Opinion
Case No. 2:07 cv 358, Case No. 3:08 cv 60.
September 25, 2004
OPINION AND ORDER
This matter is before the court on the Motion to Join Beta Finance Company, Inc. [DE 11 case 3:08-cv-60; DE 107 case 2:07-cv-358] filed by Prime Time Marketing Management, Inc. on December 9, 2008. For the following reasons, the motion is DENIED.
Background
These causes of action are consolidated for all proceedings. The pleadings from cause number 3:08-cv-60 include Beta Finance Company, Inc. as a defendant. This motion requests the joinder of Beta Finance as a party in cause number 2:07-cv-358 so that Prime Time can assert a crossclaim against it. The motion, though titled as a joinder request, in effect requests the opportunity to file an amended answer.Prime Time previously attempted to amend its Answer to include a third-party crossclaim against Beta Finance on October 3, 2008, the court's deadline for requests to amend pleadings. The UCC and Direct Buy's Motion to Amend, filed the same day, was granted, but Prime Time's Amended Answer was stricken because Prime Time failed to submit the amendment as a motion. However, in so striking, this court granted Prime Time ten days in which to request such an amendment in the proper form. Prime Time did not take the court up on its offer. Rather, Prime Time timely answered the Amended Complaint with counterclaims pleaded, but inexplicably neglected to plead any third-party joinder of Beta Finance.
Discussion
Prime Time has two obstacles in achieving this joinder. First, from purely a temporal perspective, Prime Time has allowed the opportunity to plead any third-party claims to pass. See Link v. Taylor, 2009 WL 281054 at *2 (N.D. Ind. Feb. 2, 2009) ("[T]he good cause standard [for amendments under Rule 16(b)] focuses on the diligence of the party seeking the amendment. In other words, to demonstrate good cause, a party must show that despite its diligence, the time table could not reasonably have been met."). Without the ability to show good cause for the amendment under Rule 16(b), the court need not reach the analysis of whether the amendment is proper based on its merits. See Link, 2009 WL 281054 at *2 ("[A] party seeking to amend a pleading after the date specified in a scheduling order must first show `good cause' for the amendment under Rule 16(b); then, if good cause is shown, the party must demonstrate that the amendment is proper under Rule 15.").
Second, Prime Time's request for joinder mentions both Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 19 and 20 without specifying which type of joinder is proposed here. Rule 19 dictates which parties must be joined, while Rule 20 posits who may be joined. Prime Time cites Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 13(h), which simply states that "Rules 19 and 20 govern the addition of a person as a party to a counterclaim or crossclaim." This cross-reference does not remove the joinder of a party from the pleading stage of a lawsuit.
Although during the allowable pleading period this court would have considered the permissive joinder of Beta Finance under Rule 20, the court's scheduling order — as well as the extra ten-day reprieve offered — gave ample opportunity for Prime Time to plead the cross claim. Likewise, Prime Time's reference to the inability to accord complete relief under Rule 19 falls short because Beta Finance is a party in the consolidated case, and as such, Prime Time has the opportunity for its day in court with this party. Thus, any effort to argue mandatory joinder under Rule 19 fails as well.
For the foregoing reasons, the Motion to Join Beta Finance Company, Inc. [DE 107 in 2:07-cv-358; DE 11 in 3:08-cv-60] filed by Prime Time Marketing Management, Inc. on December 9, 2008, is DENIED.