Western Michigan Federal Courts
Posts Categorized Civil Procedure
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Court Reaffirms that Motions to Dismiss Must Be Based on Information Expressly Included in the Complaint
February 14, 2013In Mahindra Forgings Ltd. v. Bentler Automotive Corp., Bentler moved to dismiss an amended complaint based on expiration of the statute of limitations. Bentler's argument was that because the complaint generally referenced e-mails exchanged between the parties, the substance of those e-mails became part of the complaint for purposes of deciding a motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Bentler asserted that those e-mails demonstrated that Mahindra's complaint was time-barred.
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Bay Mills Indian Community Gets Green Light to Reopen Vanderbilt Casino
August 15, 2012A court order that had temporarily closed the Bay Mills Indian Community's casino in Vanderbilt, Michigan, is no more, according to an opinion released Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
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Opinion Discusses Appropriateness of Sealing Complaints
April 19, 2012In Encana Oil & Gas (USA), Inc. v. Zaremba Family Farms, Inc., (1:12-cv-369), the Honorable Joseph G. Scoville, United States Magistrate Judge, issued an Opinion describing the circumstances under which the Court may properly grant a request to file a sealed complaint. The underlying litigation concerned an alleged breach of a letter of intent concerning the acquisition of mineral rights. Plaintiff asked that the complaint be filed under seal, citing the confidential terms of the letter of intent and the potential harm that disclosure would have on its competitive standing.
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Patent Infringement Action Dismissed
March 8, 2012Can a California-based corporation reasonably expect to be haled into court in the Western District when its only contacts with Michigan were unrelated to the lawsuit and were undertaken by employees at its California place of business? Not under the facts presented in Hollymatic Corp. v. Interstate Meat & Provision (No. 1:11-cv-917; March 5, 2012; Neff, J.). The Court dismissed Hollymatic's patent-infringement claims against California-based Interstate Meat & Provision for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(2) and 12(b)(3). In so doing, the Court gave a detailed analysis of Michigan's long-arm statute for corporations, M.C.L. § 600.711 and 600.715 and the jurisdictional concerns arising from the due process clause to the 14th Amendment.
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Judge Lawson Speaks to WDMI FBA
March 8, 2012On March 1, 2012, I had the pleasure of introducing the Honorable David Lawson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan as a guest speaker at a "brown bag lunch" program of the Western District of Michigan Federal Bar Association. Judge Lawson was joined by our chief judge, the Honorable Paul Maloney. The two judges spent an hour answering questions from the approximately 40 members of the audience on a number of topics concerning both civil and criminal practice in the federal courts.
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Slip-and-Fall Lawsuit Remanded
February 1, 2012In Hudson v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (No. 1:12-cv-63; Jan. 26, 2012; Maloney, J.), the Court held that subject matter jurisdiction was lacking where Wal-Mart's removal notice did not demonstrate that it was "more likely than not" that the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000.
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