Opinion
NO. CIV. S-12-2476 LKK/JFM
12-17-2012
AMERIPRIDE SERVICES, INC., a Delaware corporation, as Court-Ordered Assignee of Texas Eastern Overseas, Inc. Plaintiff, v. CENTRAL NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF OMAHA, a Nebraska corporation; and GRANITE STATE INSURANCE COMPANY, a New Hampshire corporation, Defendants.
ORDER
Plaintiff AmeriPride Services, Inc. ("AmeriPride") brings this action against defendant insurers to seek enforcement of a judgment entered for Plaintiff in a related CERCLA action.
Pending before the court is a motion to dismiss, strike punitive damages or, in the alternative, stay, brought by Defendant Central National Insurance Company of Omaha ("Central National") and Granite State Insurance Company ("Granite State"), ECF Nos. 10, 14, which Plaintiff opposes, ECF No. 22.
The court declines to rule on this matter before any appeals to the Ninth Circuit in the underlying action have been resolved. This action is therefore STAYED pending resolution of AmeriPride Services, Inc. v. Valley Industrial Services, Inc., et al., No. 2:00-cv-00113, upon appeal.
Defendants' motion to dismiss, ECF Nos. 10, 14, is DENIED, subject to re-filing after any appeals in the underlying action have been exhausted.
Defendants have argued that the final order appointing a receiver for TEO precludes the possibility that the receiver will be empowered to bring suit in the name of TEO. This stay shall not preclude Plaintiff AmeriPride from filing a petition with the Delaware Chancery Court to clarify the scope of the final order appointing a receiver for TEO, or in the alternative, to modify the same.
The parties SHALL notify the court when any appeals in the underlying case have been exhausted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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LAWRENCE K. KARLTON
SENIOR JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT