Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. v. Yelp! Inc.

Filing 16

EX PARTE APPLICATION to Reassign Case No. 2:10-cv-01578 to the Hon. Valerie Baker Fairbank, EX PARTE APPLICATION to Consolidate Cases, as to No. 2:10-cv-01578,, EX PARTE APPLICATION for Appointment of Counsel for the Classes filed by plaintiff Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc.. (Attachments: # 1 Proposed Order on Plaintiffs' ex parte motion, # 2 Declaration of Gregory S. Weston, # 3 Exhibit A-E to Declaration of Gregory S. Weston, # 4 Declaration of Jack Fitzgerald, # 5 Declaration of Jared H. Beck, # 6 Declaration of Elizabeth Lee Beck)(Weston, Gregory)

1 THE WESTON FIRM 2 GREGORY S. WESTON (239944) 3 888 Turquoise Street 4 San Diego, CA 92109

JACK FITZGERALD (257370)

5 Telephone: [phone] [e-mail] 7 [e-mail] 8 9 Counsel for Plaintiff and the Proposed Class 10 11

Facsimile: [phone]

BECK & LEE BUSINESS TRIAL LAWYERS JARED H. BECK (233743) ELIZABETH LEE BECK (233742) Courthouse Plaza Building 28 West Flagler Street, Suite 555 Miami, FL 33130 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] [e-mail] [e-mail]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Case No.: 2:10-cv-01340 VBF SS Pleading Type: Class Action DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' EX PARTE MOTION FOR REASSIGNMENT, CONSOLIDATION, DESIGNATION OF LEAD CASE, AND APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM LEAD COUNSEL Judge: The Hon. Valerie Baker Fairbank

12 CATS AND DOGS ANIMAL 13 HOSPITAL, INC.; ASTRO 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 YELP! INC., 28 29 30

APPLIANCE SERVICE; BLEEDING HEART, LLC d/b/a BLEEDING HEART BAKERY; CALIFORNIA FURNISHINGS, INC. d/b/a SOFA OUTLET; CELIBRÉ, INC.; J.L. FERRI ENTERTAINMENT, INC. d/b/a ADULT SOCIALS; LE PETITE RETREAT DAY SPA, LLC; SAN FRANCISCO BAY BOAT CRUISES, LLC d/b/a MERMAIDS CRUISE; WAG MY TAIL, INC.; and ZODIAC RESTAURANT GROUP, INC. d/b/a SCION RESTAURANT, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v.

Defendant.

DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' EX PARTE MOTION FOR REASSIGNMENT, CONSOLIDATION, DESIGNATION OF LEAD CASE, AND APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL

1 2

I, Elizabeth Lee Beck, declare: 1. I am a member in good standing of the State Bars of Florida and

3 California, and admitted to practice before this Court. I have personal knowledge 4 of the facts stated herein, and, if called on to do so, could and would testify 5 competently thereto. I make this declaration in support of Plaintiffs' Ex Parte 6 Motion for Reassignment, Consolidation, Designation of Lead Case, and 7 Appointment of Interim Lead Counsel. 8 2. I am a founding partner of the law firm Beck & Lee, P.A. ("Beck & 9 Lee"). Beck & Lee is a business and commercial litigation law firm based in 10 Miami, Florida. The firm and its principals are experienced in commercial class 11 action litigation, including on behalf of consumers. 12 3. I am experienced in and have represented both plaintiffs and My 13 defendants in class action litigation, including on behalf of consumers.

14 representation of plaintiffs includes the following class action litigation: In re LTL 15 Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1895 (N.D. Ga.) (pending 16 antitrust litigation in the less-than-truckload shipping industry); In re Korean Air 17 Lines Co., Ltd. Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1891 (C.D. Cal.) (pending 18 antitrust litigation in the airline industry); Katz et al. v. Fifield Realty Corp. et al., 19 Case No. 07-61626-CIV-SEITZ/MCALILEY (S.D. Fla.) (pending litigation under 20 the federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act); Trilogy Properties LLC et 21 al. v. SB Hotel Associates LLC et al., Case No. 09-21406-CIV22 JORDAN/MCALILEY (S.D. Fla.) (pending litigation under the federal Interstate 23 Land Sales Full Disclosure Act); DA Air LLC v. Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc., 24 No. 09-60157-CIV-UNGARO/SIMONTON (S.D. Fla.) (litigation under federal 25 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act); Becker et al. v. TRG Columbus Dev., Ltd., No. 26 27
1 DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' EX PARTE MOTION FOR REASSIGNMENT, CONSOLIDATION, DESIGNATION OF LEAD CASE, AND APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL

1 08-05068-CA-09 (Fla. Cir. Ct.) (litigation under Florida deceptive and unfair trade 2 practices statute). 3 4. I have also served as defense counsel in the following class action 4 litigation: Zlotnick v. Premier Sales Group, Inc. et al., No. 9:06-cv-80091-KLR 5 (S.D. Fla.) (action on behalf of purchasers of condominium units alleging unfair 6 and deceptive trade practices); and Hicks et al. v. Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. 7 et al., No. BC198414 (Los Angeles Cty. Sup. Ct.) (breach of warranty and 8 construction defects litigation). 9 5. I received a B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and 10 graduated from Yale Law School. Prior to founding Beck & Lee, I practiced at 11 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP in Los Angeles, and at Coffey 12 Burlington in Miami. 13 6. Following our filing on February 23, 2010 of the first Complaint 14 against Yelp, my firm and The Weston Firm have been contacted by more than 150 15 other small business owners with stories similar to Dr. Perrault's. The firms 16 continue to receive numerous inquires each day. 17 7. Our firm and The Weston Firm spent substantial time interviewing 18 these small business owners, and preparing the First Amended Class Action 19 Complaint ("Amended Complaint"), which was filed on March 16. The Amended 20 Complaint added a great amount of detail concerning Yelp's unlawful business 21 practices, included several more claims for relief, and named nine additional small 22 business representative plaintiffs. 23 25 26 27
2 DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' EX PARTE MOTION FOR REASSIGNMENT, CONSOLIDATION, DESIGNATION OF LEAD CASE, AND APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL

8.

Since February, when the Proposed Interim Class Counsel filed the

24 First Complaint, counsel have, among other things: · Filed a detailed 39-page Amended Complaint;

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

· Conferred with Yelp's counsel and stipulated to extend Yelp's time to respond; · Conferred with Yelp's counsel, including in person in San Francisco on March 18, on case management issues; · Scheduled a Rule 26(f) discovery conference with Yelp for April 8; · Conferred with Yelp's counsel on issues of class certification, proposed injunctive relief, and electronic discovery; and · Begun drafting Rule 26 disclosures. 9. On March 22, 2010, I conferred with Ron Marron twice by telephone

10 and several more times by e-mail. Despite these efforts, Plaintiffs were unable to 11 obtain a stipulation. 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
3 DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' EX PARTE MOTION FOR REASSIGNMENT, CONSOLIDATION, DESIGNATION OF LEAD CASE, AND APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that

13 the foregoing is true and correct. Executed in Miami, Florida on March 24, 2010.

/s/ Elizabeth Lee Beck Elizabeth Lee Beck

1 DATED: March 24, 2010 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Respectfully submitted, s/Gregory S. Weston THE WESTON FIRM Gregory S. Weston 888 Turquoise Street San Diego, CA 92109 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: 480 247 4553 BECK & LEE BUSINESS TRIAL LAWYERS Jared H. Beck Elizabeth Lee Beck 28 West Flagler Street, Suite 555 Miami, FL 33130 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: 786 664 3334 Counsel for Cats and Dogs Plaintiffs

4 DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' EX PARTE MOTION FOR REASSIGNMENT, CONSOLIDATION, DESIGNATION OF LEAD CASE, AND APPOINTMENT OF INTERIM CLASS COUNSEL