Free Motion to Strike - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:03-cv-00383-WIG

Document 288

Filed 01/09/2006

Page 1 of 3

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT WASLEY PRODUCTS, INC., ET AL., Plaintiffs, THIS PERTAINS TO: CIVIL NO. 3:03 CV 1790 (MRK) (Prentiss et at. v. Wasley Products, Inc. et al.) JANUARY 9, 2006 MASTER CONSOLIDATED CASE CIVIL NO. 3:03 CV 383 (MRK)

V. BARRY BULAKITES, ET AL., Defendants.

NATIONWIDE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA f/k/a PROVIDENT MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE CO.'S MOTION TO STRIKE REPLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO APPOINT SPECIAL MASTER Nationwide Life Insurance Company of America f/k/a Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company ("Nationwide") hereby respectfully moves pursuant to Local Rule of Civil Procedure ("Local Rule") 7(d) to strike the Reply Memorandum in Support of Motion to Appoint Special Master (the "Reply") of the Plaintiffs Gregory Prentiss, John Rizzi, Richard Seich, and Dorothy Brown (collectively, the "Plan Participants"), filed on January 9, 2006. Local Rule 7(d) makes clear that any properly filed reply must be strictly confined to a discussion of matters raised by the responsive brief and contain references to the pages of the responsive brief to which reply is being made. The Plan Participants have failed to comply with the mandate of Local Rule 7(d) for reply briefs. The Reply should, therefore, be stricken. While purporting to respond to three separate oppositions filed by three separate parties to this case, each with different interests and arguments, the Reply does not contain a single citation to any of those briefs. See Reply generally. The Reply also, in addition to advancing arguments purportedly in "reply" to the oppositions to the motion for special master (the "Motion"), advances new arguments and theories for the appointment of a second special master, including: (1) the claims against

CTDOCS/1649706.1

Case 3:03-cv-00383-WIG

Document 288

Filed 01/09/2006

Page 2 of 3

Nationwide will not settle without the appointment of a second special master, Reply at 2; and (2) that absent the granting of the Motion for special master, bifurcation of liability and damages will be the only option, an option which will be costly and inefficiently in the long-run. Reply at 3. Neither of these issues was raised in any of the opposition briefs and, therefore, is not properly raised in this Reply. Conclusion Because the Plan Participants have not confined the arguments in the Reply to those raised in the opposition briefs, and because the Reply was submitted absent citations to the oppositions, also in derogation of Local Rule 7(2), the Reply should be stricken.

DEFENDANT, NATIONWIDE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA By:/s/ Sara R. Simeonidis Deborah S. Freeman [ct05257] Sara R. Simeonidis [ct25566] BINGHAM MCCUTCHEN LLP One State Street Hartford, CT 06103 (860) 240-2700 (860) 240-2800 (fax) Its Attorneys [email protected] [email protected]

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Case 3:03-cv-00383-WIG

Document 288

Filed 01/09/2006

Page 3 of 3

CERTIFICATION This is to certify that a copy of the foregoing Motion to Strike has been filed electronically and served this 9th day of January, 2006, via first class mail, postage prepaid, or electronic mail to all counsel and pro se parties of record in these consolidated actions as follows: Theodore J. Tucci, Esq. Jean E. Tomasco, Esq. Robinson & Cole LLP 280 Trumbull Street Hartford, CT 06103-3597 Thomas G. Moukawsher, Esq. Ian O. Smith, Esq. Moukawsher & Walsh 21 Oak Street, Suite 209 Hartford, CT 06106 Joseph V. Meaney, Jr. Cranmore, Fitzgerald & Meaney 49 Wethersfield Avenue Hartford, CT 06114-1102 Steven J. Errante, Esq. Eric P. Smith, Esq. Nancy Fitzpatrick Myers, Esq. Marisa A. Bellair, Esq. Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, P.C. 52 Trumbull Street P.O. Box 1612 New Haven, CT 06506-1612 James J. Reardon, Jr., Esq. Thomas G. Rhoback, Esq. LeBouef, Lamb, Greene & MacRae 225 Asylum Street Hartford, CT 06103

/s/ Sara R. Simeonidis Sara R. Simeonidis

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