Filed: Dec. 10, 2014
Latest Update: Dec. 10, 2014
Summary: ORDER WILLIAMS B. SHUBB, District Judge. Plaintiffs move pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 15 and 21 for leave to file a First Amended Complaint ("FAC") adding Collins & Aikman Products, LLC ("C&A Products LLC") as a defendant. (Docket No. 68.) All defendants who have appeared in this action have have filed notices of non-opposition to plaintiffs' motion pursuant to Local Rule 230(c). (Docket Nos. 70, 71, 72.) "[A] party may amend its pleading only with the opposing party's written
Summary: ORDER WILLIAMS B. SHUBB, District Judge. Plaintiffs move pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 15 and 21 for leave to file a First Amended Complaint ("FAC") adding Collins & Aikman Products, LLC ("C&A Products LLC") as a defendant. (Docket No. 68.) All defendants who have appeared in this action have have filed notices of non-opposition to plaintiffs' motion pursuant to Local Rule 230(c). (Docket Nos. 70, 71, 72.) "[A] party may amend its pleading only with the opposing party's written c..
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ORDER
WILLIAMS B. SHUBB, District Judge.
Plaintiffs move pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 15 and 21 for leave to file a First Amended Complaint ("FAC") adding Collins & Aikman Products, LLC ("C&A Products LLC") as a defendant. (Docket No. 68.) All defendants who have appeared in this action have have filed notices of non-opposition to plaintiffs' motion pursuant to Local Rule 230(c). (Docket Nos. 70, 71, 72.) "[A] party may amend its pleading only with the opposing party's written consent or the court's leave. The court should freely give leave when justice so requires." Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2).
As a preliminary matter, C&A Products LLC is a cancelled Delaware limited liability company. (See Pls.' Mem. at 4 (Docket No. 68-1).) To assure the court that C&A Products LLC has the capacity to be sued, plaintiffs have provided the court with an order issued by the Delaware Court of Chancery, dated December 8, 2014, appointing Brian Rostocki as a receiver for C&A Products LLC pursuant to 6 Delaware Code section 18-805.1 (Pls.' Req. for Judicial Notice Ex. A at 4 (Docket No. 73-1).) The order grants Rostocki the power to act as receiver for the limited purpose of allowing C&A Products LLC to be sued in this action. (Id. at 1-2); see 28 U.S.C. § 959(a) (allowing suits against receivers); Fed. R. Civ. P. 17(b)(3).
Next, plaintiffs represent that, from 1979 to 1997, C&A Products LLC and its predecessor companies owned the site that is connected with the alleged cleanup costs that form the basis of their CERCLA claim against defendants. (Pls.' Mem. at 2; see Compl. at ¶¶ 15, 17, 19, 21 (Docket No. 1).) Plaintiffs did not initially name C&A Products LLC as a defendant, but the parties stated in their Joint Status Report that they may move to add C&A Products LLC if plaintiffs obtained information suggesting that there may be potential recovery from the cancelled company's past insurance coverage. (Pls.' Mem. at 2-3; Joint Status Report at 4 (Docket No. 15).) Having obtained such information, plaintiffs now make their motion to add C&A Products LLC as a defendant. (Pls.' Mem. at 3-4; see Heller Decl. Ex. B (Docket No. 68-4).)
Good cause appearing therefor, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs' motion for leave to file a FAC be, and the same hereby is, GRANTED.
