JOHN E. STEELE, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court on the following motions: (1) Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration of Certain Portions of the Court's Opinion and Order Denying Summary Judgment Against Defendant Edward W. Hayter (Doc. #195) filed on March 25, 2014; and (2) Plaintiff's Motion for Court to Reconsider Its Order Partially Granting and Partially Denying the SEC's Motion to Strike Defendant Edward Hayter's Deposition Designations and Certain of His Trial Witnesses and in the Alternative the Commission's Motion for Leave to Take Brief Depositions of Hayter's Undisclosed Witnesses (Doc. #197) filed on April 3, 2014. Defendant Edward W. Hayter filed Responses (Docs. ##201, 203) on April 9 and April 30, 2014 respectively.
Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (Plaintiff or SEC) filed a five-count Complaint (Doc. #1) against Defendants Wayne A. Burmaster, Jr. (Burmaster), Edward W. Hayter (Hayter), BIH Corporation (BIH), North Bay South Corporation (North Bay), Bimini Reef Real Estate, Inc. (Bimini Reef), Riverview Capital Inc. (Riverview Capital), Christopher L. Astrom (Astrom), and Damian B. Guthrie (Guthrie), and Relief Defendants Baron International, Inc. (Baron International), The Caddo Corporation (Caddo), and Beaver Creek Financial Corporation (Beaver Creek) for violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.
On March 2, 2012, the SEC moved for summary judgment against Hayter and Burmaster. (Doc. #67.) On March 4, 2014, the Court entered an Order (Doc. #185) striking Burmaster's Amended Answer and his remaining Affirmative Defenses (Doc. #93). Accordingly, the Court denied summary judgment as to Burmaster without prejudice in order to allow the SEC to move for a default and default judgment. (Doc. #189.) On March 13, 2014 the Court denied the SEC's motion for summary judgment against Hayter on the merits. (
Reconsideration of a court's previous order is an extraordinary remedy and, thus, is a power which should be used sparingly.
The motion to reconsider must set forth facts or law of a strongly convincing nature to demonstrate to the court the reason to reverse its prior decision.
A motion for reconsideration does not provide an opportunity to simply reargue—or argue for the first time—an issue the Court has once determined. Court opinions "are not intended as mere first drafts, subject to revision and reconsideration at a litigant's pleasure."
The SEC argues that because the Court found material issues of disputed fact bearing on some (but not all) elements of its causes of action against Hayter, the Court should have granted partial summary judgment in favor of the SEC on the undisputed elements. (Doc. #195.) Hayter responds that reconsideration is not appropriate because the SEC did not seek partial summary judgment on each individual element and, therefore, Hayter's summary judgment opposition brief did not endeavor to rebut every element of every cause of action. (Doc. #201.)
The SEC is correct that a court may grant partial summary judgment as to an element of a party's case when the element lacks any genuine issue of material fact.
The SEC argues that three of Hayter's remaining trial witnesses should be stricken because they were not timely disclosed. (Doc. #197.) The SEC further argues that Hayter's deposition designations should be stricken in their entirety because they did not comply with the Court's Case Management and Scheduling Order. (
The SEC wishes to depose three of Hayter's remaining trial witnesses: (1) Cassandra Armento, (2) Sam Israel, and (3) an unnamed Custodian of Records for Trust Services, S.A. These witnesses were not listed in Hayter's Rule 26 disclosures and were not identified as potential witnesses until February 10, 2014 when Hayter filed his Witness List in connection with the parties' Joint Pretrial Statement. (Doc. #179-3.) The SEC seeks an order requiring Hayter to make these three witnesses available for depositions. (Doc. #195.) If the witnesses do not appear for the requested depositions, the SEC argues that they should be prevented from testifying at trial. (
As the SEC has not previously sought to depose the three witnesses and there is no evidence that the witnesses are under Hayter's control, the Court will not place the burden on Hayter to secure their presence for depositions. However, given the timing of Hayter's identification of the witnesses, the Court will reopen discovery for the limited purpose of allowing the SEC to issue deposition notices and subpoenas to the three witnesses. To facilitate this process, within seven days of the date of this order Hayter shall identify the name of the individual who will testify on behalf of Trust Services, S.A.
In the event any of the three witnesses fail to appear for properly-noticed depositions, the Court will entertain potential remedies at that time. However, the Court notes that sanctions against Hayter, such as preventing non-appearing witnesses from testifying at trial, are unlikely absent evidence that the witnesses were under his control or that he took any action to procure their failure to appear.
Accordingly, it is hereby
1. Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration of Certain Portions of the Court's Opinion and Order Denying Summary Judgment Against Defendant Edward W. Hayter (Doc. #195) is
2. Plaintiff's Motion for Court to Reconsider Its Order Partially Granting and Partially Denying the SEC's Motion to Strike Defendant Edward Hayter's Deposition Designations and Certain of His Trial Witnesses and in the Alternative the Commission's Motion for Leave to Take Brief Depositions of Hayter's Undisclosed Witnesses (Doc. #197) is
3. Discovery is reopened for the limited purpose of allowing the SEC to depose Cassandra Armento, Sam Israel, and the Custodian of Records for Trust Services, S.A. Hayter shall identify the name of the individual testifying on behalf of Trust Services, S.A. within