Opinion
No. 06–179.
2007-10-1
Charles R. RIEGEL, et ux., petitioners, v. MEDTRONIC, INC.
Motion of Donna Riegel, the administrator of the Estate of Charles R. Riegel, to be substituted in place of Charles R. Riegel, deceased, granted. The exercise of this Court's power to grant an untimely motion to substitute a party is not unprecedented. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 537 U.S. 1042, 123 S.Ct. 650, 154 L.Ed.2d 513, (2002); see also Schacht v. United States, 398 U.S. 58, 63–64, 90 S.Ct. 1555, 26 L.Ed.2d 44 (1970) (“The procedural rules adopted by the Court for the orderly transaction of its business are not jurisdictional and can be relaxed by the Court in the exercise of its discretion ...”); Stern & Gressman, Supreme Court Practice 350 (8th ed. 2002). THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Justice SCALIA would deny the motion, because it was filed more than six months after the petitioner's death. See Supreme Court Rule 35.1 (“If the substitution of a representative of the deceased is not made within six months after the death of the party, *350 the case shall abate” (emphasis added)). The fact that Rule 35.1 is not jurisdictional is not a reason to ignore it, particularly since here, unlike in Campbell, supra, the motion was opposed by the respondent.