Packer v. SN Servicing Corp.

250 F.R.D. 108, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39584, 2008 WL 2120528
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedMay 16, 2008
DocketNo. 3:04cv1506 (MRK)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 250 F.R.D. 108 (Packer v. SN Servicing Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Packer v. SN Servicing Corp., 250 F.R.D. 108, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39584, 2008 WL 2120528 (D. Conn. 2008).

Opinion

RULING AND ORDER

MARK R. KRAVITZ, District Judge.

Pending before the Court are Plaintiffs’ Motions to Amend and for Reconsideration [docs. ## 226, 227] (“Motions to Amend and for Reconsideration”) of the Court’s Memorandum of Decision [docs. ## 219, 220] (the “Ruling”) granting in part and denying in part Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment.

The facts of this case are recited in the Court’s Ruling and will not be repeated at length here. Plaintiffs, Curtis Packer and Loraine Denaro, filed a ten-count Amended Complaint (“Complaint”) against SN Servicing Corp., SN Commercial LLC, and Ingo-mar Ltd. Partnership (collectively, the “SN Defendants”) and Wells Fargo Foothill, Inc. (‘Wells Fargo”). Counts One, Two, Three and Four of the Complaint relate to an Elm Street property, while Counts Five, Six, Seven and Eight concern a Blatchley Avenue property; Count Nine alleges intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and Count Ten claims loss of consortium by Ms. Denaro. All Defendants moved for summary judgment. Following oral argument on December 20, 2007, the Court issued its Ruling on February 8, 2008. As to Wells Fargo, the Court granted summary judgment on all counts because it concluded that Plaintiffs had failed to provide any evidence that would enable a reasonable jury to hold Wells Fargo vicariously liable for the actions of the SN Defendants. As to the SN Defendants, the Court granted in part and denied in part their motion for summary judgment. As is relevant to the current motion, the Court denied summary judgment on Count Four, but only to the extent that count alleged violations of Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act (“CUTPA”) premised on incorrectly computed interest payments regarding the Elm Street property, and on Count Nine, but only to the extent that count alleged negligent infliction of emotional distress as to Mr. Packer.1

[110]*110It is the Court’s rulings on Count Four and Wells Fargo that Plaintiffs ask the Court to amend and reconsider under Rules 59(e) and 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. “Although Rule 59(e) does not prescribe specific grounds for granting a motion to alter or amend an otherwise final judgment, ... district courts may alter or amend judgment to correct a clear error of law or prevent manifest injustice.” Munafo v. Metro. Transp. Auth., 381 F.3d 99, 105 (2d Cir.2004) (quotation marks omitted). As this Court explained in Nationwide Airlines (PTY) Ltd. v. African Global, Ltd.:

The standard for granting a motion for reconsideration [under Rule 59(e)] is strict. See Shrader v. CSX Transp., Inc., 70 F.3d 255, 257 (2d Cir.1995). Such a motion “will generally be denied unless the moving party can point to controlling decisions or data that the court overlooked — matters, in other words, that might reasonably be expected to alter the conclusion reached by the court.” Id. A “motion for reconsideration may not be used to plug gaps in an original argument or to argue in the alternative once a decision has been made.” Horsehead Res. Dev. Co., Inc. v. B. U.S. Envtl. Servs., Inc., 928 F.Supp. 287, 289 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Furthermore, a “motion to reconsider should not be granted where the moving party seeks solely to relitigate an issue already decided.” Shrader, 70 F.3d at 257. “The major grounds justifying reconsideration are ‘an intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.’ ” Virgin Atl. Airways, Ltd. v. Nat’l Mediation Bd., 956 F.2d 1245, 1255 (2d Cir.1992) (citing 18 Charles A. Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 4478, at 790 (1981)).

See No. 04cv768 (MRK), 2007 WL 1201765, at *2 (D.Conn. Apr. 23, 2007).

For the reasons discussed, the Court grants Plaintiffs’ timely motions to amend and to reconsider the Court’s Ruling under Rule 59(e) to the extent those motions ask the Court to reconsider its Ruling.2 Having fully reconsidered its Ruling, the Court adheres to its decision regarding Wells Fargo, but amends the Court’s decision regarding Count Four.

I.

In its Ruling, the Court stated as follows regarding the claims involving Wells Fargo:

The parties agree that Wells Fargo held Mr. Packer’s loans from April 2001 through August 2002 as collateral in connection with an Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement between SN Commercial and Wells Fargo. See Foreclosure J. at *1, *7; Pis.’ Mem. in Opp. to Wells Fargo’s Mot. for Summ. J. [doc. # 185], at 2-3; Wells Fargo’s Mem. in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. [doc. # 171], Ex. 3 (“Collateral Assignment of Mortgage Deed & Assignment of Leases”). Wells Fargo has provided a sworn declaration attesting that its “interest in the Packer Mortgage Loans was solely as a creditor of SN Commercial,” and that although the Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement allowed Wells Fargo to collect the monies owed on SN Commercial’s behalf, Wells Fargo never did so and did not participate in any of the decisions regarding Mr. Packer’s debts. See Wells Fargo’s Mem. in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. [doc. # 171], Ex. 1 (“Declaration of John Noita”) H 6; see also id. Ex. 2 (“Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement”). The documentary record supports Wells Fargo’s assertions. Plaintiffs have engaged in extensive discovery, but they have submitted no evidence to counter [111]*111Wells Fargo’s statements regarding its creditor-borrower relationship with SN Commercial or its lack of involvement in the decisions regarding Mr. Packer’s debts. Nor have Plaintiffs submitted to the Court any evidence at all that Wells Fargo asked, directed or wanted the SN Defendants to act for Wells Fargo in dealing with Plaintiffs or that the SN Defendants accepted the obligation to do so.
As a consequence, Plaintiffs have not met their burden of coming forth with evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that there was an agency relationship between Wells Fargo and the SN Defendants.

Ruling at 29-30.

Plaintiffs object to the Court’s Ruling, arguing that: (1) further discovery as permitted by the Special Master’s September 7, 2007 Ruling [doc. # 189], affirmed by this Court [doc. # 203], and May 12, 2008 Ruling [doc. # 247] (and which Plaintiffs claim Defendants have not fully complied with) might reveal an agency relationship between the SN Defendants and Wells Fargo, though with Wells Fargo as agent and the SN Defendants as principal; (2) there are various material facts in dispute regarding the relationship between Wells Fargo and the SN Defendants; and (3) even if the Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement between SN Commercial and Wells Fargo, which was submitted by Wells Fargo in support of its motion for summary judgment is controlling, the document demonstrates that an agency relationship existed between Wells Fargo and the SN Defendants.

Plaintiffs’ complaints have no merit.

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Bluebook (online)
250 F.R.D. 108, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39584, 2008 WL 2120528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/packer-v-sn-servicing-corp-ctd-2008.