MARK R. HORNAK, District Judge.
Pierce Duchene initiated this action seeking relief under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), 47 U.S.C. § 227, et seq. He asserts that he received unauthorized prerecorded voice calls from Defendant, Westlake Services, LLC, in violation of the TCPA. As is common for such negative expected value actions,
The first case, Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins,
The second Supreme Court case, Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez,
Both Supreme Court cases are scheduled to be decided this Term. Gomez will be argued on October 14, 2015 and Spokeo will be argued on November 2, 2015. This Court must determine whether it is beneficial to stay the current proceedings until the Supreme Court resolves the involved questions of law. "[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants." Landis v. N Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936). "Central to this power is a court's ability to `hold one lawsuit in abeyance to abide the outcome of another which may substantially affect it or be dispositive of the issues.'" Resco Products, Inc. v. Bosai Minerals Grp. Co., No. Civ. A. 06-235,2010 WL 2331069, at *4 (W.D. Pa. June 4, 2010) (citing Bechtel Corp. v. Local 215, Laborers' Int'l Union, 544 F.2d 1207, 1215 (3d Cir.1976)).
Other district courts in our Circuit have outlined four non-exhaustive factors to consider when weighing whether to stay a case: (1) the length of the requested stay; (2) the hardship that the moving party would face if the stay were not granted; (3) the injury that a stay would cause to the non-movant; and (4) whether granting a stay would streamline the proceedings by simplifying issues and promoting judicial economy. See Salvatore v. Microbilt Corp., No. 4:14-CV-1848, 2015 WL 5008856, at *1 (M.D. Pa. Aug. 20, 2015) (citing Vasvari v. Rite Aid Corp., No. 09-CV-2069, 2010 WL 3328210, at *2 (M.D. Pa. Aug. 23, 2010)). Considering these factors—and in light of the reasoning in similar cases that have addressed such Spokeo/Gomez stay requests—a stay is proper in this case.
As numerous courts considering Spokeo and/or Gomez stay requests have noted, any stay will not be excessively burdensome or prejudicial because it will be of a short and definite duration. See Yaakov v. Varitronics, LLC, No. CIV. 14-5008 ADM/FLN, 2015 WL 5092501, at *3 (D. Minn. Aug. 28, 2015); Salvatore v. Microbilt Corp., 2015 WL 5008856, at *1
Importantly, either Spokeo or Gomez can fundamentally affect the Court's jurisdiction to hear this case. Spokeo may well conclude that the Plaintiff lacks standing, or, as discussed above, bring Duchene's standing directly into dispute; Gomez may render the case moot. As such, certain resolutions of either Supreme Court case might require an immediate dismissal by this Court.
In light of Spokeo and/or Gomez's potential impact on this litigation, "[d]efendant faces the risk of unnecessary proceedings and expenses if the case is not stayed." Ramirez, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80692, at *4. See also Pennsylvania State Troopers Ass'n v. Pawlowski, No. 1:09-CV-1748, 2011 9114, at *1 (M.D.Pa. Jan. 3, 2011) ("[l]t is of no benefit to either party to incur substantial costs litigating an issue that the Supreme Court may well determine is not actionable in the course of these proceedings."). Even though the bulk of discovery has been completed in this case, any period of litigation-especially class action litigation—is expensive for the parties involved. See Yaakov, 2015 WL 5092501, at *3 (staying proceedings after a significant amount of discovery had been completed); Larson, 2015 WL 3945052, at *8 (same). The Supreme Court may soon say that this Court lacks jurisdiction to resolve this case at all. The inquiry, then, is whether the harm from further litigation now is outweighed by any harm to Duchene if a stay is ordered.
Initially, it should be noted that the considerable resources spent litigating the case to this point are of little consequence to the present decision. The relevant inquiry when considering a stay is the marginal harm that a plaintiff will incur if a stay is imposed, not the harm that a litigant has already incurred up to this point. These past costs are already sunk for all parties.
Still, Duchene identifies two primary harms that he will incur if the case is not stayed. First, that additional "unwarranted delay will only risk witnesses' memories." Id. at 10. And second, that Duchene has a right to a speedy resolution of his claims. Id.
The first concern-risking the memory of the witnesses-does not appear meaningfully relevant, especially considering that substantial discovery has already been completed, including depositions securing witness testimony. See Yaakov, 2015 WL 5092501, at *4 ("[A]lthough the risk of lost or destroyed evidence is always a concern whenever pending litigation is stayed, the threat here is insutiicient to offset the practicalities of staying the case until the Supreme Court provides direction."); Larson, 2015 WL 3945052, at *8 (finding it "implausible that a one-year delay will cause either of these things to occur," especially where "many key witnesses have already been deposed; their memories can be refreshed at trial by their deposition transcripts, or, if they are unavailable, their deposition testimony can be read into the record."). A relatively short delay of definite duration would not likely affect the availability of evidence or the memory of witnesses, especially where we have "no specific facts or reasoning [that] indicate otherwise." Larson, 2015 WL 3945052, at *8.
Second, Duchene asserts that he has a right to a speedy resolution of his rights, and therefore any undue delay is implicitly harmful. To be sure, he and all other litigants possess that right. However, having to wait eight to nine months to continue litigation is not, itself, sufficiently prejudicial to outweigh the very plain benefits of staying the case, particularly when the issues pending at the Supreme Court go to this Court's power to hear the case. Numerous cases are in accord. See Salvatore, 2015 WL 5008856, at *1; Stone, 2015 WL 4602968, at *2; Wolf, 2015 WL 4455965, at *2; Boise, 2015 WL 4077433, at *6. Here, the Court agrees that the "possible prejudice to Plaintiff that will result from a stay is minimal." Ramirez, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80692, *4.
Though considerations of judicial economy take a backseat to the considerations addressed above, they are still relevant to the stay inquiry. Here, interests of judicial economy favor a stay. There is a real possibility that one (or both) of the cases will result in this Court losing jurisdiction to hear the case before it, given the Questions Presented in the Supreme Court. If that happens, any judicial resources spent on this matter between now and then would essentially be to no avail. See Salvatore, 2015 WL 5008856, at *2; Stone, 2015 WL 4602968, at *2; Hillson, 2015 WL 4488493, at *1; Boise, 2015 WL 4077433, at *5-6; Provo, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100491, *4. Thus, this consideration also favors a stay.
Both Gomez and Spokeo have the direct possibility of undercutting, or at least seriously calling into question, the Court's jurisdiction in this case. Because it appears that Plaintiff will not incur any significant prejudice if a short stay of definite duration is imposed, the present stay is continued until resolution of the referenced Supreme Court cases.
An appropriate Order will issue.