Opinion ID: 202048
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Motion for Partial Reconsideration and for Jurisdictional Discovery

Text: 108 Plaintiffs also claim error in the district court's summary denial of their motion for partial reconsideration of its dismissal of HG Limited for lack of personal jurisdiction. With the exception of allegations based on Platten Affidavit III, which was not admitted into the record, their motion for reconsideration merely reiterated the allegations and arguments advanced in their reply to the Offshore Defendants' dismissal motion. There was no abuse of discretion in the district court's declining to reconsider its previous ruling. See Servants of the Paraclete v. Does, 204 F.3d 1005, 1012 (1st Cir.2000) (holding that a motion for reconsideration is appropriate where the court has misapprehended the facts, a party's position, or the controlling law, but is not appropriate as a vehicle[] to reargue an issue previously addressed by the court when the motion merely advances new arguments[] or supporting facts which were available at the time of the original motion). 109 This leaves plaintiffs' final objection, which is to the district court's summary denial of their motion to defer ruling on the Rule 12(b)(2) issue pending jurisdictional discovery, which they requested as an alternative to their motion for partial reconsideration. Because [t]rial management is peculiarly within the ken of the district court, United States v. Saccoccia, 58 F.3d 754, 770 (1st Cir.1995), we review only for abuse of discretion, and find none here. 110 [A] diligent plaintiff who sues an out-of-state corporation and who makes out a colorable case for the existence of in personam jurisdiction may well be entitled to a modicum of jurisdictional discovery if the corporation interposes a jurisdictional defense. Sunview Condo. Ass'n v. Flexel Int'l, 116 F.3d 962, 964 (1st Cir.1997). However, the availability of jurisdictional discovery is subject to the district court's discretion. See id.; accord United States v. Swiss Am. Bank, Ltd., 274 F.3d 610, 625-26 (1st Cir.2001). 111 If a party needs jurisdictional discovery, that party has an obligation to request it in a timely manner. Barrett v. Lombardi, 239 F.3d 23, 28 (1st Cir.2001). Plaintiffs had ample opportunity to request jurisdictional discovery in the full year between when they filed their initial complaint in state court and when the district court ruled on the Offshore Defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Yet, plaintiffs made no attempt to do so until after the district court ruled in defendants' favor. That alone suffices to justify the district court's rejection of their motion. See id. at 28-29 (finding no abuse of discretion in the district court's denial of discovery when defendant did not seek discovery at any time prior to the entry of an adverse judgment).