Consigli & Associates, LLC v. Maplewood Senior Living, LLC
- Jed Rakoff
- 1:20-cv-07712
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Consigli & Associates v. Maplewood Senior Living, Judge Schofield allowed a wrongful-termination claim but denied a duplicative declaratory-judgment claim.
Consigli & Associates, LLC may add a wrongful-termination claim but may not add the proposed declaratory-judgment claim; Maplewood Senior Living, LLC must follow the briefing schedule for its partial motion to dismiss.
What happened
Consigli & Associates, LLC asked to add claims after Maplewood Senior Living, LLC terminated the contract underlying the dispute on March 23, 2021. Maplewood did not dispute that the contract had been terminated.
The court allowed Consigli to add a wrongful-termination claim because the termination occurred after the existing amended complaint. The court denied the request to add a declaratory-judgment claim because it duplicated existing and proposed claims and would not provide a separate useful purpose.
Judge Schofield ordered Consigli to file the supplemental complaint by April 12, 2021, set deadlines for Maplewood's partial motion to dismiss and the parties' briefs, and canceled the April 8 conference.
The detailed version
- Consigli & Associates, LLC v. Maplewood Senior Living, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-07712
- Jed Rakoff
- Apr. 5, 2021
Background
Consigli & Associates, LLC requested permission to supplement its First Amended Complaint. It sought to add a wrongful-termination claim and a declaratory-judgment claim. Consigli stated that Maplewood Senior Living, LLC terminated the contract underlying the dispute on March 23, 2021. Maplewood did not dispute that the contract was terminated.
Consigli also indicated that it intended to seek partial summary judgment or a speedy hearing if the court allowed the declaratory-judgment claim. Maplewood opposed the requests.
Wrongful-Termination Claim
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(d) allows a court, on motion and reasonable notice, to permit a party to add a supplemental pleading concerning a transaction, occurrence, or event that happened after the pleading being supplemented. Because the contract termination occurred after Consigli filed its First Amended Complaint, the court granted Consigli's application to add a wrongful-termination claim.
Declaratory-Judgment Claim
A declaratory judgment is a court ruling that clarifies the parties' legal rights or obligations. The court explained that it has broad discretion to decline to issue such a judgment. Consigli sought a declaration that Maplewood wrongfully terminated the contract after Consigli had substantially completed its work. Consigli said the declaration would bar anticipated counterclaims and narrow discovery and trial.
The court denied this request. It found that the proposed declaratory-judgment claim was duplicative of the claims already pleaded and the anticipated wrongful-termination claim. The court also found that litigating those claims would provide Consigli the same relief and that Consigli had not explained how a separate declaration would usefully clarify or settle the legal issues.
Orders and Schedule
The court ordered Consigli to supplement the First Amended Complaint by April 12, 2021. It directed Maplewood to file its partial motion to dismiss and supporting memorandum by April 19, 2021; Consigli to file its opposition by May 10, 2021; and Maplewood to file any reply by May 18, 2021. The court limited the memoranda to 15 pages, except that any reply was limited to eight pages. It also canceled the April 8, 2021, conference, while allowing the parties to ask that it be reinstated if they believed a conference would be useful.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.