Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company v. Rosalyn Yalow Charter School

Background

Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company brought this action against Rosalyn Yalow Charter School. The complaint asserts one claim for contractual indemnification. The court stated that it had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

Prior motion

Rosalyn previously moved to dismiss. It argued that the court should abstain—that is, decline to proceed with the federal case—because of an overlapping state-court appeal. In the alternative, Rosalyn asked the court to stay, or pause, this action until that appeal was resolved.

After learning that the Appellate Division, First Department had issued a ruling on the appeal, the court asked the parties to explain whether the ruling affected the pending motion. Both parties agreed that Rosalyn’s abstention arguments were moot because no concurrent state-court proceedings remained that could be considered parallel under the abstention doctrine.

Ruling

The court agreed and dismissed Rosalyn’s pending motion to dismiss as moot. It directed the Clerk of Court to terminate docket entry number 10.

The court also granted Rosalyn’s request for permission to file a Rule 12(b)(6) or Rule 12(c) motion concerning the complaint. The proposed motion would argue that the complaint is barred by claim preclusion, also known as res judicata, or by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, which can limit federal-court review of certain state-court judgments. The court did not decide those arguments. Rosalyn could answer the complaint or file the further pre-answer motion by February 12, 2024; if Rosalyn answered, any Rule 12(c) motion on those grounds had to be filed by February 20, 2024.