The Facebook, Inc. v. Connectu, Inc et al

Filing 755

ORDER by Judge James Ware denying 751 Quinn Emanuel's Miscellaneous Administrative Request for an Order Disbursing Settlement Proceeds in Accordance with Arbitration Award (jwlc4, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/21/2010)

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1 2 3 4 5 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 SAN JOSE DIVISION 8 The Facebook, Inc., et al., 9 NO. C 07-01389 JW Plaintiffs, ORDER DENYING QUINN EMMANUEL’S MOTION FOR ORDER DISBURSING SETTLEMENT PROCEEDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARBITRATION AWARD v. 10 Defendants. For the Northern District of California United States District Court ConnectU, Inc., et al., 11 12 13 / Presently before the Court is Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP’s (“Quinn Emanuel”) 14 Miscellaneous Administrative Request for an Order Disbursing Settlement Proceeds in Accordance 15 with Arbitration Award. (hereafter, “Request,” Docket Item No. 751.) On April 4, 2008, Quinn 16 Emanuel filed a Notice of Attorney’s Lien over any judgment, settlement, or any other recovery paid 17 to Defendants in this action. (Docket Item No. 337.) On November 3, 2008, the Court declined 18 Quinn Emanuel’s request that any dispersal of settlement proceeds be made jointly in the name of 19 Defendants and the law firm and ordered that the proceeds be delivered in trust to Defendants’ 20 counsel, Boies, Schiller & Flexner (“BSF”), for its clients and any lawful claimant. (See Docket 21 Item Nos. 653, 654.) While the Court declined to take any action with respect to the lien by Quinn 22 Emanuel at that time, nothing in the Court’s Order was intended to affect Quinn Emanuel’s right to 23 assert its lien in the future. (Docket Item No. 653 at 6.) 24 Quinn Emanuel represents that on August 25, 2010, an AAA arbitration panel entered a 25 decision awarding Quinn Emanuel its attorney’s fees and interest, to be paid from the escrowed 26 settlement proceeds held by BSF. On November 8, 2010, the New York Supreme Court entered an 27 order enforcing the arbitral award. (Request ¶¶ 4-5.) Based on that judgment, Quinn Emanuel now 28 1 requests that the Court enter an Order directing BSF to satisfy the arbitral award from the funds held 2 in trust within three days. (Id. ¶ 10.) 3 The Court finds that Quinn Emanuel’s request is premature because on December 9, 2010, 4 Defendants appealed the New York Supreme Court’s judgment enforcing the arbitral award. (Id. ¶ 5 6.) Thus, there is still an issue as to whether Quinn Emanuel is a lawful claimant to the proceeds 6 being held in trust by BSF. Further, Quinn Emanuel has not taken any action that the Court is aware 7 of to foreclose on its lien, which was one reason why the proceeds were originally ordered to be 8 delivered in trust to BSF. (See Docket Item No. 653 at 6.) for an Order Disbursing Settlement Proceeds in Accordance with Arbitration Award as premature. 11 For the Northern District of California Accordingly, the Court DENIES Quinn Emanuel’s Miscellaneous Administrative Request 10 United States District Court 9 Any future action in relation to a claim by Quinn Emanuel on the funds held in trust should be 12 accompanied by documentation which shows: (1) all appellate procedures connected with the 13 arbitral award have been exhausted and Quinn Emanuel is considered a lawful claimant to the funds 14 in trust; and (2) action has been taken on the part of Quinn Emanuel to foreclose on its lien. 15 16 Dated: December 21, 2010 JAMES WARE United States District Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT COPIES OF THIS ORDER HAVE BEEN DELIVERED TO: 2 Alison Paige Buchanan apb@hogefenton.com Bruce Eric Van Dalsem brucevandalsem@quinnemanuel.com Chester Wren-Ming Day cday@orrick.com D. Michael Underhill Munderhill@BSFLLP.com David A. Barrett dbarrett@bsfllp.com Evan A. Parke eparke@bsfllp.com George C. Fisher georgecfisher@gmail.com George Hopkins Guy hopguy@orrick.com Indra Neel Chatterjee nchatterjee@orrick.com James Earl Towery jet@hogefenton.com Jerome B. Falk jfalk@howardrice.com John Phillip Duchemin jduchemin@howardrice.com Jonathan M. Shaw jshaw@bsfllp.com Kalama M. Lui-Kwan kml@severson.com Mark A. Weissman mweissman@osheapartners.com Mark Andrew Byrne markbyrne@byrnenixon.com Monte M.F. Cooper mcooper@orrick.com Rachel E. Matteo-Boehm rachel.matteo-boehm@hro.com Randall Garteiser randy@sftrialattorneys.com Roger Rex Myers roger.myers@hro.com Scott Richard Mosko scott.mosko@finnegan.com Sean Alan Lincoln slincoln@Orrick.com Sean F. O’Shea soshea@osheapartners.com Sean M. SeLegue sselegue@howardrice.com Steven Christopher Holtzman sholtzman@bsfllp.com Theresa Ann Sutton tsutton@orrick.com Tyler Alexander Baker Tbaker@fenwick.com Valerie Margo Wagner vwagner@gcalaw.com Warrington S. Parker wparker@orrick.com Yvonne Penas Greer ygreer@orrick.com 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Dated: December 21, 2010 Richard W. Wieking, Clerk 19 By: 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 /s/ JW Chambers Elizabeth Garcia Courtroom Deputy

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