NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND … of Motion... · Granting the Litigation...
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Transcript of NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND … of Motion... · Granting the Litigation...
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
IN RE: TRIBUNE COMPANY FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCE LITIGATION
Consolidated Multidistrict Action No. 11 MD 2296 (RJS)
THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO:
Kirschner v. FitzSimonsKirschner v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
No. 12 CV 2652 (RJS) No. 12 CV 6055 (RJS)
NOTICE OF PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND COMPLAINTS UNDER RULE 15
Please take notice that upon the exhibits hereto and the accompanying memorandum of
law, Marc S. Kirschner, as Litigation Trustee (the “Litigation Trustee”) for the Tribune
Litigation Trust, successor plaintiff to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Tribune
Company in Kirschner v. FitzSimons, No. 12 CV 2652, and Kirschner v. Citigroup Global
Markets, Inc., 12 CV 6055, through his undersigned counsel, will move before this Court at the
Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, New York, New York 10007, at
a date and time to be set by the Court, for an order:
1. Granting the Litigation Trustee leave to amend the operative Fourth Amended
Complaint in FitzSimons by filing a Fifth Amended Complaint in substantially the
form attached hereto as Exhibit 1; and
2. Granting the Litigation Trustee leave to amend the operative Complaint in
Citigroup by filing a First Amended Complaint in substantially the form attached
hereto as Exhibit 2.
Pursuant to the Court’s Order of May 28, 2013 [ECF No. 2554], liaison counsel for
Defendants are required to coordinate and file any response to the motion by July 19, 2013.
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Further pursuant to that Order, any brief in opposition to the motion shall not exceed ten pages,
and if liaison counsel for Defendants determine that a single consolidated brief will not
adequately convey disparate rationales for opposing the proposed amendments, liaison counsel
for Defendants shall seek leave of the Court to file additional consolidated briefs.
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Von Platen Trust No. 2, Dorothy B. Chandler Marital Trust No. 2, Dorothy B. Chandler Residuary Trust No. 2, HOC Trust No. 2 FBO Scott Haskins, HOC Trust No. 2 FBO John Haskins, HOC Trust No. 2 FBO Eliza Haskins, HOC GST Exempt Trust No. 2. FBO Scott Haskins, HOC GST Exempt Trust No. 2. FBO John Haskins, HOC GST Exempt Trust No. 2. FBO Eliza Haskins, Alberta W. Chandler Marital Trust No. 2, Earl E. Crowe Trust No. 2, Patricia Crowe Warren Residuary Trust No. 2, Helen Garland Trust No. 2 (For Gwendolyn Garland Babcock), Helen Garland Trust No. 2 (For William M. Garland III), Helen Garland Trust No. 2 (For Hillary Duque Garland), Garland Foundation Trust No. 2, Marian Otis Chandler Trust No. 2, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Cantigny Foundation, Automobile Mechanics’ Local No. 701 Union and Industry Pension Fund a/k/a Automobile Mechanics Local 701 LCV, Frank W. Denius, The DFA Investment Trust Company, GDK Inc., Hussman Strategic Growth Fund, Edwin R Labuz IRA, Ameriprise Trust Company f/k/a H&R Block Financial Advisors, Custodian, Denise Meck, Nationwide S&P 500 Index Fund, a Series of Nationwide Mutual Funds, New York State Teachers Retirement System, Dorothy C. Patterson Irrevocable Trust #2 U/A/D 12-21-93, The Northern Trust Company, as Successor Trustee, Blandina Rojek, VTrader Pro, LLC, and those defendants with respect to which “Akin” is identified as “LT Counsel” in Exhibit A to the proposed Fifth Amended FitzSimonsComplaint
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
IN RE: TRIBUNE COMPANY FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCE LITIGATION
Consolidated Multidistrict Action No. 11 MD 2296 (RJS)
THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO:
Kirschner v. FitzSimonsKirschner v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
No. 12 CV 2652 (RJS) No. 12 CV 6055 (RJS)
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF’S MOTIONFOR LEAVE TO AMEND COMPLAINTS UNDER RULE 15
ROBBINS, RUSSELL, ENGLERT, ORSECK, UNTEREINER & SAUBER LLP
AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD LLP
FRIEDMAN KAPLAN SEILER & ADELMAN LLP
KASOWITZ BENSON TORRES & FRIEDMAN LLP
Counsel for the Tribune Litigation Trust
June 4, 2013
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT .......................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................................2
ARGUMENT ...................................................................................................................................5
LEAVE TO AMEND SHOULD BE GRANTED ............................................................................5
A. The Proposed Amendments Create No Prejudice to Defendants .............................5
B. The Proposed Amendments Are Timely and Sought in Good Faith ........................9
CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................10
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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
CASES
AEP Energy Servs. Gas Holding Co. v. Bank of Am.,626 F.3d 699 (2d Cir. 2010)...................................................................................................7, 8
Asoma Corp. v. SK Shipping Co.,53 F. App’x 581 (2d Cir. 2002) .................................................................................................6
Block v. First Blood Assocs.,988 F.2d 344 (2d Cir. 1993).............................................................................................5, 6, 10
Care Envtl. Corp. v. M2 Techs. Inc.,No. 05 CV 1600, 2006 WL 2265036 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 8, 2006) ................................................6
Esposito v. Deutsche Bank AG,No. 07 CV 6722, 2008 WL 5233590 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 16, 2008) ...............................................8
Kamerman v. Steinberg,681 F. Supp. 206 (S.D.N.Y. 1988).............................................................................................6
Ricciuti v. N.Y.C. Transit Auth.,941 F.2d 119 (2d Cir. 1991).......................................................................................................8
Richardson Greenshields Secs., Inc. v. Lau,825 F.2d 647 (2d Cir. 1987).......................................................................................................5
Ruotolo v. City of N.Y.,514 F.3d 184 (2d Cir. 2008).......................................................................................................5
Schiller v. City of N.Y.,No. 04 CV 7922, 2009 WL 497580 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 27, 2009) .................................................5
Slayton v. Am. Express Co.,460 F.3d 215 (2d Cir. 2006).......................................................................................................5
State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. CPT Med. Servs., P.C.,246 F.R.D. 143 (E.D.N.Y. 2007) .....................................................................................5, 7, 10
State Teachers Ret. Bd. v. Fluor Corp.,654 F.2d 843 (2d Cir. 1981).......................................................................................................5
Taberna Capital Mgmt., LLC v. Jaggi,No. 08 CV 11355, 2010 WL 1424002 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 9, 2010) ...............................................5
Xpressions Footwear Corp. v. Peters,No. 94 CV 6136, 1995 WL 758761 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 22, 1995) ...............................................10
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Marc S. Kirschner, as Litigation Trustee (the “Litigation Trustee”) for the Tribune
Litigation Trust, successor plaintiff to the Official Committee (the “Committee”) of Unsecured
Creditors of Tribune Company (“Tribune”) in Kirschner v. FitzSimons, No. 12 CV 2652, and
Kirschner v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., 12 CV 6055 (together, the “Actions”), respectfully
submits this memorandum of law in support of his motion pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 15(a)(2) to amend the complaints in the Actions by filing (i) the proposed Fifth
Amended Complaint in FitzSimons in substantially the form attached to the accompanying
Notice of Motion as Exhibit 1, and (ii) the proposed First Amended Complaint in Citigroup in
substantially the form attached to the Notice of Motion as Exhibit 2.
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
The Litigation Trustee seeks to make the first amendments to the complaints in
FitzSimons and Citigroup since he was substituted as plaintiff in place of the Committee, and the
first substantive amendments of any kind since the Actions originally were filed—amendments
that the Court and parties expressly anticipated in the jointly negotiated Master Case Order No. 3
(“MCO 3”).
The proposed amended complaints easily satisfy the liberal standards for leave to amend,
and will result in no prejudice to any party if permitted. The amendments relate to precisely the
same disastrous leveraged buyout (“LBO”) that was the focus of every prior version of the
complaints, and allege only claims that arise out of or relate to that transaction. The Actions
have been stayed for all but ministerial purposes since they originally were commenced, the
parties have yet to engage in any discovery or motion practice on the merits in the Actions, and
the trials in these cases have not yet even been scheduled. Far from prejudicing any party, the
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proposed amendments will provide further notice to the defendants concerning the nature of the
claims alleged against them, and will serve to clarify and focus the issues for trial.
The motion to amend is also timely. The Litigation Trustee began preparing the
proposed amendments promptly upon his appointment and substitution as plaintiff in the
Actions, sought leave to file the amended complaints before the deadline for such amendments
provided under MCO 3, and the proposed amendments add details concerning the LBO that were
largely developed in the bankruptcy proceedings after the original complaints were filed. In any
case, it is settled law in this Circuit that, absent bad faith, the mere lapse of time between the
filing of an original and amended complaint is not grounds for denying a motion to amend.
Here, the Litigation Trustee acted in good faith by filing a motion expressly contemplated by the
parties and the Court.
In short, none of the factors that will sometimes justify denial of a motion to amend is
present here, and the Litigation Trustee should be permitted to file the proposed Fifth Amended
Complaint in FitzSimons and First Amended Complaint in Citigroup.
BACKGROUND
The original adversary complaints in the Actions were prepared and filed by the
Committee in connection with Tribune’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the Bankruptcy Court
for the District of Delaware. The Committee filed the FitzSimons action on November 1, 2010,
entitled Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Tribune Co. v. FitzSimons, Adv. Proc. No.
10-54010 (Bankr. D. Del.). Also on November 1, 2010, the Committee filed an adversary
proceeding entitled Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Tribune Co. v. JPMorgan
Chase Bank, N.A., Adv. Proc. No. 10-53963 (Bankr. D. Del.) (the “Lender Action”). Among the
claims asserted in the Lender Action were claims against defendants Citigroup Global Markets,
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Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Inc. for aiding and abetting breaches of
fiduciary duty, avoidance and recovery of the payment of advisory fees, and professional
malpractice (collectively, the “Advisor Claims”). By order dated March 22, 2012, the
Bankruptcy Court severed the Advisor Claims from the Lender Action, and the Committee filed
a complaint alleging only the Advisor Claims on April 2, 2012, which it entitled Official
Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Tribune Co. v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Adv. Proc.
No. 12-50446 (Bankr. D. Del.).
The Actions were substantively stayed by the Bankruptcy Court as soon as they were
filed. However, the Committee was permitted to take, and did take, limited discovery regarding
the identities and locations of shareholder and other defendants for inclusion in FitzSimons, and
was also permitted to make non-substantive amendments to the complaints in the actions. The
Committee amended the complaints in FitzSimons three times before the Actions were
transferred to this Court by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (the “JPML”) for
coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings, and once after the cases were transferred.1
Consistent with limitations provided in the operative case management orders, the
Committee’s prior amendments to the FitzSimons complaint were all non-substantive. For
example, the Committee dropped certain individually named shareholder defendants, added as
individual defendants certain shareholder defendants who were already members of the alleged
1 The Committee filed the First Amended Complaint in FitzSimons on December 7, 2010, the Second Amended Complaint November 1, 2011, and the Third Amended Complaint on January 11, 2012. The JPML transferred FitzSimons to this Court by order dated September 7, 2012, and the Committee filed a Fourth Amended Complaint on November 7, 2012 (which it corrected on November 8, 2012). The JPML transferred Citigroup to this Court by order dated August 3, 2012. The Citigroup complaint has not been amended since it first was filed on April 2, 2012.
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defendant class, and made ministerial changes, including by correcting the captioned names of
some defendants and fixing typographical errors.
The Litigation Trustee was appointed, and substituted as the plaintiff in FitzSimons and
Citigroup, by order of the Bankruptcy Court on December 31, 2012, after all four of the prior,
non-substantive FitzSimons amendments were prepared and filed by the Committee. The
Litigation Trustee now seeks leave to make the first substantive amendments of any kind to the
complaints in FitzSimons and Citigroup, including by alleging additional facts concerning the
LBO that were further explored and developed after the original complaints were filed by the
Committee, in connection with the discovery and hearing on confirmation of the Tribune plan of
reorganization.
MCO 3 expressly contemplates that the Litigation Trustee will be permitted to
substantively amend the complaints, and reserves for a later stage in these proceedings any
motions directed to the adequacy of the amended complaints. MCO 3 ¶ 31. Consistent with
MCO 3, Liaison Counsel for the Named Defendants has represented that the Named Defendants
do not oppose the Litigation Trustee’s motion to amend. Letter from John R. McCambridge to
the Court, May 22, 2013 (“McCambridge Ltr.”) [ECF No. 2539 on 11 MD 2296]. All of the
defendants in the Advisor Action are Named Defendants, and counsel for the defendants in the
Advisor Action have confirmed that the motion to amend the Citigroup complaint is unopposed.
Interim Liaison Counsel for the Exhibit A Shareholder Defendants has likewise indicated that
Liaison Counsel does not intend to submit an opposition to the motion to amend the FitzSimons
complaint, but left open the possibility that individual Exhibit A Shareholder Defendants may
decide on their own to oppose the Litigation Trustee’s motion. Letter from D. Ross Martin to the
Court, May 22, 2013 (“Martin Ltr.”) [ECF No. 2540 on 11 MD 2296].
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ARGUMENT
LEAVE TO AMEND SHOULD BE GRANTED
Leave to amend a pleading “shall be freely given when justice so requires.” Fed. R. Civ.
P. 15(a)(2); see also Richardson Greenshields Secs., Inc. v. Lau, 825 F.2d 647, 653 n.6 (2d Cir.
1987). “The purpose of Rule 15 is to provide maximum opportunity for each claim to be decided
on its merits rather than on procedural technicalities.” Slayton v. Am. Express Co., 460 F.3d 215,
228 (2d Cir. 2006) (internal quotations omitted). A motion to amend should be denied only for
such reasons as “undue delay, bad faith, futility of the amendment,” and “resulting prejudice to
the opposing party.” State Teachers Ret. Bd. v. Fluor Corp., 654 F.2d 843, 856 (2d Cir. 1981);
see also Schiller v. City of N.Y., No. 04 CV 7922, 2009 WL 497580, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 27,
2009) (Sullivan, J.). None of these factors is present here, and the motion accordingly should be
granted.
A. The Proposed Amendments Create No Prejudice to Defendants
Prejudice to the opposing party is “the most important factor” in determining whether
leave to amend should be granted or denied. Ruotolo v. City of N.Y., 514 F.3d 184, 191 (2d Cir.
2008) (citation omitted). “The party opposing the motion for leave to amend carries the burden
of demonstrating that it will be substantially prejudiced by the amendments.” State Farm Mut.
Auto. Ins. Co. v. CPT Med. Servs., P.C., 246 F.R.D. 143, 148 (E.D.N.Y. 2007); see also Taberna
Capital Mgmt., LLC v. Jaggi, No. 08 CV 11355, 2010 WL 1424002 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 9, 2010)
(same).
The defendants cannot carry their burden here. In determining whether amendments
would be prejudicial, courts in the Second Circuit “consider whether the assertion of the new
claim would: (i) require the opponent to expend significant additional resources to conduct
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discovery and prepare for trial; (ii) significantly delay the resolution of the dispute; or (iii)
prevent the plaintiff from bringing a timely action in another jurisdiction.” Block v. First Blood
Assocs., 988 F.2d 344, 350 (2d Cir. 1993). Prejudice will generally not be found unless the
motion to amend “comes on the eve of trial after many months or years of pre-trial activity,”
would “cause undue delay in the final disposition of the case” and “entails more than an alternate
claim or a change in the allegations of a complaint.” Care Envtl. Corp. v. M2 Techs. Inc., No.
05 CV 1600, 2006 WL 2265036, at *6 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 8, 2006) (internal quotations omitted).
The amendments proposed here, while extensive, are not prejudicial to any party. The
proposed amended complaints add factual detail regarding Tribune’s disastrous LBO, the same
transaction at issue in all prior iterations of the complaints. Among other things, the proposed
amended complaints include a number of charts and graphs to synthesize, simplify, and clarify
complex factual information, and enhance the existing allegations concerning the chronology of
events leading to the LBO, the roles played by certain defendants in connection with the
transaction, and the nature of the acts and omissions giving rise to the claims against the
defendants. See Asoma Corp. v. SK Shipping Co., 53 F. App’x 581 (2d Cir. 2002) (holding that
additional allegations concerning the transaction set forth in original pleading should generally
be allowed). Far from causing any prejudice, the amendments will benefit the parties and the
Court by helping to focus and clarify the issues for trial, and by providing even clearer notice to
the defendants concerning the claims asserted against them. See Kamerman v. Steinberg, 681
F. Supp. 206 (S.D.N.Y. 1988) (permitting amendments that will help focus issues for trial).2
2 In their letter to the Court, Liaison Counsel for the Shareholder Defendants noted that the proposed amendments represent a “significant revision” of the currently operative versions of the complaints. See Martin Ltr. at 1 & n.1. A blackline of the amendments against the current versions of the pleadings (which the Litigation Trustee will make available to the defendants on his website, along with this brief and redacted versions of the pleadings themselves) will show
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Indeed, the proposed Fifth Amended Complaint in FitzSimons actually narrows the issues
for trial. Among other things, the proposed amended complaint in FitzSimons (i) excludes from
the alleged class any Tribune shareholders who received less than $50,000 in connection with the
LBO, (ii) withdraws counts for breach of fiduciary duty against former Tribune officers
Thomas D. Leach, Luis E. Lewin, R. Mark Mallory, and Ruthellyn Musil and (iii) removes
causes of action under Bankruptcy Code Section 510(b) for mandatory subordination of claims
that Tribune directors and officers asserted in the Tribune bankruptcy proceedings. The Fifth
Amended Complaint also adds newly discovered defendants, corrects transfer amounts, improves
defendant naming style, and deletes defendants, including duplicate defendants.
Permitting the proposed amendments is particularly warranted given the preliminary
status of these proceedings. From a substantive point of view, the FitzSimons and Citigroup
actions have barely even begun: the parties have engaged in no merits discovery or motion
practice in the Actions, and trial is far in the future. Indeed, though originally filed in 2010, the
Actions were stayed immediately after they were commenced, and the only discovery allowed in
the Actions has been for purposes of identifying and locating potential defendants. See, e.g.,
MCO 3 ¶¶ 31, 36, 38, 41; see also State Farm, 246 F.R.D. at 149 (holding that proposed
amendments created no prejudice where “the only discovery that has been completed was
conducted in an effort to determine the proper parties to this action, and significant discovery on
the merits has yet to commence.”); AEP Energy Servs. Gas Holding Co. v. Bank of Am., 626
F.3d 699, 725–26 (2d Cir. 2010) (no prejudice where amendments will not require parties to
extensive changes, resulting in part from the reordering of counts but also from the inclusion of additional factual detail concerning relevant events and the roles played by the defendants in them. The relevant inquiry on a motion to amend under Rule 15(a)(2) is whether the proposed amendments are prejudicial, not whether they are extensive, see Block, 988 F.2d at 350, and Liaison Counsel’s letter does not argue that the motion should be denied on the basis of the extent of the revisions.
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expend “significant additional resources to conduct discovery and prepare for trial”) (internal
quotations omitted).
Neither can there be any risk of surprise arising from the proposed amendments. As
noted, MCO 3—which was negotiated among counsel for the plaintiffs and the defendants and
approved by Judge Pauley—provides that “pre-answer motions to dismiss, if any, . . . will not be
filed before the Litigation Trustee has replaced the Committee as the Plaintiff . . . and has either
amended the complaints . . . or informed the Court in writing that it does not intend to amend
such complaints.” MCO 3 ¶ 31 (emphasis added). No defendant could reasonably be surprised
or prejudiced by the fact that the Litigation Trustee now proposes to do exactly what the
operative case management order contemplated he would do.
MCO 3 also bars any opposition to the motion to amend that may be asserted based on
futility. The futility of an amendment is assessed under the standard for a Rule 12(b)(6) motion
to dismiss. Ricciuti v. N.Y.C. Transit Auth., 941 F.2d 119, 123 (2d Cir. 1991); see also Esposito
v. Deutsche Bank AG, No. 07 CV 6722, 2008 WL 5233590, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 16, 2008)
(Sullivan, J.) (same). Permitting a barrage of futility challenges from disparately situated
defendants in response to the Litigation Trustee’s motion would thus require the Court and
parties to engage in the same inquiry that the Court specifically reserved for a later stage in these
proceedings. See MCO 3 ¶ 31; see also McCambridge Ltr. at 1 (stating that Named Defendants
will not oppose the motion to amend, while reserving their rights to “move to dismiss . . . the
[amended] complaint at the appropriate time”). Motion practice based on futility arguments
would result in piecemeal litigation, which would be contrary to the interests of judicial
economy, and could result in multiple rounds of motion practice addressed to the same legal
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issues.3 Any such arguments should instead be preserved for coordinated motion practice in
Phase Two of these proceedings, consistent with the structure provided in MCO 3.
B. The Proposed Amendments Are Timely and Sought in Good Faith
Under MCO 3, the Litigation Trustee was not required to seek to amend the complaints
until, at the earliest, “the deadline set by the Court for filing motions to dismiss in Phase Two.”
MCO 3 ¶ 31. That deadline has not yet arrived—and indeed, has not yet been set—since one of
the Phase One motions to dismiss is still pending. Id. ¶ 12(vi) (providing that the deadline for
filing any Phase Two motions to dismiss—and hence the deadline for amendments by the
Litigation Trustee—will be determined in a future master case order “following the entry of
orders disposing of the Phase One Motions”). The motion to amend is thus timely under the
terms of MCO 3.
Even if the Court had not already expressly provided that the Litigation Trustee can seek
to amend up to the time of filing of the Phase Two motions, the proposed amendments would
still be timely. The Litigation Trustee was appointed, and succeeded the Committee as Plaintiff
in the Actions, on December 31, 2012. Before he could revise the complaints, the Litigation
Trustee was required to retain counsel, familiarize himself with an enormous amount of
information concerning the complex LBO transaction and the many persons and entities that are
defendants in the Actions, meet repeatedly and at length with representatives of the Committee,
review a substantial number of documents recently turned over to the Litigation Trustee by the
Committee and Tribune, consider the interplay between the facts and the law concerning dozens
of causes of action, decide what changes should be made to the complaints, and execute those
3 In addition, were futility challenges permitted at this stage, fairness would require permitting the Litigation Trustee to submit an extensive reply brief explaining why none of his claims is futile, an exercise that the Court has not at this juncture built into the briefing schedule.
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modifications. During the entire period from his appointment as Litigation Trustee to the filing
of this motion, the substantive stay of the Actions remained in place. Under the circumstances,
the Litigation Trustee acted with all appropriate speed and efficiency in seeking to amend the
complaints.4
In any event, the lapse of time between the filing of an original and an amended pleading
can never “provide a basis for a district court to deny the right to amend” unless the alleged delay
is accompanied by “bad faith or undue prejudice.” Block, 988 F.2d at 350 (internal citations and
quotations omitted); see also State Farm, 246 F.R.D. at 149 (no prejudice from amendment after
2½ years where “the case is nowhere near resolution” and “significant discovery on the merits
has yet to commence”). As described above, no prejudice will result from the filing, and there is
no basis for concluding that the Litigation Trustee acted in bad faith by filing a motion to amend
that was expressly anticipated by the Court and parties.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Litigation Trustee respectfully requests that the Court enter
an order granting the motion to amend, and granting such other and further relief as the Court
may deem just and proper.
4 The factual detail added to the proposed amended complaints was largely developed in the bankruptcy proceedings that followed the filing of the original complaints, and was thus unavailable to the Committee at that time. See Xpressions Footwear Corp. v. Peters, No. 94 Civ. 6136, 1995 WL 758761, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 22, 1995) (“[F]ederal courts consistently grant motions to amend where it appears that new facts and allegations were developed during discovery, are closely related to the original claim, and are foreshadowed in earlier pleadings.”).Since this is the first opportunity for substantive amendments to the complaints, that level of additional detail could not have been added at an earlier stage in the proceedings without modification of then-operative court orders.
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Marital Trust No. 2, Dorothy B. Chandler Residuary Trust No. 2, HOC Trust No. 2 FBO Scott Haskins, HOC Trust No. 2 FBO John Haskins, HOC Trust No. 2 FBO Eliza Haskins, HOC GST Exempt Trust No. 2. FBO Scott Haskins, HOC GST Exempt Trust No. 2. FBO John Haskins, HOC GST Exempt Trust No. 2. FBO Eliza Haskins, Alberta W. Chandler Marital Trust No. 2, Earl E. Crowe Trust No. 2, Patricia Crowe Warren Residuary Trust No. 2, Helen Garland Trust No. 2 (For Gwendolyn Garland Babcock), Helen Garland Trust No. 2 (For William M. Garland III), Helen Garland Trust No. 2 (For Hillary Duque Garland), Garland Foundation Trust No. 2, Marian Otis Chandler Trust No. 2, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Cantigny Foundation, Automobile Mechanics’ Local No. 701 Union and Industry Pension Fund a/k/a Automobile Mechanics Local 701 LCV, Frank W. Denius, The DFA Investment Trust Company, GDK Inc., Hussman Strategic Growth Fund, Edwin R Labuz IRA, Ameriprise Trust Company f/k/a H&R Block Financial Advisors, Custodian, Denise Meck, Nationwide S&P 500 Index Fund, a Series of Nationwide Mutual Funds, New York State Teachers Retirement System, Dorothy C. Patterson Irrevocable Trust #2 U/A/D 12-21-93, The Northern Trust Company, as Successor Trustee, Blandina Rojek, VTrader Pro, LLC, and those defendants with respect to which “Akin” is identified as “LT Counsel” in Exhibit A to the proposed Fifth Amended FitzSimonsComplaint
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