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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT 

COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT

OF TEXAS FORT WORTH DIVISION

EUGENIO VARGAS, 

Plaintiff/Counterclaim

Defendant,

v.

ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL 

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, et al., 

Defendants/Counterclaim

Plaintiff.

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Civil Action No. 4:22-cv-430-Y 

Judge Terry R. Means

PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO EXTEND DEADLINES TO AMEND AND JOINDER TO 

ADD ADDITIONAL PARTIES

TO THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE:

COMES NOW, Plaintiff, Eugenio Vargas (hereinafter sometimes either 

"Vargas" or "Plaintiff”), and asks the Court to extend time for Plaintiff to file 

Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint and in support thereof would respectfully state 

to the Court as follows:

Introduction

1. The Plaintiff is Eugenio Vargas, former National Vice-President of the 

Association of Professional Flight Attendants, and member in good 

standing. The Defendants are the Association of Professional Flight 

Attendants ("APFA"), Julie Hedrick ("Hedrick"), and Erik Harris 

(“Harris”) (hereinafter all defendants collectively referred to as 

"Defendants").

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2. Plaintiff filed its Original Complaint against Defendants on May 17, 

2022. [Doc. 1].. Defendants filed an Answer and Original 

Counterclaim against Plaintiff on June 13, 2022. [Doc. 11].

3. Plaintiff’s sought leave of Court to file his First Amended Complaint, 

which was granted by the court on February 22,2022. [Doc. 72]

4. Defendants were granted leave to file an Answer and Counterclaim in 

response to Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint on or about March 8, 

2023. [Doc. 76).

5. On February 22, 2023, the Plaintiff filed a Motion for Leave to File 

their Amended Complaint to include additional parties and 

additional claims. [Doc. 72].

6. The deadline to amend pleadings was July 31, 2023 for Plaintiff and 

August 31, 2023 for Defendants. [Doc. 74].

7. The deadline for joinder of additional parties is April 7, 2023. [Doc. 74].

8. On September 1, 2023, Defendants served very limited responsive documents 

to Plaintiff’s Requests for Production served on Defendants. 

9. As a result of the Defendants’ discovery responses served on September 

1, 2023, Plaintiff seeks leave to amend his first Amended Original

Complaint to join additional parties involved in Defendants misconduct 

and based on the discovery responses obtained after the pleadings 

deadline had passed. A copy of Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint

for which Plaintiff seeks leave to file is attached hereto and incorporated 

herein as Exhibit "A."

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Argument

10. Pursuant to Ru1e 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party 

may amend its pleading with either the opposing party's written consent 

or the Court's leave. Fed. R. Civil. Proc. l 5(a)(2). The Court should freely 

give leave when justice so requires. Id.

11. If a party discovers evidence needed to prove its new claim after the 

scheduling order's amendment deadline, it may still amend its pleadings.

See Haddock v. Nationwide Fin. Servs., 514 F.Supp.2d 267,271 (D.Conn. 

2007). Good cause exists to modify a scheduling order when a party 

uncovers facts during discovery that support an additional claim or 

parties. See Forstmann v. Culp, 114 F.R.D. 83, 86 n.1 (M.D.N.C. 1987). 

12. Under Rule 6(b) the court may extend the time specified for a particular 

act that must be done for good cause upon request by a party before the 

deadline expires, or upon motion after the time has expired. (Fed. R. Civil. 

Proc. 6(b)).

13. During the course of discovery in this matter, Plaintiff uncovered facts 

that support an additional claim for fraud against two additional 

Defendants. 

14. Josh Black, APFA National Secretary, and Larry Salas, APFA National 

Vice-President received a copy of the Confidential Memorandum

delivered via email by APFA National Treasurer Erik Harris on October 

22, 2020, which states that 

”Please note the Bob Ross confidential transition agreement states that he will 

be paid all of his accrued and unused sick, and accrued and unused vacation 

time. This agreement doesn't specify that the payments be made in accordance 

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with the policy manual guidelines. Consequently, these payments appear 

appropriate and in compliance with the transition agreement.” 

15. On September 1, 2023, Plaintiff received 99 pages of heavily redacted

discovery responses, which included an email communication between 

the National Officers, inside and outside counsel dated October 22, 2020

that transmitted the Confidential Memo from Woods, Stephens, and 

O’Neil, LLP. 

16. The production of this email during the discovery process brings rise to 

additional claims that Plaintiff now wishes to assert against additional 

parties. The testimony establishes that Josh Black, National Secretary, 

and Larry Salas, National Vice-President received notice that the debt 

claims were not valid and Ross was paid correctly. 

17. The new evidence supports Plaintiff’s new causes of action against 

new parties for breach of fiduciary duty, common law fraud and 

defamation. [Appendix 1-14]. 

Conclusion

18. Based on the above, Plaintiff seeks leave for this Court to extend 

the deadlines for amendment, joinder, discovery and dispositive 

motion to that Plaintiff has time to conduct adequate discovery and 

depositions, as well as it seeks leave to file Plaintiff’s Second 

Amended Complaint as it is appropriate and necessary.

Prayer

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WHEREFORE, for these reasons, Plaintiff, Eugenio Vargas, respectfully asks the 

Court to enter an order granting an extension of the deadlines to amend and for 

joinder and grant him leave to file Plaintiff’s Second Amended Complaint, and for

such other and further relief, at law or in equity, to which Plaintiff, Eugenio Vargas, 

may show himself to be justly entitled.

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

By: /s/ Kerri Phillips 

Kerri Phillips, Esq.

Texas Bar No. 24065906

Phone: (972) 327-5800 

Email: kerri@kdphillipslaw.com

KD PHILLIPS LAW FIRM, PLLC

6010 West Spring Creek Parkway

Plano, Texas 75024

Fax: (940) 400-0089 

For Service of Filings: 

notice@kdphillipslaw.com

 

ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF

CERTIFICATE OF CONFERENCE

I hereby certify that, in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(2)(B) and 

Local Rule 7.1(D), counsel for Plaintiff has in good faith conferred or attempted to 

confer with counsel for Defendants with regard to the foregoing Motion to Extend 

Time to File Second Amended Complaint without court action, and counsel for 

Defendants is not in agreement about the disposition of the above Motion to Extend 

Time to File Second Amended Complaint.

By: /s/ Kerri Phillips 

Kerri Phillips, Esq.

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

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I certify that on this 27th day of September 2023, a true and correct copy of the foregoing 

document was served on the below listed counsel of record for Defendants/Counterclaim Plaintiff’s 

by a means permitted by Rule 5(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“F.R.C.P.”).

By: /s/ Kerri Phillips 

Kerri Phillips, Esq.

Jeffrey Bartos 

Guerrieri, Bartos, & Roma, P.C. 

1900 M Street, NW, Suite 700 

Washington, DC 20036 

Tel: (202) 624-7400; Fax: (202) 624-7420 

Email: jbartos@geclaw.com

Charlette Matts

In-House Counsel for APFA 

1004 West Euless Blvd 

Euless, TX 76040 

Tel: (682) 301-8454 

Cmatts@apfa.org

James Sanford 

4803 Gaston Avenue 

Dallas, TX 75249-1020 

Tel: (214) 800-5111; Fax: (214) 838-

0001 

Email jim@gillespiesanford.com

Email: joe@gillespiesanford.com

Michael Rake

PO Box 1556 

Lake Dallas, TX 75065-1556 

Tel: (940) 498-2103 Fax: (940) 498-2103 

Email: mrake1@mrakeattorney.com

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