District Court, W.D. Washington, 2023

In re the Complaint and Petition of Pamina LLC for Exoneration from or Limitation of Liability

In re the Complaint and Petition of Pamina LLC for Exoneration from or Limitation of Liability
District Court, W.D. Washington · Decided July 6, 2023
In re the Complaint and Petition of Pamina LLC for Exoneration from or Limitation of Liability

Trial Court Opinion

1 Hon. Barbara J. Rothstein 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON PAMINA, LLC, as owner of the vessel, M/V IN ADMIRALTY PAMINA (Official Number 1143720), BRIAN PICKERING and LAURIE PICKERING, as Case No. 2:22-cv-01679-BJR sole members of PAMINA, LLC, and MARKEL AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, as subrogee of Pamina, LLC, STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER Brian Pickering and Laurie Pickering, FOR LEAVE TO FILE FIRST AMENDED THIRD-PARTY 15 Third-Party Plaintiffs, COMPLAINT 16 v. DELTA MARINE INDUSTRIES, INC., N C POWER SYSTEMS CO., GLENDINNING PRODUCTS LLC, and DOCKMATE, INC., 19 Third-Party Defendants.

20 IN RE: COMPLAINT AND PETITION OF PAMINA, LLC, as owner of the vessel, PAMINA, FOR EXONERATION FROM OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY 25 The Third-Party Defendants, Delta Marine Industries, Inc., N C Power Systems Co., Glendinning Products LLC, and Dockmate, Inc. (collectively, Third-Party Defendants), stipulate that Third-Party Plaintiffs, PAMINA, LLC, as owner of the vessel, M/V PAMINA (Official Number 1143720), Brian Pickering and Laurie Pickering, as sole members of Pamina, LLC, and Markel American Insurance Company, as subrogee of Pamina, LLC, Brian Pickering and Laurie Pickering (collectively, “Third-Party Plaintiffs”), should be granted leave to file its First Amended Third-Party Complaint, attached as Exhibit A. Plaintiff’s proposed First Amended Third-Party Complaint adds additional factual allegations as to Third-Party Defendant’s Dockmate, Inc. (“Dockmate”) and Glendinning Products LLC (“Glendinning”), to cure the deficiencies raised in Dockmate’s Motion to Dismiss (Dkt. 66).

8 I. STIPULATION 9 A. Applicable Standard for Amending Complaint.

10 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2), “[A] party may amend its pleading only with the opposing party’s written consent or with the court's leave. The court should freely give leave when justice so requires.” (emphasis added). This policy is “to be applied with extreme liberality.” Owens v. Kaiser Found Health Plan, Inc., 244 F.3d 708, 712 (9th Cir. 2001) (quoting Morongo Band of Mission Indians v. Rose, 893 F.2d 1074, 1079 (9th Cir. 1990)).

15 B. Justice Requires Leave Be Given to Plaintiff to Amend Its Complaint.

16 Leave should be granted, as the rules require, absent “any apparent or declared reason - such as undue delay, bad faith or dilatory motive on the part of the movant, repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, futility of amendment, etc….” Forman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 20 178, 182, 83 S. Ct. 227, 9 L. Ed. 2d 222 (1962).

21 Justice requires leave be given in this case for the following reasons: (1) all parties consent and stipulate to permit Third-Party Plaintiffs to amend the Third-Party Complaint to add additional allegations as to Dockmate and Glendinning; (2) Third-Party Plaintiffs seek to amend the complaint to include additional factual allegations to cure the deficiencies raised in Dockmate’s motion to Dismiss (Dkt. 66); (3) this case is highly technical in nature, and the new allegations Third-Party Plaintiffs seek leave to include in its pleading reflect its perception of the facts, as well as the information and belief as to how some of these technical systems malfunctioned; (4) this motion and stipulation is timely, as the Court's deadline for parties to amend pleadings is June 26, 2023 (See Dkt. 64); and (5) the Third-Party Defendants and Third- Party Plaintiffs stipulate there is no undue prejudice to them as a result of this requested amendment.

5 Accordingly, all parties specifically agree that Third-Party Plaintiffs be granted leave to file their First Amended Third-Party Complaint, attached at Exhibit A.

7 DATED: June 23, 2023 KENNEDYS CMK LLP By: /s/ Jonathan W. Thames 9 JONATHAN W. THAMES Washington State Bar No. 31060 10 BRAD PACE California State Bar No. 302510 11 Pro Hac Vice application forthcoming KENNEDYS CMK LLP 12 455 Market St., Suite 1900 San Francisco, CA 94105 13 Telephone: 415-323-4460 Facsimile: 415-323-4445 14 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for PAMINA, LLC, as owner of the 16 vessel, M/V PAMINA, BRIAN PICKERING and LAURIE PICKERING, as sole members of 17 PAMINA, LLC, and MARKEL AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, as subrogee of 18 Pamina, LLC, Brian Pickering and Laurie Pickering 20 June 23, 2023 PERKINS COIE LLP By: /s/ Monique R. Wirrick 22 TODD W. ROSENCRANS Washington State Bar No. 26551 23 MONIQUE R. WIRRICK PERKINS COIE LLP 24 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 25 Telephone: 206-359-8000 Facsimile: 206-359-9000 26 [email protected] 1 Attorneys for Third-Party Defendant N C Machinery Co. and for substituted Third-Party 2 Defendant N C Power Systems Co. June 23, 2023 FLOYD PFLUEGER & RINGER PS 5 By: /s/ William J. Dow FRANCIS S. FLOYD 6 WILLIAM J. DOW FLOYD PFLUEGER & RINGER PS 7 3101 Western Ave., Suite 400 Seattle, WA 98121-3017 8 Telephone: 206-441-4455 Facsimile: 206-441-8484 9 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Third Party Defendant 11 Glendinning Products, LLC June 23, 2023 BAUER MOYNIHAN & JOHNSON 14 By: /s/ Thomas G. Waller THOMAS GEORGE WALLER 15 BAUER MOYNIHAN & JOHNSON 2101 4th Ave., Suite 2400 16 Seattle, WA 98121-2320 Telephone: 206-443-3400 17 Facsimile: 206-448-9076 [email protected] Attorneys for Third-Party Defendant Delta 19 Marine Industries, Inc. June 23, 2023 MURPHY PEARSON BRADLEY & FEENEY 22 By: /s/ Nicholas C. Larson NICHOLAS C. LARSON 23 Washington State Bar No. 46034 MURPHY PEARSON BRADLEY & FEENEY 24 1455 NW Leary Way, Suite 400 Seattle, WA 98107 25 Telephone: 206-219-2008 [email protected] Attorneys for Third-Party Defendant Dockmate, 27 Inc. 1 ORDER 2 Based on the foregoing stipulation between all parties, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that || third-Party Plaintiffs are granted leave to file their First Amended Third-Party Complaint, || attached hereto as Exhibit A.

6 Dated: July 6, 2023. & Avera eu, Barbara Jacobs Rothstein 9 US. District Court Judge 1] || Presented by: || /s/ Jonathan W. Thames Case No. 2:22-cv-01679-BJR KENNEDYS CMK LLP STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER FOR 455 Market St., Suite 1900

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