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

Filing 65

NOTICE by Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. re 64 MOTION to Consolidate Cases Plaintiffs' Notice of Opposition to Yelp's Motion to Consolidate Cases and Cross-Motion (Attachments: # 1 Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Plaintiffs' Opposition to Yelp's Motion to Consolidate and Cross-Motion, # 2 Declaration of Gregory S. Weston in Support of Plaintiffs' Opposition and Cross-Motion, # 3 Declaration of Jack Fitzgerald in Support of Plaintiffs' Opposition and Cross-Motion, # 4 Declaration of Jared H. Beck in Support of Plaintiffs' Opposition and Cross-Motion, # 5 Declaration of Elizabeth Lee Beck in Support of Plaintiffs' Opposition and Cross-Motion, # 6 Proposed Order Denying Yelp's Motion to Consolidate and Granting Plaintiffs' Cross-Motion, # 7 Certificate of Service)(Fitzgerald, John) (Filed on 6/14/2010)

1 THE WESTON FIRM GREGORY S. WESTON (239944) 2 888 Turquoise Street San Diego, CA 92109 3 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] [e-mail] 5 JACK FITZGERALD (257370) 6 2811 Sykes Court Santa Clara, CA 95051 7 Telephone: [phone] [e-mail] 9 BECK & LEE BUSINESS TRIAL LAWYERS JARED H. BECK (233743) 10 ELIZABETH LEE BECK (233742) Courthouse Plaza Building 11 28 West Flagler Street, Suite 555 12 Miami, FL 33130 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] [e-mail] 14 [e-mail] 15 16 17 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Proposed Classes UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Case No. 3:10-cv-02351 MHP Pleading Type: Class Action Action Filed: February 23, 2010 DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION AND CROSS-MOTION Judge: The Hon. Marilyn Hall Patel Date: July 19, 2010 Time: 2:00 p.m.

18 CATS AND DOGS ANIMAL HOSPITAL, INC.; ASTRO APPLIANCE SERVICE; 19 BLEEDING HEART, LLC; CALIFORNIA FURNISHINGS, INC.; CELIBRÉ, INC.; J.L. 20 FERRI ENTERTAINMENT, INC.; LE 21 PETITE RETREAT DAY SPA, LLC; SAN FRANCISCO BAY BOAT CRUISES, LLC; 22 WAG MY TAIL, INC.; and ZODIAC RESTAURANT GROUP, INC., on behalf of 23 themselves and all others similarly situated, 24 25 26 27 v. YELP! INC., Defendant. Plaintiffs,

Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc.et al. v. Yelp! Inc., Case No. 3:10-cv-02351 MHP DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION AND CROSS-MOTION

1 I, Elizabeth Lee Beck, declare: 2 1. I am a member in good standing of the State Bars of California and Florida, and

3 admitted to practice before this Court. I have personal knowledge of the facts stated herein, and, 4 if called on to do so, could and would testify competently thereto. I make this declaration in 5 support of Plaintiffs' Opposition to Yelp's Motion for Consolidation (Dkt. No. 64) and Cross6 Motion for: 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 (a1) Designation of Cats and Dogs as lead action and stay of Levitt action or, in the

alternative, (a2) Consolidation of Cats and Dogs and Levitt actions, deeming the Cats and Dogs First Amended Complaint as the operative complaint; (b) Appointment of The Weston Firm and Beck & Lee Business Trial Lawyers as

interim class counsel; and (c) 2. Submission of fully-briefed Motion to Dismiss for hearing. I am a founding partner of the law firm Beck & Lee, P.A. ("Beck & Lee"). Beck

14 & Lee is a business and commercial litigation law firm based in Miami, Florida. The firm and its 15 principals are experienced in commercial class action litigation, including on behalf of 16 consumers. 17 3. I am experienced in and have represented both plaintiffs and defendants in class

18 action litigation, including on behalf of consumers. My representation of plaintiffs includes the 19 following class action litigation: In re LTL Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket 20 No. 1895 (N.D. Ga.) (pending antitrust litigation in the less-than-truckload shipping industry); In 21 re Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1891 (C.D. Cal.) (pending 22 antitrust litigation in the airline industry); Katz et al. v. Fifield Realty Corp. et al., Case No. 0723 61626-CIV-SEITZ/MCALILEY (S.D. Fla.) (pending litigation under the federal Interstate Land 24 Sales Full Disclosure Act); Trilogy Properties LLC et al. v. SB Hotel Associates LLC et al., Case 25 No. 09-21406-CIV-JORDAN/MCALILEY (S.D. Fla.) (pending litigation under the federal 26 Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act); DA Air LLC v. Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc., No. 27 09-60157-CIV-UNGARO/SIMONTON (S.D. Fla.) (litigation under federal Magnuson-Moss 1 Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. et al. v. Yelp! Inc., Case No. 3:10-cv-02351 MHP DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION AND CROSS-MOTION

1 Warranty Act); Becker et al. v. TRG Columbus Dev., Ltd., No. 08-05068-CA-09 (Fla. Cir. Ct.) 2 (litigation under Florida deceptive and unfair trade practices statute); and at least nine other 3 consumer class actions brought under California's Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising 4 Law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Beck & Lee was appointed interim class counsel in 5 Katz. 6 4. I have also served as defense counsel in the following class action litigation:

7 Zlotnick v. Premier Sales Group, Inc. et al., No. 9:06-cv-80091-KLR (S.D. Fla.) (action on 8 behalf of purchasers of condominium units alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices); and 9 Hicks et al. v. Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. et al., No. BC198414 (Los Angeles Cty. Sup. Ct.) 10 (breach of warranty and construction defects litigation). 11 5. I received a B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and graduated

12 from Yale Law School. Prior to founding Beck & Lee, I practiced at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart 13 Oliver & Hedges, LLP in Los Angeles, and at Coffey Burlington in Miami. 14 6. Following our filing on February 23, 2010 of the first Complaint against Yelp, my

15 firm and The Weston Firm have been contacted by more than 200 other small business owners 16 with stories similar to Dr. Perrault's, of Plaintiff Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. The firms 17 continue to receive numerous inquiries each day. Of these small businesses, 60 have retained 18 Beck & Lee and The Weston Firm to pursue claims against Yelp and serve as class 19 representatives alongside Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. 20 7. Our firm and The Weston Firm spent substantial time interviewing these small

21 business owners, and preparing the First Amended Class Action Complaint ("Amended 22 Complaint"), which was filed on March 16. The Amended Complaint added a great amount of 23 detail concerning Yelp's unlawful business practices, included several more claims for relief, and 24 named nine additional small business representative plaintiffs. 25 8. Since February, when the Proposed Interim Class Counsel filed the First

26 Complaint, counsel have, among other things: 27
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Filed a detailed 39-page Amended Complaint;

2 Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. et al. v. Yelp! Inc., Case No. 3:10-cv-02351 MHP DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION AND CROSS-MOTION

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 9.

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Conferred with defendant's counsel, including in person in San Francisco on March 18, 2010, on case management issues; Held our action's 26(f) discovery conference on April 8, 2010; Conferred with defendant's counsel on class certification, proposed injunctive relief, and electronic discovery; Served Rule 26 disclosures; Fully briefed Yelp's Motion to Dismiss, which was on calendar for hearing on May 24, 2010 before Judge Fairbank in the Central District of California, before the action was transferred to this Court (Judge Fairbank declined to consider the motion upon ordering the action transferred); Served and obtained first sets of interrogatories and requests for production, including serving 120 and 510 responses and objections, respectfully; Begun collecting and reviewing documents for production to Yelp; and Scheduled a deposition. On June 9 and 10, 2010, I conferred with counsel for Boris Levitt, Lawrence

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13 Murray and David Ongaro, regarding the substance of the instant Motion and The Weston Firm 14 and Beck & Lee's intention to seek appointment as interim lead counsel. Mr. Murray and Mr. 15 Ongaro indicated that they would not agree to this request at that time. 16 10. As a result of our efforts in prosecuting the Cats and Dogs lawsuit, Yelp has 17 already made substantial policy changes. Yelp now allows its users and business owners to 18 access "filtered" reviews--reviews that were previously completely hidden. Moreover, Yelp no 19 longer allows businesses to pay a monthly fee in order to keep a favorite review listed at the top 20 of their Yelp pages. 21 11. Yelp announced these changes on March 1, 2010--nearly two weeks before 22 Levitt filed his copycat Complaint. 23 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the foregoing is 24 true and correct. 25 26 27 Executed on June 14, 2010 in Miami, Florida. s/ Elizabeth Lee Beck Elizabeth Lee Beck 3 Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. et al. v. Yelp! Inc., Case No. 3:10-cv-02351 MHP DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION AND CROSS-MOTION

1 Respectfully Submitted, 2 3 4 /s/ Jack Fitzgerald Jack Fitzgerald

THE WESTON FIRM 5 GREGORY S. WESTON 888 Turquoise Street 6 San Diego, CA 92109 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] 8 [e-mail] 9 JACK FITZGERALD 2811 Sykes Court 10 Santa Clara, CA 95051 Telephone: [phone] [e-mail] 12 BECK & LEE BUSINESS TRIAL LAWYERS 13 JARED H. BECK ELIZABETH LEE BECK 14 Courthouse Plaza Building 28 West Flagler Street, Suite 555 15 Miami, FL 33130 16 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] 17 [e-mail] [e-mail] 18 19 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Proposed Classes 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 4 Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital, Inc. et al. v. Yelp! Inc., Case No. 3:10-cv-02351 MHP DECLARATION OF ELIZABETH LEE BECK IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION AND CROSS-MOTION