Moore v. Robinhood Financial LLC

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: February 8, 2022
• Docket: 2:21-cv-01571
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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THE HONORABLE BARBARA J. ROTHSTEIN 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON

6 COOPER MOORE, individually and on his behalf of all others similarly situated, 7 Case No. 2:21-cv-01571-BJR Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER TO 8 v. PERMIT PLAINTIFF TO FILE AN AMENDED COMPLAINT 9 ROBINHOOD FINANCIAL LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, 10 Defendant. 1 11 2

13 I. STIPULATED MOTION 14 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2) (providing for amended pleadings 15 before trial), Defendant Robinhood Financial LLC (“Robinhood”) consents to Plaintiff filing an 16 amended complaint in the form attached as Exhibit 2. Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 15, Plaintiff 17 attaches a red-lined copy of the proposed First Amended Class Action Complaint as Exhibit 1 18 and a clean version as Exhibit 2. The red interlineations in Exhibit 1 show where the First 19 Amended Complaint differs from the original Complaint. In support of this stipulated motion, 20 the parties state: 21 1. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2) permits a party to amend a pleading with 22 the opposing party’s consent or the Court’s leave. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). 23 1 2. Robinhood has consented to Plaintiffs filing the First Amended Class Action 2 Complaint in the form attached as Exhibit 2 to this stipulation. 3 3. Plaintiff states that the Amended Complaint amends the Class Action Complaint

4 by adding an additional Plaintiff, revising the caption so it reflects the fact that this case is now 5 pending in this Court, adding more details about the facts out of which Plaintiffs’ claims arise, 6 amending the class definition, and removing the allegation that Robinhood “initiated” the text 7 messages at issue in this case. None of the changes implicate this Court’s subject matter 8 jurisdiction. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15 (governing “Amended and Supplemental 9 Pleadings”) plainly contemplates and permits this amendment at this time, before trial.

10 4. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 (governing “Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of 11 Parties”) also provides that “[o]n motion or on its own, the court may at any time, on just 12 terms, add or drop a party.” The majority rule is that Rule 15(a) supersedes Rule 21 when a 13 plaintiff seeks to amend a complaint by adding or removing a party. See, e.g., Galustian v. Peter, 14 591 F.3d 724, 730 (4th Cir. 2010); Bibbs v. Early, 541 F.3d 267, 274 n.39 (5th Cir. 2008). That is

15 because Rule 15 is the more specific rule governing amended pleadings, expressly authorizing 16 amendment before trial when the opposing party consents. See Matthews Metals Prods., Inc. v. 17 RBM Precision Metal Prods., Inc., 186 F.R.D. 581, 583 (N.D. Cal. 1999). 18 4. Because Robinhood consents to Plaintiffs filing the First Amended Class Action 19 Complaint, it is appropriate to permit Plaintiffs to file the First Amended Class Action Complaint 20 in the form attached as Exhibit 2. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2).

21 5. By stipulating to Plaintiffs filing the First Amended Class Action Complaint, 22 Robinhood does not waive and expressly reserves any of its defenses. 23 1 STIPULATED TO AND DATED this 8th day of February, 2022. 2 TERRELL MARSHALL LAW GROUP DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP 3 By: /s/ Beth E. Terrell, WSBA #26759 By: /s/Kenneth E. Payson, WSBA #26369 4 Beth E. Terrell, WSBA #26759 Kenneth E. Payson, WSBA #26369 Email: bterrell@terrellmarshall.com Email: kennethpayson@dwt.com 5 Jennifer Rust Murray, WSBA #36983 Lauren B. Rainwater, WSBA #43625 Email: jmurray@terrellmarshall.com Email: laurenrainwater@dwt.com 6 936 North 34th Street, Suite 300 Eric Franz, WSBA #52755 Seattle, Washington 98103 Email: ericfranz@dwt.com 7 Telephone: (206) 816-6603 920 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3300 Facsimile: (206) 319-5450 Seattle, Washington 98104 8 Telephone: (206) 622-3150 Sophia M. Rios, Admitted Pro Hac Vice Facsimile: (206) 757-7700 9 Email: srios@bm.net BERGER MONTAGUE PC Attorneys for Defendant 10 401 B Street, Suite 2000 San Diego, CA 92101 11 Telephone: (619) 489-0300 Facsimile: (215) 875-4604 12 E. Michelle Drake, Admitted Pro Hac Vice 13 Email: mdrake@bm.net BERGER MONTAGUE PC 14 1229 Tyler Street NE, Suite 205 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55413 15 Telephone: (612) 594-5999 Facsimile: (612) 584-4470

16 Attorneys for Plaintiff 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 1 Il. PROPOSED ORDER > The Court GRANTS the parties’ stipulated motion. Plaintiffs may file their Amended Complaint in the form attached as Exhibit 2. 3 IT 1S SO ORDERED. 4 5 DATED this 8th day of February, 2022.

j BARBARA J. ROTHSTEIN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 STIPULATED MOTION TO FILE AN AMEN DED COMBPLAINT- 4 TERRELL MARSHALL LAW Group PLLC Case No. 2:21-cv-01571-BJR seattle, Washington sa103 3860