LeBlang Motors, Ltd. v. Subaru of America, Inc.

148 F.3d 680
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJune 8, 1998
DocketNos. 96-3034, 97-2045 and 97-2874
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 148 F.3d 680 (LeBlang Motors, Ltd. v. Subaru of America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LeBlang Motors, Ltd. v. Subaru of America, Inc., 148 F.3d 680 (7th Cir. 1998).

Opinion

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

This case consists of three consolidated appeals involving LeBlang Motors, Ltd. and Wayne A. LeBlang (collectively “LeBlang”), and Subaru of America. LeBlang challenges the amount of attorneys’ fees awarded to Subaru, the dismissal of a stay of enforcement against the order to pay the attorneys’ fees, the involuntary dismissal of one of its actions, two pretrial orders, and the dismissal of two individual defendants, Timothy Wright and Larry Knight. Because we find no error in the district court’s management of this case, we affirm its orders and decisions.

I. History ‘

This case has a long and .complex history. We set forth here only those facts relevant to the present appeals.

In' March 1989, LeBlang purchased the assets of Ray Subaru, Ltd., and became a Subaru franchise dealer. LeBlang operated this Subaru dealership in Park Ridge, Illinois from September 1989 to November 1993, when LeBlang sold the dealership. In March 1995, LeBlang filed its first lawsuit (“LeBlang I”) against Subaru, alleging violations of various state and federal statutes as well as breach of contract and fraud.

LeBlang’s claims relate to alleged misrepresentations Subaru representatives made regarding the planning volume1 for the Le-Blang dealership. Subaru, through its agent Timothy Wright, told LeBlang that the planning volume number for his dealership was 299. This number dictates net working-capi[684]*684tal requirements, inventory, facility space, and personnel requirements for Subaru franchisees. Given the dealership’s existing size, the planning volume number provided by Subaru for LeBlang’s franchise precluded LeBlang from offering another ear manufacturer’s product line at the dealership. After LeBlang committed to the capital, inventory, and personnel requirements prescribed by the planning volume number, another Subaru employee, Larry Knight, informed LeBlang that Subaru reduced LeBlang’s planning volume number to 217. At that level, LeBlang could have provided another product line. LeBlang alleged that Subaru knowingly misrepresented the original planning volume number, and as a result of his reliance on that number, LeBlang suffered damages of $1,350,000.

LeBlang filed LeBlang I. in state court. Subaru removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on the basis of diversity of citizenship. LeBlang I proceeded unremark-ably toward trial until, in January 1996, the court determined that LeBlang’s expert report was inadequate. The court prohibited LeBlang from supplementing its expert report on the ground that Subaru would be prejudiced. LeBlang responded by filing successive motions for reconsideration, each of which the trial court denied. The district court sanctioned LeBlang for its final motion for reconsideration, requiring LeBlang to pay Subaru the amount of its attorneys’ fees incurred in responding to the renewed motion for reconsideration. Thereafter, a few weeks before the scheduled trial date, Le-Blang moved for a continuance. The trial court denied this motion. LeBlang responded by seeking a voluntary dismissal nine days prior to the set trial date. The court granted the voluntary dismissal subject to the following agreed terms and conditions: “that plaintiffs pay defendant’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in trial preparation; that all rulings and orders in this case apply in any subsequent refiled action; that the parties will stand ready for trial upon the refiling of this case.” Order, Le Blang Motors, Ltd. v. Subaru of America, No. 95 C 2693 (N.D. Ill. April 12, 1996).

The trial court subsequently issued an order fixing the amount of attorneys’ fees and costs owed to Subaru at $89,032.29. Le-Blang appealed that order, and at the same time tried to appeal several pretrial orders from LeBlang I, including the court’s denial of LeBlang’s motion to supplement its expert report. In April 1997, we dismissed Le-Blang’s appeals of the pretrial orders for lack of jurisdiction because the notice of appeal was filed late. The appeal regarding the amount of attorneys’ fees was timely filed, and is now properly before us.

In November 1996, while the appeal of LeBlang I was pending and prior to our partial dismissal of that appeal, LeBlang filed a second lawsuit (“LeBlang II”) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. LeBlang II consisted of six of the seven original counts in LeBlang I. In March 1997, the district court dismissed LeBlang II because of LeBlang’s failure to comply with the conditions imposed upon the voluntary dismissal of LeBlang I. Specifically, the court found that LeBlang had failed to pay the attorneys’ fees as set by the court, and in fact had appealed the order setting the amount of the fees. In addition, the court noted that LeBlang had appealed two discovery-related orders from LeBlang I in contravention of the agreed-upon condition that all rulings and orders from LeBlang I would apply in any refiled action. After dismissing LeBlang II under Fed.R.Giv.P. 41(b), the court tui’ned to a motion filed by LeBlang for a stay of enforcement of the LeBlang I fee award. The court dismissed this motion as moot. In April 1997, LeBlang appealed from the dismissal of LeBlang II, challenging the dismissal itself, the court’s dismissal of the stay of enforcement, and two of the pretrial orders from LeBlang I.

LeBlang filed a third lawsuit in January 1997 in state court. This last action (“Le-Blang III”) consisted of the seventh and final remaining count from LeBlang I. LeBlang III, unlike LeBlang I or II, named two former Subaru employees, Tim Wright and Larry Knight, as defendants. LeBlang, Knight, and Wright are all citizens of Illinois. Subaru removed the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of [685]*685Illinois, claiming that Wright and Knight were fraudulently joined in an effort to defeat diversity jurisdiction. In March 1997, LeBlang moved to remand LeBlang III to state court. In April 1997, the district court granted Subaru’s motion to dismiss Wright and Knight as fraudulently joined, finding that the action against them was barred by the applicable statute of limitations. The court then denied LeBlang’s motion to remand.

In May 1997, the district court dismissed LeBlang III pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b) for failure to comply with the agreed-upon conditions imposed upon the voluntary dismissal of LeBlang I. LeBlang appealed this dismissal claiming that the district court erred in dismissing individual defendants Wright and Knight as fraudulently joined.

We have consolidated the appeals from LeBlang I, II, and III. Presently before us are the following issues: (1) whether the district court abused its discretion in setting the amount of attorneys’ fees owed to Subaru in LeBlang I; (2) whether the district court abused its discretion in dismissing LeBlang II; (3) whether the district court abused its discretion in dismissing the stay of enforcement in LeBlang II; (4) whether the district court abused its discretion in denying two pretrial motions in LeBlang

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Bluebook (online)
148 F.3d 680, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leblang-motors-ltd-v-subaru-of-america-inc-ca7-1998.