Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. United States Army Corps of Engineers

243 F.R.D. 253, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44814, 2007 WL 1765640
District Court, S.D. West Virginia·Decided June 19, 2007·No. Civil Action No. 3:05-0784·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CHAMBERS, District Judge.

Pending are Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File a Fourth Supplemental Complaint [Doc. # 250] and Motion for Leave to File a Fifth Supplemental Complaint [Doc. #291]. The Court finds that allowing Plaintiffs to supplement their Complaint will not prejudice existing parties or parties not pi’esent to this suit. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motions for leave to file a Fourth Supplemental Complaint and Fifth Supplemental Complaint.

[255]*255Also pending are motions to intervene by Mingo Logan Coal Company [Doc. #259], Coal-Mac, Inc., [Doc. #266], and Frasure Creek Mining, LLC. [Doc. # 299]. Each of the applicants satisfy the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a)(2) to intervene as a matter of right. As a result, the Court GRANTS the respective motions to intervene.

Last, pending are Intervenors’ motion for leave to file a supplemental brief with respect to partial summary judgment [Doc. #246], Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to reply to Inter-venors’ supplemental brief [Doc. # 247], and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order [Doc. # 264]. These matters have already been resolved or are no longer at issue and, accordingly, the Court DENIES as MOOT the preceding motions.

I. Motions for Leave to File Supplemental Complaints

Plaintiffs initially requested leave to file a Fourth Supplemental Complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a) on January 30, 2007, to challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) issuance of a Clean Water Act (“CWA”), 33 U.S.C. § 1251, et seq., § 404 permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine (“Spruce No. 1”) near Blair, West Virginia. The Corps, Intervenors, and Mingo Logan Coal Company, the holder of the Spruce No. 1 permit, subsequently filed motions objecting to Plaintiffs’ request, arguing that (1) Plaintiffs incorrectly relied upon Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a), rather than Rule 15(d); (2) Plaintiffs had not shown good cause as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b); (3) nonparties would be prejudiced; and (4) the additional permits, particularly the Spruce No. 1 permit, involve different legal and factual issues than the existing five permits before the Court. In their reply, Plaintiffs argued that the Spruce No. 1 mine represented a continued pattern and practice on the part of the Corps and, therefore, the Spruce No. 1 permit was related to the existing five permits at issue in this case. In addition, Plaintiffs argued that notions of judicial economy favored the granting of leave.

On April 17, 2007, Plaintiffs again requested leave to file a supplemental complaint, although this time Plaintiffs relied upon Fed. R.Civ.P. 15(d) instead of Rule 15(a). In their Fifth Supplemental Complaint, Plaintiffs seek to add three additional CWA permits issued to Coal-Mac, Inc. for the Phoenix No. 5 Surface Mine (“Phoenix No. 5”), Independence Coal Company for the Falcon Surface Mine (“Falcon”), and Jupiter Holdings, LLC for the Callisto Surface Mine (“Callisto”). Intervenors renewed their earlier objections to Plaintiffs’ request.

In sum, the Corps, Intervenors, and three nonparty coal companies have raised numerous objections to Plaintiffs’ requests to include four additional Corps’ permits in this action. The Court will address each of their arguments in turn.

1. Reliance on Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a) Not Dispositive

Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(d) provides that the Court may permit a party to file supplement pleadings setting forth “transactions or occurrences or events which have happened since the date of the pleading sought to be supplemented.” In short, Rule 15(d) allows a party to bring the case up to date. “The purpose of Rule 15(d) is to promote as complete an adjudication of the dispute between the parties as possible by allowing the addition of claims which arise after the initial pleadings are filed.” William Inglis & Sons Baking Co. v. ITT Cont’l Baking Co., Inc., 668 F.2d 1014, 1057 (9th Cir.1982)

In their initial motion, Plaintiffs sought leave to supplement their Complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a), which provides that a party may amend its pleading by leave of court and that “leave shall be freely given when justice so requires.” The Corps and Intervenors correctly argue that Rule 15(d), not Rule 15(a), applies in this situation as an amended complaint relates to matters prior to the filing of the original pleading whereas a supplemental complaint involves matters that occurred subsequent to the filing of the initial complaint. See 6A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1504 (2d ed. 1987 & Supp.2007). This distinction, however, is of little significance [256]*256and any mislabeling by a party does not prevent the Court from construing a motion to amend as a motion to supplement. Franks v. Ross, 313 F.3d 184, 198 n. 15 (4th Cir.2002); see Wright, Miller & Kane, supra, § 1504. The Court applies identical standards in ruling on a motion to amend or a motion to supplement, with leave to be freely given unless good cause exists, such as prejudice to opposing parties. Franks, 313 F.3d at 198 n. 15. Therefore, the Court will construe Plaintiffs’ request to file a Fourth Supplemental Complaint pursuant to Rule 15(d), not Rule 15(a) as originally stated, and finds this minor error inconsequential as a result.

2. Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b) Inapplicable to Fed. R.Civ.P. 15(d)

Intervenors also argue that Plaintiffs have not satisfied the two-part inquiry set forth in Marcum v. Zimmer, 163 F.R.D. 250 (S.D.W.Va.1995), which requires parties to show good cause as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b) once the Scheduling Order’s deadline for amendment of the pleadings has passed before the Court can turn to the more liberal test of Rule 15(a). As the Scheduling Order’s deadline for amending the pleadings has long since passed in this case, Intervenors argue that Rule 16(b) precludes Plaintiffs from amending their Complaint. Plaintiffs do not wish to amend their Complaint, however, but instead request leave to supplement their Complaint with transactions and occurrences that took place after the pleadings had been filed.

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Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, 243 F.R.D. 253, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44814, 2007 WL 1765640 (S.D.W. Va. 2007).

243 F.R.D. 253 (Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. United States Army Corps of Engineers) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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