CX REINSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, f/k/a CNA Reinsurance Company Limited v. DEVON S. JOHNSON; BENJAMIN L. KIRSON
No. 19-1516
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
October 14, 2020
PUBLISHED. Argued: September 8, 2020. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt. Paul W. Grimm, District Judge. (8:15-cv-03132-PWG)
Before NIEMEYER, AGEE, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.
Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion, in which Judge Agee and Judge Thacker joined.
ARGUED: Samuel D. Cowin, GALLAGHER EVELIUS & JONES LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Ellen Duffy Jenkins, RUBERRY STALMACK & GARVEY, LLC, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: David G. Sommer, Paul S. Caiola, GALLAGHER EVELIUS & JONES LLP, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Stuart M.G. Seraina, KRAMON & GRAHAM, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland; Edward F. Ruberry, RUBERRY, STALMACK & GARVEY, LLC, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellee.
Local Rule 109 of the District of Maryland requires generally that “any motion requesting the award of attorneys’ fees must be filed within fourteen (14) days of the entry of judgment,” and noncompliance constitutes a “waiver of any claim for attorneys’ fees.” D. Md. R. 109.2.a (emphasis added). This language parrots
In this case, the district court, in a six-page “Memorandum Opinion and Order,” granted the plaintiff‘s contested motion for voluntary dismissal of its complaint under
We vacate and remand the district court‘s order denying as untimely the defendant‘s motion for attorneys fees.
I
CX Reinsurance Company Limited (“CX Re“) commenced this action against Benjamin L. Kirson, a policyholder, in October 2015, seeking the rescission of commercial general liability insurance policies issued to Kirson with respect to residential buildings that Kirson owned in Baltimore, Maryland. CX Re alleged that, in applying for the policies, Kirson had falsely represented that there had never been any lead-paint violations in the buildings.
Shortly after CX Re commenced its action, Devon S. Johnson obtained a state-court judgment against Kirson for personal injuries caused by lead-paint exposure at one of Kirson‘s residential properties. Contending that his judgment against Kirson fell within the coverage of the CX Re policies, Johnson was permitted to intervene as a defendant in CX Re‘s rescission action in order to protect his interest in the proceeds of the policies.
After CX Re and Kirson reached a settlement agreement and Kirson was dismissed from the action, CX Re nonetheless continued to seek rescission of its policies with Johnson as the defendant. But on June 4, 2018, CX Re filed a motion for voluntary dismissal of its action with prejudice under
In a six-page “Memorandum Opinion and Order” dated June 15, 2018, the district court granted CX Re‘s motion for a voluntary dismissal and dismissed CX Re‘s complaint with prejudice. After addressing the payment of costs in the action and the return of materials obtained by discovery, the opinion and order directed the Clerk of Court “to close this case.” The dismissal order was then entered in the docket. No separate document set out a “judgment,” and the civil docket does not indicate the entry of any “judgment.”
Three days after the district court entered its order of dismissal, Johnson filed a motion to modify the dismissal order, thereafter treating his motion as a
CX Re responded to Johnson‘s motion, arguing primarily that it was untimely. It noted that the court had entered its order of dismissal on June 15, 2018, and that Johnson‘s motion was not filed until 18 days after that order. It argued that under Local Rule 109.2.a (requiring that such motions be filed within 14 days of “the entry of judgment“), Johnson‘s motion was untimely. Alternatively, CX Re argued that if the court were to consider Johnson‘s motion on the merits, the court should also consider its own cross motion for attorneys fees. The district court referred the parties’ cross motions to a magistrate judge for a report and recommendation.
In her report and recommendation dated November 5, 2018, the magistrate judge recommended that Johnson‘s motion for attorneys fees be denied as untimely. The magistrate judge reasoned that because Local Rule 109.1 set the deadline for the filing of a bill of costs to be “within 14 days of the entry of judgment, or the entry of an order denying a motion filed under
The district court adopted in full the magistrate judge‘s report and recommendation by order dated March 26, 2019. The court agreed that “the plain language of Local Rule 109 suggests that the fourteen days is measured from the entry of the primary judgment as opposed to the resolution of post-judgment motions,” and it rejected Johnson‘s argument that “Local Rule 109.2.a should be read consistently with the cases interpreting similar language in
From the district court‘s order dated March 26, 2019, denying his motion for attorneys fees, Johnson filed this appeal.
II
The district court denied Johnson‘s motion for attorneys fees as untimely because it was filed 18 days after the court filed its order of dismissal under
In this case, the district court‘s June 15, 2018 dismissal order, while final in its nature, neither satisfied the requirements for a judgment, nor was it entered on June 15 as a judgment. It was a six-page “Memorandum Opinion and Order” ruling on CX Re‘s motion for voluntary dismissal and Johnson‘s opposition to that. See
The district court did not say, nor has CX Re argued, that the terms “judgment” and “entry of judgment” are defined by the local rules in some special way to alert the bar that they have a meaning any different from the definitions given in
The essential purpose of
CX Re argues that we should not give Johnson the benefit of
First, we agree that the record does indeed show that Johnson‘s counsel failed to bring
In Bankers Trust, on which CX Re relies, the Supreme Court held that, in the narrow circumstances of that case, the usual mechanical enforcement of
The waiver urged by CX Re in this case, however, is not so innocuous. It would indeed facilitate the loss of a right — Johnson‘s opportunity to have his motion for attorneys fees considered by the court, an effort that Johnson vigorously pursued. Moreover, in this case, Johnson did not
At a broader level, the parties have asked us to resolve the question of timeliness by construing “entry of judgment,” as that phrase is used in both Local Rule 109 and
At bottom, we conclude that because the district court‘s dismissal order was not set out in a separate document as required by
III
Even were we to agree with CX Re‘s waiver argument, we would nonetheless conclude that Johnson‘s attorneys fees motion was timely filed.
For his principal argument on appeal, Johnson contends that even though his motion for attorneys fees was filed more than 14 days after the district court entered its order dismissing the case, the motion was nonetheless timely because it was filed within 14 days of the district
CX Re contends that Johnson‘s argument is irrelevant because the district court denied his attorneys fees motion as untimely under Local Rule 109.2, not
While Johnson does not challenge the district court‘s interpretation of its own rules, he does contend that the district court‘s interpretation creates an impermissible conflict with the federal rules and therefore cannot be applied.
As written, Local Rule 109.2 provides simply that “any motion requesting the award of attorneys’ fees must be filed within fourteen (14) days of the entry of judgment.” D. Md. R. 109.2.a. This language is not only consistent with
Generally, we would give some measure of deference to a district court‘s interpretation of its own local rules. Moreover, a district court can by order establish case-management tools related to attorneys fees motions and their timing. Here, though, Local Rule 109.2 parrots the language of
When Johnson made this inconsistency argument to the district court, the court responded that the Local Rule is like a standing order of court and is therefore exempted from the need to be consistent with
Accordingly, even if CX Re were entitled to rely on waiver of the
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We vacate the district court‘s order denying Johnson‘s motion for attorneys fees as untimely and remand for further proceedings.
VACATED AND REMANDED
