Mehedi v. View, Inc. f/k/a CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II

District Court, N.D. California·Decided June 12, 2024·No. 5:21-cv-06374·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 SAN JOSE DIVISION 6 7 ASIF MEHEDI, et al., Case No. 21-cv-06374-BLF

8 Plaintiffs, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 9 v. ALTER OR AMEND THE JUDGMENT AND FOR RELIEF FROM A FINAL 10 VIEW, INC., et al., JUDGMENT, ORDER, OR PROCEEDING AND VACATING 11 Defendants. JUDGMENT

12 [Re: ECF No. 203]

13 14 Before the Court is Lead Plaintiff Stadium Capital LLC and named Plaintiff David 15 Sherman’s motion to alter or amend the judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) and 16 for relief from a final judgment, order, or proceeding under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). 17 ECF No. 203 (“Mot.”). Defendants other than View, Inc.1 filed an opposition to the motion. ECF 18 No. 208 (“Opp.”). Plaintiffs filed a reply. ECF No. 211 (“Reply”). The Court took the motion 19 under submission without oral argument. ECF No. 207; Civ. L.R. 7-1(b). 20 For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS the motion and VACATES the judgment. 21 I. BACKGROUND 22 The background of this case is laid out in detail in the Court’s Order granting the motion to 23 dismiss Plaintiffs’ second amended complaint. ECF No. 200 (“MTD SAC”). The Court will 24 provide an abbreviated version here. 25 This is a putative class action for securities fraud against View, Inc. and various 26 individuals connected to View’s SEC filings. Plaintiffs allege that, in various public filings from 27 1 November 20, 2020 to May 17, 2021, Defendants made material misrepresentations to investors 2 concerning a materially misstated and understated warranty accrual related to View’s “smart 3 panels.” See, e.g., ECF No. 175 (“SAC”) ¶¶ 87, 92. 4 On August 18, 2021, the initial complaint was filed in this case. See ECF No. 1 5 (“Compl.”). On February 8, 2022, the Court appointed Stadium Capital LLC as Lead Plaintiff. 6 ECF No. 67. On July 15, 2022, Stadium Capital filed the first amended complaint. See ECF No. 7 96 (“FAC”). On May 2, 2023, the Court granted Defendants’ motions to dismiss and dismissed all 8 of Stadium Capital’s claims with leave to amend. See ECF No. 168. On August 21, 2023, 9 Stadium Capital filed the second amended complaint. See SAC. In addition to narrowing the 10 claims to a Section 14(a) claim, a Section 10(b) claim, and their Section 20(a) counterparts, the 11 second amended complaint changed the end of the class period from May 10, 2022 to November 12 9, 2021 and sought to add an additional Named Plaintiff: David Sherman. SAC ¶¶ 26–44. 13 On April 9, 2024, the Court granted Defendants’ motions to dismiss without leave to 14 amend. See MTD SAC at 19–20. The Court found that, because Stadium Capital sold its shares 15 before the truth of the underlying falsehood was revealed, Stadium Capital was not injured by the 16 alleged misrepresentations and thus lacked standing to pursue any of its claims. Id. at 10–16. 17 Because the Court found that Stadium Capital did not have and never had standing to pursue its 18 claims, the addition of David Sherman was not permitted under established law. See id. at 16–19. 19 II. LEGAL STANDARD 20 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e), a party may file a motion to alter or amend 21 judgment within 28 days after entry of the judgment. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e). The Ninth Circuit 22 has identified “four basic grounds upon which a Rule 59(e) motion may be granted: (1) if such 23 motion is necessary to correct manifest errors of law or fact upon which the judgment rests; (2) if 24 such motion is necessary to present newly discovered or previously unavailable evidence; (3) if 25 such motion is necessary to prevent manifest injustice; or (4) if the amendment is justified by an 26 intervening change in controlling law.” Allstate Ins. Co. v. Herron, 634 F.3d 1101, 1111 (9th Cir. 27 2011). 1 rule offers an extraordinary remedy, to be used sparingly in the interests of finality and 2 conservation of judicial resources.” Kona Enters., Inc. v. Est. of Bishop, 229 F.3d 877, 890 (9th 3 Cir. 2000) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Rule 59(e) relief “should not be 4 granted, absent highly unusual circumstances, unless the district court is presented with newly 5 discovered evidence, committed clear error, or if there is an intervening change in the controlling 6 law.” 389 Orange St. Partners v. Arnold, 179 F.3d 656, 665 (9th Cir. 1999). “A Rule 59(e) 7 motion may not be used to raise arguments or present evidence for the first time when they could 8 reasonably have been raised earlier in the litigation.” See Kona, 229 F.3d at 890 (emphasis in 9 original). 10 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), the Court may relieve a party from a final 11 judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons:

12 (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence that, with reasonable diligence, could not have 13 been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud (whether previously called intrinsic or extrinsic), 14 misrepresentation, or misconduct by an opposing party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or 15 discharged; it is based on an earlier judgment that has been reversed or vacated; or applying it prospectively is no longer equitable; or 16 (6) any other reason that justifies relief.

17 Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). Mere dissatisfaction with the Court’s order, or belief that the Court is 18 wrong in its decision, are not grounds for relief under Rule 60(b). Twentieth Century-Fox Film 19 Corp. v. Dunnahoo, 637 F.2d 1338, 1341 (9th Cir. 1981); Beckway v. DeShong, No. C07-5072 20 TEH, 2012 WL 1355744, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 18, 2012). 21 III. DISCUSSION 22 Plaintiffs argue that the Court’s finding that Stadium Capital did not have standing was 23 “clear error” under Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) or “mistake [or] inadvertence” under Fed. R. Civ. P. 24 60(b) because the Court conflated constitutional standing with statutory standing. Mot. at 1. 25 More precisely, Plaintiffs argue that a failure to plead loss causation is an issue of statutory 26 standing and, because Stadium Capital has constitutional standing, the addition of Sherman as a 27 named plaintiff is appropriate. Mot. at 4–12. Defendants respond that Plaintiffs’ motion is 1 procedurally improper because Plaintiffs failed to raise their standing arguments in their 2 opposition to the motion to dismiss. Opp. at 2–3. Defendants also argue that the order dismissing 3 the second amended complaint was correct and that Plaintiffs mischaracterized the law. Id. at 3– 4 11. 5 A. Whether Plaintiffs’ Motion Is Procedurally Improper 6 Defendants argue that Plaintiffs’ motion is procedurally improper because it raises new 7 arguments for the first time that could have reasonably been raised in Plaintiffs’ opposition to the 8 motions to dismiss. Opp. at 2–3.

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Mehedi v. View, Inc. f/k/a CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II, (N.D. Cal. 2024).

Mehedi v. View, Inc. f/k/a CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II (Mehedi v. View, Inc. f/k/a CF Finance Acquisition Corp. II) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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