Zarwin Baum Obtains Dismissal of Federal Court Action

December 31, 2008

Zarwin Baum lawyers Norman Zarwin and David McComb recently obtained a dismissal of a complaint seeking over a million dollars from several Firm clients. Relying on a recent amendment to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Zarwin and McComb persuaded United States District Judge Mary McLaughlin that the complaint could not proceed in the federal court because the plaintiff, a petroleum supplier, had failed to name as a defendant a party required to be named in the lawsuit under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The complaint had alleged that several of the firm’s clients, operators of several retail gas stations in Delaware County, had breached the terms of the supply agreements and wrongfully terminated the agreements. The complaint had sought damages from the defendants in excess of $1.4 million. The court’s ruling is one of the first to interpret the “required party” provisions of Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and to dismiss a complaint for failing to sue all parties necessary for a fair adjudication of the dispute.

Norman Zarwin and David McComb are members of the Firm’s Petroleum Marketing Practices Group.