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- flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de60 RegisterActionDate "2017-09-03" @default.
- flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de60 RegisterActionDescriptionText "PAPERLESS ORDER. THIS CAUSE came before the Court upon Defendants' 32 Motion to Stay Proceedings Pending Disposition of Concurrent State Court Action. Defendants ask that the Court stay this action pending the outcome of a related state court action. In the state court action, Defendant Selective Healthcare, LLC filed a complaint on February 27, 2017, in Broward County Circuit Court against 93C6DF6, 720B816, DB1853D, C4EF34F, 1034B63, F7E6B9B, 6252DCE, and others, seeking temporary and permanent injunctive relief for an alleged breach of contract. See Motion at 2. Selective Healthcare alleges in that complaint that these individuals violated a restrictive covenant between the parties by working for a direct competitor within a prescribed geographical region and soliciting Selective Healthcare's clients and employees. Id. In the state court defendants' answer to the complaint, the defendants asserted as an affirmative defense that Selective Healthcare violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Id. Under the Colorado River Abstention Doctrine, a court may, under certain circumstances, stay an action pending the resolution of a parallel state court action. See generally Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800 (1976). Whether the two actions are parallel proceedings is a threshold matter; the federal and state court proceedings must involve substantially the same parties and issues. See Ambrosia Coal & Constr. Co. v. Morales, 368 F.3d 1320, 1330 (11th Cir. 2004). If the court determines the actions to be parallel proceedings, it then weighs the following eight factors to determine if abstention is appropriate: (1) whether one of the courts has assumed jurisdiction over property, (2) the inconvenience of the federal forum, (3) the potential for piecemeal litigation, (4) the order in which the courts obtained jurisdiction, (5) whether state or federal law applies, (6) the adequacy of the state court to protect the parties' rights, (7) the vexatious or reactive nature of either the federal or the state litigation, and (8) whether the concurrent cases involve a federal statute that evinces a policy favoring abstention. Id. at 1331. Here, the Court agrees with Plaintiffs that the instant action and the state court action are not parallel proceedings. While there is overlap between the parties and issues, there are significant differences. See I.A. Durbin, Inc. v. Jefferson Nat. Bank, 793 F.2d 1541, 1552 (11th Cir. 1986) ("[T]he general rule is that a suit is duplicative of another suit if the parties, issue and available relief do not significantly differ between the two actions."). Most notably, the central issue in the state action is whether the individual defendants violated a non-compete agreement. Furthermore, in the state court action Selective Healthcare seeks injunctive relief--not money damages, as Plaintiffs' do in this action. As this action and the state action are not parallel proceedings, the Court need not consider the eight abstention factors.Accordingly, UPON CONSIDERATION of the Motion 32 , the pertinent portions of the record, and being otherwise fully advised in the premises, it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Defendants' Motion to Stay is DENIED. It is further ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Defendants' Motion for Reconsideration 45 of the Court's Order Reopening the Case 39 and of the Court's Order Granting Plaintiffs' Motion for Enlargement of Time 43 is DENIED. Signed by Chief Judge K. Michael Moore on 9/3/2017. (aby) (Entered: 09/03/2017)" @default.
- flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de60 AdministrativeID "61" @default.
- flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de60 hasJudgeReference SJ003730 @default.
- flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de60 hasReferenceToOtherEntry flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de31 @default.
- flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de60 hasReferenceToOtherEntry flsd;;0:17-cv-60853_de44 @default.