BROCKSOPP ENGINEERING, INC., Plaintiff, v. BACH-SIMPSON LTD., Bach-Simpson Inc., Katy Industries, Inc., and William Murphy, Defendants, 136 F.R.D. 485

Summary

An engineering firm brought an action against three corporations and one individual. A few weeks later, the case was removed to federal court. Following removal, the three corporations and the individual jointly filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b); however, one of the corporations only joined the motion with respect to five of the seven counts in the complaint. The engineering firm subsequently obtained a clerk's certificate of a default judgment against the one corporation with respect to the two counts not included in its motion to dismiss. The corporation then filed a motion to vacate the clerk's certificate, or alternatively, to expand the time in which it may answer the complaint. The court ruled that a partial R. 12(b) motion to dismiss enlarges the time to file an answer. Accordingly, the court vacated the clerk's certificate and held that the corporation had 10 days after the court's ruling on the motion to dismiss in order to file an answer.