Newgen, LLC v. Safe Cig, LLC

ORDER

The opinion filed on September 7, 2016, and appearing at 2016 WL 4651406 , is hereby amended. An amended opinion is filed concurrently with this order.

With these amendments, the panel has voted to deny the petition for panel rehearing. Judges McKeown and Ikuta have voted to deny the petition for rehearing en banc. Judge Pratt recommends denial of the petition for rehearing en banc.

The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc, and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. Fed. R. App. P. 35.

The petition for panel rehearing and the petition for rehearing en banc are DENIED. No further petitions for en banc or panel rehearing shall be permitted.

OPINION

This case is a procedural tangle complicated by the parties and their counsel and serves as a reminder that subject matter jurisdiction must exist at the outset of a suit, although it may be achieved through amended pleadings. Safe Cig, LLC challenges an almost $1.5 million default judgment awarded in NewGen, LLC’s favor as void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Although we are sympathetic to a party that finds itself facing a large default judgment, here the…