Evanston Insurance Company v. Mega Construction Company, Inc. ( 2019 )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION EVANSTON INSURANCE COMPANY, ) Successor by merger to ESSEX ) INSURANCE COMPANY ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:19-cv-81-TFM-MU ) MEGA CONSTRUCTION CO., INC., ) et al., ) ) Defendants. ) JOSHUA P. MYRICK as PR of the ) ESTATE OF FEDERICO RUIZ, JR., ) ) Plaintiff-Garnishor, ) ) v. ) CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:19-cv-416-WS-MU ) EVANTSTON INSURANCE COMPANY, ) Successor by merger to ESSEX ) INSURANCE COMPANY ) ) Defendant-Garnishee. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER On February 22, 2019, Evanston filed its Complaint in this Declaratory Judgment Action. See Civ. Act. No. 1:19-cv-81, Doc. 1. On May 1, 2019, the state court entered a consent judgment for $1.5 million against one of the defendants in this suit – Mega Construction. On June 17, 2019, Joshua P. Myrick, as Administrator of the Estate of Federico Ruiz (“the Estate”) filed a Process of Garnishment against Evanston which Evanston removed to the Southern District of Alabama thereby initiating the second instant action in this court. See Civ. Act. No. 1:19-cv-416, Doc. 1. On September 24, 2019, the Estate’s motion to remand the Garnishment action was denied. Id., Doc. 17. Subsequently, Evanston filed this motion to consolidate the two actions. See Doc. 37, filed 10/16/19 in 1:19-cv-81; Doc. 20, filed 10/16/19 in 1:19-cv-416. The Court entered a briefing schedule on October 22, 2019 providing response and reply deadlines. No responses were filed in either case. Defendant filed a reply noting the lack of opposition. See Doc. 41. The matter is ripe for disposition and for the reasons discussed below, the motion to consolidate (Doc. 37 in 1:19-cv-81; Doc. 20 in 1:19-cv-416) is GRANTED. I. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure state: “[i]f actions before the court involve a common question of law or fact, the court may: (1) join for hearing or trial any or all matters at issue in the actions; (2) consolidate the actions; or (3) issue any other orders to avoid unnecessary cost or delay.” FED. R. CIV. P. 42(a). Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a) “is a codification of a trial court’s inherent managerial power ‘to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.’” Hendrix v. Raybestos- Manhattan, Inc., 776 F.2d 1492, 1495 (11th Cir. 1985) (citing In re Air Crash Disaster at Fla. Everglades, 549 F.2d 1006, 1012 (5th Cir. 1977)). However, as noted by the plain language in the use of the word “may,” the Court’s decision under Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a) is purely discretionary. See also Eghnayem v. Boston Sci. Corp., 873 F.3d 1304, 1313 (11th Cir. 2017) (quoting Hendrix, 776 F.2d at 1495) (emphasizing decision is “purely discretionary.”). In exercising that discretion, the Court must take into account the following factors: (1) whether the specific risks of prejudice and possible confusion are overborne by the risk of inconsistent adjudications of common factual and legal issues; (2) the burden on parties, witnesses and available judicial resources posed by multiple lawsuits; (3) the length of time required to conclude multiple suits as against a single one; and (4) the relative expense to all concerned of the single-trial, multiple-trial alternatives. Id. Finally, the Court may decide to consolidate for pretrial, trial, or both. Turning to the situation at hand, the Court finds that the majority of the above factors are met. Further, no party filed a response in opposition. As such, the Court finds that the motion to consolidate should be granted. II. CONCLUSION For the reasons articulated above, it is ORDERED that Evanston Insurance Company’s Motion to Consolidate (Doc. 37, filed 10/16/19 in 1:19-cv-81; Doc. 20, filed 10/16/19 in 1:19- cv-416) are GRANTED. The cases are consolidated with the first filed case (1:19-cv-81-TFM) being designated the lead case for the purposes of pretrial matters. DONE and ORDERED this 2nd day of December, 2019. /s/ Terry F. Moorer TERRY F. MOORER UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE