Opinion ID: 205620
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: pleadings and district court proceedings

Text: Mr. Shrader brought this tort action pro se, asserting claims for defamation, false-light invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy against three groups of defendants: (1) the Stewart defendants (William Bradstreet Stewart and his companies Sacred Science Institute and Institute of Cosmological Economics, Inc.); (2) the Beann defendants (Earik Beann and his company Wave59 Technologies International (Wave59)); and (3) defendant Al Biddinger. None of the defendants resides in Oklahoma, where the case was filed. Mr. Shrader lives and works in Oklahoma, where he produces books and courses for market traders. Mr. Stewart partnered with him for a time, editing, publishing, and selling Mr. Shrader's materials through his internet-based companies. The two ceased doing business together after Mr. Stewart voiced concerns over the usefulness and originality of Mr. Shrader's most recent work. All of Mr. Shrader's tort claims derive from an email drafted by Mr. Stewart briefly explaining why the two parted ways. Mr. Shrader alleges that the email was defamatory and was intended to ruin his professional reputation. Mr. Stewart sent the email to a list of his customers. Mr. Biddinger then expanded its audience by posting it to a traders' forum on the Wave59 web site in response to an inquiry about Mr. Shrader's materials. Finally, the email remained accessible on the forum for some time as a result of the Beann defendants' failure to promptly remove it. After most of the defendants (all save Wave59) had sought dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction, Mr. Shrader moved to amend his complaint for a second time. The district court denied leave to amend on alternative grounds. First, the court noted Mr. Shrader's procedural noncompliance in failing to confer with opposing counsel to determine whether the motion would be contested. Second, the court concluded that further amendment of the complaint would be immaterial in that Mr. Shrader's response to the defendants' pending motions to dismiss would show whether he could re-frame his pleadings so as to forestall dismissal. If so, amendment could then be permitted; if not, amendment would be futile. Several weeks later, the district court entered three separate orders that granted the pending motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, and Mr. Shrader filed his first notice of appeal (Appeal No. 10-7004). The appeal was premature, however, as the claims against Wave59 remained pending. Shortly thereafter, Wave59 moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, and the court granted its motion as well. Mr. Shrader sought reconsideration through a Motion for Objection of Motions to Dismiss, attaching some additional exhibits relating to the issue of personal jurisdiction. The court admitted the exhibits, but otherwise denied the motion. Mr. Shrader then filed his second notice of appeal (Appeal No. 10-7015), citing all of the dismissal orders, the order denying his motion to amend, and the order denying reconsideration. [1] This second, timely appeal subsumed all of the matters included in the first appeal. Thus, although the prematurity of the first appeal was cured by the later final disposition of the case, see, e.g., B. Willis, C.P.A., Inc. v. BNSF Ry. Corp., 531 F.3d 1282, 1295 (10th Cir.2008), we nevertheless dismiss the first appeal as redundant, see, e.g., Hutchinson v. Pfeil, 208 F.3d 1180, 1183 n. 5 (10th Cir.2000). [2]