Aarne v. Long Island Railroad Company
- John Cronan
- 1:20-cv-05092
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Aarne v. Long Island Railroad Company, Judge Cronan granted the Railroad permission to add LK Comstock as a third-party defendant.
Long Island Railroad Company may add LK Comstock & Co. as a third-party defendant; the order did not decide the underlying injury claim or the proposed indemnification claim.
What happened
In Aarne v. Long Island Railroad Company, Long Island Railroad Company asked to add LK Comstock & Co. as a third-party defendant. Brian Aarne did not oppose the request.
The court said the Railroad filed its request without deliberate delay, and adding LK Comstock would not significantly delay or complicate the case. The court also found no apparent prejudice to LK Comstock and concluded that the proposed complaint alleged facts that could support a claim for indemnification.
Judge Cronan granted the Railroad’s motion for permission to file a third-party complaint and to serve LK Comstock with the third-party summons and complaint.
The detailed version
- Aarne v. Long Island Railroad Company · No. 1:20-cv-05092
- John Cronan
- Dec. 21, 2020
Background
Long Island Railroad Company moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 14(a)(1) for permission to file a third-party complaint against non-party LK Comstock & Co. The Railroad filed the motion more than 14 days after serving its answer, so it needed the court’s permission. The court directed Brian Aarne to oppose the motion by December 3, 2020, but he did not file an opposition.
Court’s analysis
Rule 14(a)(1) allows a defending party to bring in a nonparty that may be responsible for all or part of the claim against the defending party. The court considered whether the Railroad delayed filing the motion, whether adding LK Comstock would delay or complicate a future trial, whether LK Comstock would be prejudiced, and whether the proposed complaint stated a legally supportable claim.
The court found that all four factors favored adding LK Comstock. The Railroad filed its motion less than two months after filing its answer, so the court found no deliberate delay. The court said the proposed claim involved the relatively narrow question of whether LK Comstock agreed to indemnify the Railroad if the Railroad were liable to Aarne for Aarne’s injuries. The court also found that adding LK Comstock would not unduly delay or complicate a future trial and that nothing suggested LK Comstock would be prejudiced, because the case had begun only a few months earlier and discovery would continue for several months. Finally, the court found that the proposed complaint alleged facts that, if true, could support a claim for relief.
Ruling
The court GRANTED the Railroad’s motion for leave to file a third-party complaint and for leave to serve a third-party summons and complaint on LK Comstock & Co. The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the motion at Docket Number 12. Judge John P. Cronan did not decide whether the Railroad was liable to Aarne or whether LK Comstock would ultimately owe indemnification.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.