Opinion
Case No. 14 C 5392
12-18-2014
MICHAEL H. WU and CHRISTINE T. WU, Plaintiffs, v. PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL, INC., et al., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Plaintiffs Michael and Christine Wu, continuing to act pro se rather than through knowledgeable counsel, have tendered a Motion To Reconsider Order of November 14, 2014, having noticed it for presentment on this Court's December 18, 2014 motion call. Their motion was accompanied by a Certificate of Service specifying that defendants had been served by e-mail transmitted December 11, such service thus having complied with the provisions of this District Court's LR 5.3(b) and 78.1 as to presentment of motions.
At the December 18 hearing this Court stated that the motion would be deemed to constitute a Fed. R. Civ. P. ("Rule") 59(e) motion to alter or amend the November 14 order of dismissal, so that the nonextendable 28-day time limit established by that Rule required the motion to have been filed by December 12. If then the December 18 presentment date were to be treated as the motion's filing date, that would cause it to fall outside of Rule 59(e)'s permitted 28-day time frame and this Court would have been without jurisdiction to entertain the motion. Fortunately, however, Rule 5(d)(2)(A) specifies:
A paper is filed by delivering it:
(A) to the clerk . . . .-- and that delivery had taken place on December 11, just 27 days after the November 14 judgment entry date.
Accordingly this Court has entered and continued the motion to 8:45 a.m. March 20, 2015 to enable plaintiffs to retain knowledgeable counsel who can then submit a revised filing that will enable defense counsel and this Court to conduct an informed analysis of the matter. It is anticipated that copies of that retained counsel's work product will be delivered to defense counsel and to this Court at least one week in advance of the March 20 status hearing date.
/s/_________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date: December 18, 2014