HELEN G. BERRIGAN, District Judge.
This matter comes to the Court on the Motion to Reconsider Pursuant to Rule 54(b) filed by Louisiana CVS Pharmacy, L.L.C. ("CVS"). Rec. Doc. 57. C's Discount Pharmacy, Inc. and Ciolinio Pharmacy, Inc. ("C's) oppose. Rec. Doc. 62. The Order made the subject of CVS's motion to reconsider is itself an order granting reconsideration of the Court's previous order granting and denying in part cross-motions for summary judgment. Rec. Doc. 55. For the reasons that follow, CVS's most recent motion to reconsider — the latest installment in piecemeal litigation that has come to typify this case — will be DENIED.
CVS argues that it was improper for this Court to grant summary judgment on the issue of the Holdback Amount on the basis of C's motion to alter or amend judgment because C's original motion for summary judgment failed to meet the applicable burden. Rec. Doc. 57-1 at 2. As the Court correctly stated in its previous order, "[i]f the moving party will bear the burden of persuasion at trial, that party must support its motion with credible evidence-using any of the materials specified in Rule 56(c)-that would entitle it to a directed verdict if not controverted at trial." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 331, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2557, 91 L. Ed. 2d 265 (1986). Pursuant to a
More importantly, CVS
CVS argues that this Court should reconsider the portion of its previous order awarding C's summary judgment on CVS's counterclaim for the Non-Compete Amount based on the separate juridical personality of the shareholders who, it is undisputed, actually received the Non-Compete Amount under the terms of the agreement. Rec. Doc. 57-1 at 5. CVS's argument that the Court should pierce the corporate veil to allow CVS to recover the Non-Compete Amount from C's directly is unpersuasive and untimely. CVS could and should have advanced this argument sometime before the current motion. C's did not abuse the corporate form by seeking to invalidate the Non-Compete Agreement to which it and its shareholders were separate parties, when CVS claimed C's breach of the Non-Compete Agreement as a basis for retaining the Holdback Amount. None of the cases cited by CVS suggest otherwise. See Middleton v. Parish of Jefferson, 97-324 (La. App. 5 Cir. 1/14/98), 707 So.2d 454; Withers v. Timber Products, Inc., 574 So.2d 1291 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1991). Again, CVS drafted this agreement. CVS desired to obligate C's shareholders separately from C's, while compensating them to the tune of the Non-Compete Amount. CVS made the dubious claim of C's breach of the Non-Compete Agreement that provided the opportunity for that agreement to be declared invalid. This portion of the Court's order will not be reconsidered.
Finally, CVS argues that C's invalidation of the Non-Compete Agreement led to a failure of cause, not only for the Non-Compete Agreement but also for the entire Purchase and Sale Agreement, entitling CVS to the return of the entire $12,000,000 purchase price. Rec. Doc. 57-1 at 10. This argument falls outside the scope of CVS's original counterclaims and the crossmotions for summary judgment. See Rec. Doc. 14, ¶¶ 41-44. It was raised for the first time as a claim for relief in CVS's First Amended Counterclaim and Third Party Complaint. Rec. Doc. 66, ¶¶ 61-65. The Court will not resolve this claim under the pretense of ruling on a motion to reconsider an order that was issued before the claim was even added to the case. Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that CVS's Motion to Reconsider Pursuant to Rule 54(b) is DENIED. Rec. Doc. 57.