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S.E.C. v. BILZERIAN
729 F.Supp.2d 9 (2010)
United States District Court, District of Columbia.
November 1, 2010.
A. Legal Standard Under Rule 59(e) Rule 59(e) allows a district court to correct its own mistakes in the period immediately following the entry of a mistaken order. White v. N.H. Dep't of Empl't Sec., 455 U.S. 445, 450, 102 S.Ct. 1162, 71 L.Ed.2d 325 (1982). Though a court has considerable discretion in granting Rule 59(e) motions, it only needs to do so when it finds that there has been an intervening change of controlling law, that new evidence is available, or that granting the motion is necessary to correct a clear error or to prevent a manifest injustice. Firestone v. Firestone, 76 F.3d 1205, 1208 (D.C.Cir.1996) (per curiam). Moreover,
"[a] Rule 59(e) motion to reconsider is [neither] ... an opportunity to reargue facts and theories upon which a court has already ruled," New York v. United States, 880 F.Supp. 37, 38 (D.D.C.1995), nor a vehicle for presenting theories or arguments that could have been advanced earlier. Kattan v. District of Columbia, 995 F.2d 274, 276 (D.C.Cir.1993); W.C. & A.N. Miller Cos. v. United States, 173 F.R.D. 1, 3 (D.D.C.1997). B. Legal Standard Under Rule 60(b) In its discretion, a court may relieve a party from an otherwise final order for any one of the following six reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence that, with reasonable diligence, could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud (whether previously called intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or misconduct by an opposing party;
1. This Court, on August 12, 2009, ordered that any portion of the Court's May 11, 2009, order that purported to hold Hammer in civil contempt for his participation in Caligula be vacated. Order 2, August 12, 2009, ECF No. 986. The Court went on to clarify that the order does not require Hammer to withdraw from representing Caligula Corporation. Id. Additionally, the Court ordered that the portion of its May 11, 2009, order that held Hammer liable for attorneys' fees of the National Gold Exchange movants in bringing a motion for an order to show cause be vacated. Id. Finally, the Court ordered that in the third and fifth paragraphs of its May 11, 2009, order, "Bilzerian's miscellaneous action against Ernest B. Haire, Case No. 08-mc-212 in the Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida" be replaced with: "Bilzerian's miscellaneous action against Ernest B. Haire, Case No. 08-mc-102 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida." Id. The Court's May 11, 2009, order remains unmodified in all other respects. Id. at 3.
2. Hammer also requests that the Court analyze his first motion to vacate under Rule 59(a), but that rule provides for new trials and, as such, is inapplicable here. Fed. R.Civ.P. 59(a).
3. Hammer presents variations of this argument intermittently and in multiple forms in his First Motion to Vacate. At one point, he cites a D.C. Circuit opinion for the proposition that "[w]here, as here, a court's ruling has discretionary elements based on circumstances which are subject to alteration, the law recognizes the power and responsibility of the court to reconsider its ruling if a material change in circumstances has in fact occurred." See First Mot. to Vacate 6, August 9, 2010, ECF No. 1099 (citing Hodgson v. United Mine Workers of Am., 473 F.2d 118, 125 (D.C.Cir.1972)). The problem is that there has been no such material change in circumstances here. The Court based its Contempt Orders on Hammer's blatant violation of its 2001 Order. As discussed above, although Hammer was right to withdraw from the Steffen and Puma lawsuits—as the 2010 Order required him to—that action does not and cannot bring him into compliance with the 2001 Order. The moment he began pursuing the lawsuits he was in out-and-out violation of the 2001 Order, and contempt was appropriate. No circumstances have since changed that merit vacation of the Court's Contempt Order.
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