2008 Decisions

Opinions of the United

States Court of Appeals

for the Third Circuit

2-20-2008

Williams v. Amerisuites

Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential

Docket No. 07-3359

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Recommended Citation

"Williams v. Amerisuites" (2008). 2008 Decisions. Paper 1568.

http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/thirdcircuit_2008/1568
 Honorable Louis H. Pollak, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the *

Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

No. 07-3359

TERRY WILLIAMS; RAYMOND WILLIAMS, husband and wife,

Appellants

v.

AMERISUITES; HYATT CORPORATION; GLOBAL HYATT CORPORATION,

On Appeal of a Decision of the United States District Court 

for the District of New Jersey (No. 07-cv-02755)

District Judge: Robert B. Kugler

Submitted under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)

February 1, 2008

Before: RENDELL and CHAGARES, Circuit Judges,

and POLLAK, District Judge.

*

(Filed: February 20, 2008 )

OPINION

POLLAK, District Judge
2

On June 13, 2007, plaintiff-appellants Terry and Raymond Williams instituted this

action by filing a complaint against Amerisuites, Hyatt Corporation, and Global Hyatt

Corporation. On its own motion, the District Court dismissed the complaint without

prejudice because the complaint asserted jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 but did not

properly allege the citizenship of each party. The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint

on June 29, 2007, that corrected some of the omissions, but still failed properly to allege

the citizenship of Raymond Williams. Accordingly, the District Court dismissed the

amended complaint on July 5, 2007. On July 18, 2007, the plaintiffs filed a motion to

reinstate the complaint and for leave to file a second amended complaint. The District

Court construed this motion as one for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil

Procedure 60(b), or, alternatively, for reconsideration under District of New Jersey Local

Civil Rule 7.1(i), and denied the motion because the plaintiffs had not advanced any

cause for relief cognizable under either rule.

In its decision, the District Court noted that the plaintiffs filed a bare motion

without any accompanying statement of why the motion should be granted. This was

unwise, because arguments are only preserved for appeal if they are first made to the

District Court. See, e.g., DIRECTV, Inc. v. Seijas, 508 F.3d 123, 125 n.1 (3d Cir. 2007). 

In choosing not to make any arguments to the District Court, the plaintiffs failed to

preserve any arguments for appeal. Moreover, whether the plaintiffs’ motion is construed

as one to reconsider, alter, or grant relief from an otherwise final judgment, the plaintiffs,
3

as the moving parties, bore the burden of demonstrating their entitlement to relief. 

Because the plaintiffs failed to advance any reason for disturbing the judgment, we cannot

fault the District Court for declining to do so. 

* * * * *

For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s order denying the

plaintiffs’ motion to reinstate the complaint and to file a second amended complaint.