Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc.
- Edward Davila
- 5:21-cv-04874
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Novartis Vaccines v. Genentech, Judge Davila denied Genentech’s dismissal motion as moot after plaintiffs amended their complaint.
The ruling affected Genentech’s motion to dismiss the original complaint and the plaintiffs’ amended complaint; the court denied the motion as moot.
What happened
Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. involved Genentech’s motion to dismiss the original complaint.
Before Genentech filed a responsive pleading, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint. The court explained that an amended complaint generally replaces the original complaint.
Judge Edward J. Davila denied Genentech’s motion to dismiss as moot. The order did not decide the claims’ merits.
The detailed version
- Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. · No. 5:21-cv-04874
- Edward Davila
- Aug. 23, 2021
Background
Genentech moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ original complaint. The plaintiffs’ response was initially due July 15, 2021, but the parties agreed to extend the deadline to August 20, 2021. On August 20, before Genentech filed a responsive pleading to the original complaint, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that a plaintiff may amend a complaint once as a matter of course within 21 days after being served with a motion under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It also stated that an amended complaint generally supersedes, or replaces, the original complaint. The court noted that a Rule 12 motion is not a responsive pleading.
Ruling
The court denied Genentech’s motion to dismiss as moot because the plaintiffs had filed an amended complaint. The order also stated that Genentech’s deadline to respond to the amended complaint was September 3, 2019, although that year appears inconsistent with the order’s August 23, 2021 date.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.