Jordan v. Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC

Background

The court dismissed Jordan’s complaint with leave to amend on January 13, 2025, giving her 21 days to file an amended complaint. After no amended complaint was filed, the court entered judgment dismissing the case with prejudice on February 5, 2025.

Jordan’s counsel moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) to set aside the judgment and reopen the case. Rule 60(b) permits relief from a final judgment based on grounds including mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. Counsel said he accidentally deleted the email containing the dismissal order while trying to calendar another notification issued the same day. He filed the motion on February 14, after promptly contacting defense counsel about his mistake.

Court’s analysis

The court applied the four-factor equitable test for excusable neglect: (1) the danger of prejudice to the opposing party, (2) the length of the delay and its effect on the proceedings, (3) the reason for the delay, and (4) whether the party acted in good faith.

The court found the neglect excusable. First, Kimpton faced little danger of prejudice because the delay was short and the case was at an early stage. Second, only nine days passed between entry of judgment and filing of the Rule 60(b) motion. Third, although the email mistake was not particularly compelling, courts have recognized that calendaring mistakes may qualify as excusable neglect. Fourth, the court found no evidence of bad faith. Kimpton’s arguments about the potential viability of Jordan’s proposed claims and the motion’s limited citations did not show that counsel acted in bad faith in missing the amendment deadline.

Ruling

Judge Vince Chhabria granted Jordan’s motion to set aside the judgment, vacated the judgment, reopened the case, and ordered that Jordan’s first amended complaint be filed seven days from the date of the order.