Opinion
Defendant, which had been granted summary judgment in its favor, moved for an order directing immediate entry of final judgment in its favor. The District Court, Whitman Knapp, J., held that even though it may be inconvenient to defendant and counsel, mere postponement of plaintiff's appeal until remaining claims had been adjudicated presents no danger of prejudice, hardship or injustice to any party, and thus defendant was not entitled to order directing immediate entry of final judgment in its favor.
Ordered accordingly.
Randall B. Chapnick, Rock & Rock, New York City, for plaintiffs.
David Storper, New York City, for defendant AIT Forwarding Co.
Myron Vogel, Kanter, Haber & Vogel, Plainview, N.Y., for all other defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
WHITMAN KNAPP, District Judge.
On November 18, 1981 we granted summary judgment in favor of defendant AIT Forwarding Co. (AIT). This defendant now moves for an order directing the immediate entry of final judgment in its favor pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b).
AIT refers us to Schwartz v. Compagnie General Transatlantique (2d Cir. 1968) 405 F.2d 270 for the proposition that a 54(b) certificate should issue where dismissal of a claim entirely eliminates one of the parties from the case-the procedural posture here. This would limit the application of the oft-repeated admonitions about the issuance of 54(b) certificates to those cases where partial judgment disposes only of some claims. Schwartz cannot be so read: there the Court merely found that it was not an abuse of discretion for the trial court to issue a 54(b) certificate where one of the parties had been completely eliminated from the action; it surely does not compel the entry of immediate judgment in every such case. Schwartz, supra, 405 F.2d at 274-75.
Accordingly, and in the exercise of the Court's discretion, Sears Roebuck & Co. v. Mackey (1956) 351 U.S. 427, 437, 76 S.Ct. 895, 900, 100 L.Ed. 1297; Brunswick Corp., supra, 582 F.2d at 183, we deny defendant AIT's motion pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b) for the entry of immediate judgment.
SO ORDERED.