JOHN E. STEELE, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on defendant's Motion for Reconsideration of Court's Order Regarding Subpoenas Directed to Collins & Associates and Motion for Stay of Production (Doc. #73) filed on April 21, 2017.
Reconsideration of a court's previous order is an extraordinary remedy, and reconsideration is a power to be "used sparingly."
A motion for reconsideration does not provide an opportunity to argue for the first time a new issue that could have been raised previously, or to argue more vociferously an issue the Court has previously decided.
On September 6, 2016, the Magistrate Judge issued an Order denying the Motion for Protective Order and to Quash Subpoenas Duces Tecum Directed to Collins & Associates; denying the Joint Supplemental Motion for Protective Order and to Quash Subpoenas Duces Tecum; denying defendant's Renewed Motion to Quash Subpoenas Duces Tecum Directed to Collins & Associates; and staying the production of subpoenaed documents until after the Court ruled on the pending Motion to Dismiss. (Doc. #62.) The Magistrate Judge ruled that "[b]ecause the Court has not yet ruled on Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, the possibility remains that Plaintiffs' federal RICO claims could be dismissed leaving only Plaintiffs' state law claims. If only state law claims remain, then state law would provide the applicable rule of decision, leading to the application of state privilege law." (
Defendant objected to the Magistrate Judge's Order prior to the Court's dismissal of the federal claims. After the dismissal of the federal claims, this Court overruled defendant's Objection as the Court had dismissed the federal claims and the Magistrate Judge had explicitly instructed the parties to file a motion within seven days of the Opinion and Order on the Motion to Dismiss "addressing specifically whether an accountant-client privilege exists regarding the subpoenaed documents and whether that privilege has been waived." (Doc. #72.)
Defendant now seeks reconsideration of this Court's Order on defendant's Objection to Court's Order Denying Motion for Protective Order and to Quash Collins & Associates Subpoenas. (Doc. #73.) Defendant contends that the Court erred because "the Court did not address Ms. Devine's arguments that the accountant-client privilege is applicable to the subpoenaed documents in light of the fact that Plaintiffs' lone remaining claim arises under state law and, as a result, the only basis for subject matter jurisdiction is diversity of citizenship." (
It seems that defendant, having realized that she did not file a motion with the Court within the seven-day time period set forth by the Magistrate Judge, now seeks relief by seeking reconsideration of this Court's Order. The Court denies the Motion for Reconsideration for the following reasons. First, while the Court acknowledges that the Magistrate Judge could not have predicted the Court's ruling on the Motion to Dismiss, or that the Court would provide plaintiffs with twenty-one days to re-plead, defendant was not without a remedy. Defendant was free to seek an extension of the seven-day time period due to the change in circumstances, yet failed to do so. Second, the fact that the parties had briefed the issue as to the accountant-client privilege does not nullify the Magistrate Judge's instruction to file a motion should the Court dismiss all of the federal claims. The Magistrate Judge stated that he was not addressing "the issues of whether Intervenors and Defendant demonstrated that an accountant-client privilege actually existed or whether Intervenors and/or Defendant waived that privilege." (Doc. #62, p. 18.) Third, while the defendant filed her objection before the Court's ruling on the Motion to Dismiss, she did not raise the seven-day time period as a basis for her Objection and she was well aware of this period within which to file a motion regarding the accountant-client privilege. Lastly, defendant did not object to the Magistrate Judge's ruling as to relevancy.
Accordingly, the Court denies defendant's Motion for Reconsideration of Court's Order Regarding Subpoenas Directed to Collins & Associates and Motion for Stay of Production. (Doc. #73.)
Intervenors Isabella Devine and Conrad Homm have joined defendant's motion and also assert that the Magistrate Judge's ruling regarding the production of their tax returns is contrary to law and clearly erroneous because neither the Magistrate Judge nor this Court in its Order took into consideration the dramatic change in posture of this case. (Doc. #75.) Once again, the Magistrate Judge instructed the parties to raise these issues within seven days of the Court's ruling on the Motion to Dismiss and this precise issue of relevancy was not raised in their Objection (
Accordingly, it is hereby
1. Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration of Court's Order Regarding Subpoenas Directed to Collins & Associates and Motion for Stay of Production (Doc. #73) is
2. Intervenors' Joinder in Defendant's Motion for Reconsideration of Court's Order Regarding Subpoenas Directed to Collins & Associates and Motion for Stay of Production (Doc. #75), as Amended (Doc. #76), is
3. Defendant's Emergency Renewed Motion for Stay of Production by Collins & Associates (Doc. #78), Intervenors' Joinder in Defendant's Emergency Motion to Stay (Doc. #81), and Defendant's Motion for Leave to File Reply in Support of Her Emergency Renewed Motion for Stay of Production by Collins & Associates (Doc. #82) are