Free Motion for Leave to File Excess Pages - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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LAW OFFICES One Arizona Center, 400 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 (602) 382-6000

Dan W. Goldfine (#018788) Adam Lang (#022545) SNELL & WILMER L.L.P. One Arizona Center 400 East Van Buren Street Phoenix, AZ 85004-2202 Telephone: (602) 382-6000 Facsimile: (602) 382-6070 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Counterdefendants and Third Party Defendants Steve Hilton and John Landon and Grant Woods, Esq. (#006106) GRANT WOODS, P.C. 1726 North Seventh Street Phoenix, Arizona 85006 Telephone: (602) 258-2599 Facsimile: (602) 258-5070 [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Counterdefendants and Third Party Defendants Steve Hilton and John Landon IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Meritage Homes Corporation, a Maryland Corporation, formerly d/b/a Meritage Corporation, Case No. CV-04-0384-PHX-ROS Hancock-MTH Builders, Inc., an Arizona corporation, Hancock-MTH Communities, Inc., an MOTION TO EXCEED PAGE Arizona corporation, and currently d/b/a Meritage LIMITS IN THE MOTION TO Homes Construction, Inc., an Arizona corporation, DISMISS RICK AND BRENDA and Meritage Homes of Arizona, Inc., an Arizona HANCOCK'S COUNTER-CLAIMS corporation, AND THIRD-PARTY CLAIMS Plaintiffs, v. Ricky Lee Hancock and Brenda Hancock, husband and wife; Gregory S. Hancock and Linda Hancock, husband and wife, Rick Hancock Homes L.L.C., an Arizona limited liability company; RLH Development, L.L.C., an Arizona limited liability company; and J2H2, L.L.C., an Arizona limited liability company, Defendants. (Assigned to the Honorable Roslyn O. Silver)

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Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 362

Filed 09/28/2006

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LAW OFFICES One Arizona Center, 400 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 (602) 382-6000

Rick and Brenda Hancock, Defendants, Counter-Claimants, and Third Party Plaintiffs, v. Meritage Homes Corporation, a Maryland Corporation, formerly d/b/a Meritage Corporation, Hancock-MTH Builders, Inc., an Arizona Corporation, Hancock-MTH Communities, Inc., an Arizona Corporation; and currently d/b/a Meritage Homes Construction, Inc., an Arizona Corporation, and Meritage Homes of Arizona, Inc., an Arizona Corporation; Steven J. Hilton and Suzanne Hilton, husband and wife; John R. Landon and Debi Landon, husband and wife; Scott Keeffe and Vicky Keeffe, husband and wife; Roger Zetah and Jane Doe Zetah, husband and wife; and James Arneson and Zane Arneson, husband and wife, Third Party Defendants. Plaintiffs and third-party defendants move this Court for permission to file their Motion to Dismiss Rick and Brenda Hancock's (the "Hancocks") Counter-Claims and Third-Party Claims, (the "Motion"), in a number of pages exceeding the presumptive limit of seventeen (17) pages pursuant to LRCiv. 7.2(e). Under Rule 7.2(e), "[u]nless otherwise permitted by the Court, a motion including its supporting memorandum . . . shall not exceed seventeen (17) pages, exclusive of attachments and any required statement of facts." Plaintiffs and third-party defendants respectfully request leave to file their Motion in a length not exceeding 23 pages despite the rule's presumptive 17-page limit. This lawsuit has been ongoing for more than two years. Now suddenly, after substantial written discovery has been conducted and a multitude of witnesses been deposed, the Hancocks have filed a prolix and often internally inconsistent sixteen-page counterclaim and third-party complaint, containing 142 paragraphs of allegations, nine separate causes of action, against 4 separate entities and 10 separate individuals (several of which are being added to the lawsuit for the first time). Significantly, the Hancocks incorporated into their allegations four separate exhibits incorporating two separate
Document 362- 2 - Filed 09/28/2006

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Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

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LAW OFFICES One Arizona Center, 400 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 (602) 382-6000

agreements and an employment policy. See, e.g., Branch v. Tunnell, 14 F.3d 449, 45354 (9th Cir. 1994) (all documents attached to or refer to by the claimant are considered allegations for purposes of a motion to dismiss), rev'd on other grounds by Galbraith v. County of Santa Clara, 307 F.3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2002); ALA, Inc. v. CCAIR, Inc., 29 F.3d 855, 859 n.8 (3rd Cir. 1994) (in the event of a conflict between an incorporated document and the Complaint, the content of the document controls over the allegations). Due to the lengthy claims brought by Rick Hancock, plaintiffs and third-party defendants will require more than the presumptive number of pages to fully and fairly argue their Motion. Plaintiffs and third-party defendants have done everything they can to present a succinct and clear Motion. Accordingly, plaintiffs and third-party defendants respectfully request that the Court allow them to file their opposition to the Motion in a number of pages not to exceed 24 in length. DATED this 28th day of September, 2006. SNELL & WILMER L.L.P.

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Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

By s/ Dan W. Goldfine Dan W. Goldfine Adam Lang One Arizona Center Phoenix, AZ 85004-2202 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Third Party Defendants and

By s/ Grant Woods Grant Woods GRANT WOODS, P.C. 1726 North Seventh Street Phoenix, AZ 85006 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Third Party Defendants CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on September 28, 2006, I electronically transmitted the

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 362- 3 - Filed 09/28/2006

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LAW OFFICES One Arizona Center, 400 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 (602) 382-6000

foregoing document to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: Ivan K. Mathew Mathew & Mathew, P.C. 1850 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1910 Phoenix, Arizona 85004 Attorneys for Defendant Rick Hancock Robert M. Frisbee Frisbee & Bostock, PLC 1747 East Morton Avenue Suite 108 Phoenix AZ 85020 Attorneys for Defendant Greg Hancock Mark I. Harrison Sarah Porter Osborn Maledon, P.A. 2929 North Central Avenue Suite 2100 Phoenix, Arizona 85012-2794 Attorneys for Defendant Greg and Linda Hancock and Counsel of Record Robert Frisbee Kenneth J. Sherk Timothy J. Burke Fennemore Craig, P.C. 3003 N. Central Ave. Suite 2600 Phoenix, AZ 85012-2913 Attorneys for Defendant Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P. in State Court Action s/ Dan W. Goldfine
1893677.1

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Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 362- 4 - Filed 09/28/2006

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