Opinion
2:21-cv-380-SPC-KCD
12-13-2022
CONCORD AT THE VINEYARDS CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., Plaintiff, v. EMPIRE INDEMNITY INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant.
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Sheri Polster Chappell, Judge.
This is a Hurricane Irma case. The assigned Magistrate Judge ordered the dispute to appraisal and stayed the case pending its completion. (Doc. 56). The Court overruled Empire's objections to that Order. (Doc. 60). But appraisal has not begun. Empire filed an interlocutory appeal (Doc. 63), and now asks the Court to stay appraisal pending the outcome of the interlocutory appeal (Doc. 64). The parties briefed the issue, and it is ripe for review. (Docs. 64, 66, 68). 1
Whether the Eleventh Circuit will accept jurisdiction over the interlocutory appeal is an open question. Empire has appealed similar cases and several others have been stayed pending the Eleventh Circuit's decision on the same jurisdictional question. See Positano Place at Naples IV Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Empire Inde. Ins. Co., 2:21-cv-186-SPC-MRM; The Breakwater Commons Ass'n, Inc. v. Empire Indem. Co., 2:20-cv-31-JLB-NPM; Creekside Crossings Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Empire Indem. Co., 2:20-cv-136-JLB-NPM. In these cases, the Eleventh Circuit has required the parties to respond to the jurisdictional question and carried that question with the merits.
This Court has “broad discretion to stay proceedings as an incident to its power to control its own docket.” Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706-07 (1997). The Court exercises its discretion here to stay appraisal until the Eleventh Circuit decides whether it has jurisdiction to consider Empire's interlocutory appeal. As much as Empire requests a stay under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), the request is denied without prejudice to be refiled if the Eleventh Circuit accepts jurisdiction. If the Eleventh Circuit does not accept jurisdiction, appraisal will proceed. The parties must update the Court either way.
Accordingly, it is now
ORDERED:
1. Defendant's Motion for Stay Order Pending Appeal (Doc. 64) is GRANTED to the extent that the Court exercises its discretion to 2 stay appraisal until the Eleventh Circuit decides whether it has jurisdiction to consider Empire's interlocutory appeal; otherwise, the Motion is DENIED without prejudice.
2. The parties must provide the Court with a joint status update on the appeal proceedings by January 11, 2023, and every thirty days thereafter.
3. Defendant must inform the Court of the Eleventh Circuit's decision on jurisdiction, within 3 days of its issuance.
DONE and ORDERED. 3