Filed: Feb. 23, 2016
Latest Update: Feb. 23, 2016
Summary: ORDER ROBERT E. BLACKBURN , District Judge . The matters before me are (1) Plaintiffs' Motion To Dismiss Defendant RTD's Counterclaim [#57] 1 filed June 6, 2016 2 ; (2) RTD's Motion for Summary Judgment To Dismiss Plaintiffs CCDC, Reiskin, Howey and Lewis [#67], filed June 29, 2015; and (3) Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment Regarding Liability [#100], filed August 19, 2015. For the reasons stated below, I deny the motions without prejudice. All three motions have been pendin
Summary: ORDER ROBERT E. BLACKBURN , District Judge . The matters before me are (1) Plaintiffs' Motion To Dismiss Defendant RTD's Counterclaim [#57] 1 filed June 6, 2016 2 ; (2) RTD's Motion for Summary Judgment To Dismiss Plaintiffs CCDC, Reiskin, Howey and Lewis [#67], filed June 29, 2015; and (3) Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment Regarding Liability [#100], filed August 19, 2015. For the reasons stated below, I deny the motions without prejudice. All three motions have been pending..
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ORDER
ROBERT E. BLACKBURN, District Judge.
The matters before me are (1) Plaintiffs' Motion To Dismiss Defendant RTD's Counterclaim [#57]1 filed June 6, 20162; (2) RTD's Motion for Summary Judgment To Dismiss Plaintiffs CCDC, Reiskin, Howey and Lewis [#67], filed June 29, 2015; and (3) Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment Regarding Liability [#100], filed August 19, 2015. For the reasons stated below, I deny the motions without prejudice.
All three motions have been pending resolution for at least six months. However, more recently, the parties have requested (and been granted) extensions of several pretrial deadlines, in connection with their representions that they are actively pursuing settlement negotiations and "wish to focus their efforts in the short term on making additional progress" in that regard. (Plaintiffs' Unopposed Motion To Extend Expert Deadlines ¶ 3 at 1 [#120], filed February 8, 2016.) The magistrate judge has granted the parties' requests, as a consequence of which the dispositive motion deadline is now June 24, 2016. (See Minute Order [#115], filed January 19, 2016.)
Given these more recent developments in the case, the court believes the most appropriate course of action is to deny these pending dispositive motions without prejudice. Removing the motions from present consideration will help level the field and allow the parties to negotiate without unnecessary impediments. Even if the case is not resolved through settlement discussions, the relevant issues in the case may shift or change as a result thereof. In either event, the new, extended deadlines allow the parties ample time to refile dispositive motions if future developments make that course appropriate.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. That, with the consent of the magistrate judge, the Order of Reference [#68], filed June 29, 2015, is withdrawn;
2. That Plaintiffs' Motion To Dismiss Defendant RTD's Counterclaim [#57], filed June 6, 2016, is denied without prejudice;
3. That RTD's Motion for Summary Judgment To Dismiss Plaintiffs CCDC, Reiskin, Howey and Lewis [#67], filed June 29, 2015, is denied without prejudice; and
4. That Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment Regarding Liability [#100], filed August 19, 2015, is denied without prejudice.
