Rupa Marya v. Warner Chappell Music Inc

Filing 294

STATUS REPORT Joint Status Report Pursuant to December 8, 2015 Order (Dkt. 290) filed by Plaintiffs Good Morning to You Productions Corp, Majar Productions LLC, Rupa Marya, Robert Siegel. (Manifold, Betsy)

Download PDF
1 FRANCIS M. GREGOREK (144785) gregorek@whafh.com 2 BETSY C. MANIFOLD (182450) manifold@whafh.com 3 RACHELE R. RICKERT (190634) rickert@whafh.com 4 MARISA C. LIVESAY (223247) livesay@whafh.com 5 WOLF HALDENSTEIN ADLER FREEMAN & HERZ LLP 6 750 B Street, Suite 2770 San Diego, CA 92101 7 Telephone: 619/239-4599 Facsimile: 619/234-4599 8 9 Interim Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs and the [Proposed] Class 10 [Additional Counsel Listed on Signature Page] 11 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA - 14 WESTERN DIVISION 15 16 GOOD MORNING TO YOU 17 PRODUCTIONS CORP., et al., 18 Plaintiffs, 19 20 v. 21 WARNER/CHAPPELL MUSIC, 22 INC., et al. 23 24 25 26 27 28 Defendants. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Lead Case No. CV 13-04460-GHK (MRWx) JOINT STATUS REPORT PURSUANT TO DECEMBER 8, 2015 ORDER (DKT. 290) Room: Judge: 650 Hon. George H. King, Chief Judge 1 Pursuant to the Court’s December 9, 2015 Order, Plaintiffs, Defendants and 2 Intervenors (collectively, “Parties”) submit this Joint Status Report “setting forth 3 the Parties’ proposed steps, and timing of those steps, to effectuate the settlement.” 4 Dkt. 290. As set forth herein, the Parties respectfully request a stay of all 5 proceedings pending these steps to effectuate the settlement. The Parties therefore 6 briefly summarize the history and current status of the litigation, including 7 reference to prior stays. 8 Prior Stay During Phase One of Litigation The Court’s October 16, 2013 Order re: Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the 9 10 then-operative complaint (Dkt. 52) granted in part and denied in part Defendants’ 11 motion. See Dkt. 71. The October 16, 2013 Order bifurcated Claim One from all 12 other claims through Summary Judgment as Phase One and stayed all other claims 13 “including discovery specific to such claims,” deferring those matters to a second 14 phase of the litigation. Dkt. 71 at 3. On September 22, 2015, the Court issued its 15 Memorandum and Order deciding the Parties’ summary judgment motions (Dkt. 16 244) (“Summary Judgment Order”), which granted in part Plaintiffs’ motion for 17 summary judgment and denied Defendants’ cross-motion for summary 18 judgment. See Dkt. 244. 19 Current Status of the Litigation 20 Defendants moved for reconsideration and, alternatively, sought permission 21 for an interlocutory appeal from the Summary Judgment Order. Dkt. 247. At the 22 October 19, 2015, Status Conference, the Court denied Defendants’ request for a 23 stay of providing substantive discovery responses and documents pending the 24 Court’s resolution of their motion for reconsideration. Dkt. 248. Defendants’ 25 motion for reconsideration was fully briefed. The Court took that motion under 26 submission on November 12, 2015. Dkt. 274. At the October 19, 2015 Status 27 Conference, the Court lifted the stay as to the remaining six claims, class 28 certification, and the statute of limitations. Dkt. 248. The Court scheduled a bench -1- 1 trial for December 15, 2015, to complete Phase One (Claim One) of the litigation. 2 Id. The Court also set deadlines for Phase Two, including the dates for filing of 3 Plaintiffs’ class certification motion (January 18, 2016), expert designations 4 (March 1, 2016), and a discovery cut-off of April 19, 2016. Id. The Court 5 scheduled a bench trial with respect to liability issues for the remaining claims for 6 May 31, 2016. Id. 7 At the October 19, 2015 Status Conference (Dkt. 248), the Court directed 8 Plaintiffs to file their motion for leave to amend the operative Complaint by 9 November 16, 2015. Dkt. 248. Plaintiffs did so on October 29, 2015. Plaintiffs 10 and Defendants stipulated that, if the Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to 11 amend, the parties would agree to an expedited briefing schedule. The Court 12 approved that stipulation with modifications on November 2, 2015. See Dkts. 258, 13 260, 262. 14 On December 7, 2015, the Court granted Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to 15 amend. The Court directed Plaintiffs to file their Fifth Amended Complaint within 16 ten (10) days. In addition, the Court ordered that Defendants respond to the Fifth 17 Amended Complaint within thirty (30) days of Plaintiffs’ filing of that amended 18 complaint, thereby overriding the expedited briefing schedule to which Plaintiffs 19 and Defendants had stipulated in Dkts. 260 and 262. See Dkt. 289. Plaintiffs filed 20 the Fifth Amended Complaint on December 9, 2015. Dkt. 291. Accordingly, 21 Defendants’ response to the Fifth Amended Complaint currently is due January 8, 22 2015. 23 On November 9, 2015, the Association for Childhood Education 24 International (“ACEI”) and The Hill Foundation, Inc. (“Foundation”) (collectively, 25 “Intervenors”), moved for leave to intervene, which was unopposed. The Court 26 granted the motion to intervene on December 7, 2015. See Dkts. 266 & 288. 27 28 -2- 1 2 Settlement Mediation At the October 19, 2015 Status Conference, the Court directed the parties to 3 confer regarding a procedure for mediation. 4 Intervenors (collectively, the “Parties”) agreed to participate in a confidential 5 mediation with David Rotman, Esq. On November 13, 2015, the Parties reported 6 their agreement to participate in a private mediation to the Court. Dkt. 276. 7 Plaintiffs, Defendants, and the On December 1, 2015, counsel for all Parties participated in an all-day 8 mediation with Mr. Rotman. 9 confidential mediator’s proposal to settle the class action. On December 8, 2015, 10 On December 7, 2014, Mr. Rotman made a the Parties accepted the mediator’s proposal. 11 The Parties immediately contacted the Court and requested that the Court 12 relieve them of their filing obligation and vacate the December 15, 2015, trial date. 13 The Court granted the Parties’ request, relieved them from their immediate filing 14 obligations, vacated the December 15 trial date, and directed the Parties to file this 15 Status Report. Dkt. 290. 16 Proposed Steps and Timing of Settlement 17 The Parties are in the process of drafting, discussing and completing a 18 Settlement Agreement. The Parties will work to complete that process through the 19 coming holidays, and will execute the Settlement Agreement by January 15, 2016. 20 On or before January 29, 2016, Plaintiffs will notice and file a motion for 21 preliminary approval of the proposed class action settlement. Plaintiffs’ motion 22 will request that the Court enter a Preliminary Order approving the proposed class 23 action settlement following a hearing set under the Local Rules or at such other 24 date and time as the Court may set. Plaintiffs’ filing will include the fully executed 25 Settlement Agreement, a proposed plan and schedule for notice to the class, and a 26 proposed final approval hearing date. Consistent with experience in prior cases, 27 counsel for the Parties anticipate that the time from Plaintiffs’ filing of the motion 28 -3- 1 for preliminary approval of the proposed class action settlement to the proposed 2 final approval hearing date will be approximately six months. 3 Parties Request a Stay of all Proceedings 4 In the interim, the Parties have stopped all litigation activity to concentrate 5 their efforts on the class action settlement process. As of this date, however, the 6 Court has not stayed proceedings in the case. Certain dates established by prior 7 Orders are approaching. 8 Plaintiffs’ Fifth Amended Consolidated Complaint (Dkt. 291) is January 8, 2016 9 (30 days after Plaintiffs’ filing of the Fifth Amended Consolidated Complaint, per 10 the schedule set forth in the Court’s December 7, 2015 Order, Dkt. 289). 11 Similarly, Plaintiffs’ deadline for filing their motion for class certification currently 12 is January 18, 2016, per the Court’s October 19, 2015 Order, Dkt. 248. For example, Defendants’ date for responding to 13 Accordingly, the Parties respectfully request that the Court enter an Order 14 staying all proceedings in this action through and including January 29, 2016. 15 Provided that Plaintiffs have filed their motion for preliminary approval of class 16 action settlement on or before January 29, 2016, the Parties respectfully request 17 that the Court continue the stay of proceedings pending final approval or denial of 18 the proposed settlement or such other date as the Court may order. 19 20 Respectfully submitted, Dated: December 18, 2015 WOLF HALDENSTEIN ADLER FREEMAN & HERZ LLP 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 By: /s/ Betsy C. Manifold BETSY C. MANIFOLD FRANCIS M. GREGOREK gregorek@whafh.com BETSY C. MANIFOLD manifold@whafh.com RACHELE R. RICKERT rickert@whafh.com -4- 1 2 3 4 MARISA C. LIVESAY livesay@whafh.com 750 B Street, Suite 2770 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone: 619/239-4599 Facsimile: 619/234-4599 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 WOLF HALDENSTEIN ADLER FREEMAN & HERZ LLP MARK C. RIFKIN (pro hac vice) rifkin@whafh.com JANINE POLLACK (pro hac vice) pollack@whafh.com 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Telephone: 212/545-4600 Facsimile: 212-545-4753 Interim Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs RANDALL S. NEWMAN PC RANDALL S. NEWMAN (190547) rsn@randallnewman.net 37 Wall Street, Penthouse D New York, NY 10005 Telephone: 212/797-3737 Facsimile: 212/797-3172 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 HUNT ORTMANN PALFFY NIEVES DARLING & MAH, INC. ALISON C. GIBBS (257526) gibbs@huntortmann.com OMEL A. NIEVES (134444) nieves@huntortmann.com KATHLYNN E. SMITH (234541) smith@ huntortmann.com 301 North Lake Avenue, 7th Floor Pasadena, CA 91101 28 -5- Telephone 626/440-5200 Facsimile 626/796-0107 1 2 DONAHUE GALLAGHER WOODS LLP 3 4 WILLIAM R. HILL (114954) rock@donahue.com ANDREW S. MACKAY (197074) andrew@donahue.com DANIEL J. SCHACHT (259717) daniel@donahue.com 1999 Harrison Street, 25th Floor Oakland, CA 94612-3520 Telephone: 510/451-0544 Facsimile: 510/832-1486 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 18 GLANCY BINKOW & GOLDBERG LLP LIONEL Z. GLANCY (134180) lglancy@glancylaw.com MARC L. GODINO (188669) mgodino@glancylaw.com 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100 Los Angeles, CA 90067 Telephone: 310/201-9150 Facsimile: 310/201-9160 19 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 12 13 14 15 16 17 20 21 Dated: December 18, 2015 MUNGER TOLLES & OLSON LLP 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 By: /s/ Kelly M. Klaus KELLY M. KLAUS KELLY M. KLAUS (161091) kelly.klaus@mto.com ADAM I. KAPLAN (268182) adam.kaplan@mto.com 560 Mission St., 27th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 -6- 1 Telephone: 415/512-4000 2 MUNGER TOLLES & OLSON LLP GLENN D. POMERANTZ (112503) glenn.pomerantz@mto.com MELINDA E. LEMOINE melinda.lemoine@mto.com 355 South Grand Ave., 35th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90071 Telephone: 213/683-9100 3 4 5 6 7 Attorneys for Defendants 8 9 Dated: December 18, 2015 WHITEFORD, TAYLOR & PRESTON LLP 10 11 By: /s/ Steven Tiller STEVEN TILLER 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 STEVEN TILLER (pro hac vice) stiller@wtplaw.com 7 St. Paul Street Baltimore, MD 21202 Telephone: 410/347-9425 Facsimile: 410/223-4325 SCOTT O. LUSKIN (238082) sol@paynefears.com PAYNE & FEARS LLP 801 South Figueroa Street, Suite 1150 Los Angeles, CA 90017-2566 Telephone: 213/439-9911 Facsimile: 213/439-9922 Attorneys for Intervenor THE ASSOCIATION FOR CHILDHOOD EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL AND THE HILL FOUNDATION, INC. 27 28 -7- 1 DECLARATION REGARDING CONCURRENCE 2 I, BETSY C. MANIFOLD, am the CM/ECF User whose identification 3 login and password are being used to file this JOINT STATUS REPORT 4 PURSUANT TO DECEMBER 8, 2015 ORDER (DKT. 290). In compliance 5 with L.R. 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(i), I hereby attest that Kelly M. Klaus and Steven Tiller 6 have concurred in this filing’s content and have authorized its filing. 7 DATED: December 18, 2015 By: 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 WARNER/CHAPPELL:22543 -8- /s/ Betsy C. Manifold BETSY C. MANIFOLD

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?