Plexxikon Inc. v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

Background

Plexxikon and Novartis had filed motions asking the court to keep certain documents sealed in connection with summary-judgment, expert-evidence, and pretrial motions. On March 13, 2020, the court granted some sealing requests and denied others in whole or in part. The court directed the parties to file public versions of documents for which sealing had been denied within seven days.

Plexxikon tried twice on March 20, 2020, to file the required public documents, but the court’s electronic filing system rejected the submissions because of an internal error. After contacting the court’s filing-system help desk, Plexxikon filed the documents on March 23, 2020, one day after the deadline. Novartis did not oppose Plexxikon’s request to extend the deadline.

Reasoning

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1)(B) allows a court to extend a deadline after it has passed when a party’s failure to meet the deadline resulted from excusable neglect. The court considered the lack of prejudice to Novartis, the one-day delay, the lack of effect on the proceedings, the electronic filing error, and Plexxikon’s good faith.

The court found that Plexxikon’s failure to file on time resulted from excusable neglect. The court also noted that it had access to sealed versions of the documents and could therefore review the related motions.

Disposition

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. granted Plexxikon’s motion. The court allowed Plexxikon’s March 23, 2020 filing of its notice of compliance and the attached public documents under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1)(B) and the Northern District of California’s local rule governing extensions of time.