauf argues that the "public interest in reliance on finality will not be impacted as this Court's claim construction decision would be persuasive, rather than binding, and have little (if any) collateral estoppel effect in a separate proceeding." (Filing No. 1299 at 3). Knauf further asserts that vacating the SJ/CC Order "will have little (if any) impact on any third parties or the public" because "[t]here is no other pending litigation relating to the patents at issue, and limited remaining patent term." Id.

The Court agrees with Knauf that the precedential value of the SJ/CC Order is limited, both because it was issued by a district court, and because it largely relates to the specific patents in suit. Gould v. Bowyer, 11 F.3d 82, 84 (7th Cir. 1993) ("A district court decision binds no judge in any other case, save to the extent that doctrines of preclusion (not stare decisis) apply."). However, the persuasive value of the SJ/CC Order cannot be discounted entirely. See Bancorp, 513 U.S. at 26 ("Judicial precedents are presumptively correct and valuable to the legal community as a whole.

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KNAUF INSULATION, LLC v. JOHNS MANVILLE CORPORATION, (S.D. Ind. 2024).

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