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

Filing 772

RESPONSE (re 770 Administrative Motion to File Under Seal ) Administrative Request for Order Disbursing Settlement Proceeds filed byThe Facebook, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg. (Attachments: # 1 Declaration, # 2 Exhibit 1)(Chatterjee, Indra) (Filed on 10/31/2011)

EXHIBIT 1

Law.com: Facebook foes claim lawyer linked to sealed opinion in Twitter post

Page 1 of 2

ALM Properties, Inc.
Page printed from: http://www.law.com
Back to Article

Facebook foes claim lawyer linked to
sealed opinion in Twitter post
Former Quinn Emanuel clients Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss say John Quinn should be sanctioned for
tweeting a ruling that upheld the firm's $13 million fee award against the Winklevoss twins.
Nate Raymond
01-05-2011
When New York state supreme court justice Richard Lowe III in November affirmed a $13 million fee award
for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan against its onetime clients, Facebook Inc. rivals Cameron and Tyler
Winklevoss, the firm's litigator-in-chief John Quinn couldn't help but brag via his Twitter account:
"Winklevoss twins lose again: QE payday cometh."
Um, not quite yet. Four days before Christmas, San Jose federal district court judge James Ware ruled that
the $13 million must remain in an escrow account while the Winklevoss twins appeal the New York
decision. And meanwhile, according to an exhibit filed with Judge Ware, John Quinn has faced questioning
by Judge Lowe, who wanted to know why Quinn referred to the fee ruling on Twitter--even though it was
sealed.
Quinn Emanuel and the Winklevosses have been sparring since 2008, when Quinn Emanuel represented
the twins in their reported $65 million settlement with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. (As recounted in
the film The Social Network, the Winklevosses alleged Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from their
ConnectU site.)
On the eve of finalizing the Facebook settlement, the Winklevoss twins, along with ConnectU cofounder
Divya Narendra and the twins' father, Howard Winklevoss, came to believe the stock portion of the
settlement was not worth as much as they originally thought and tried to get out of the deal. Facebook sued
to enforce the settlement in San Jose federal district court; Judge Ware ordered the deal to be finalized in
February 2008. The Winklevosses, now represented by Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin,
have appealed Judge Ware's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is scheduled to
hear oral arguments next week.
Quinn Emanuel, meanwhile, brought an arbitration claim against the Winklevosses for its 20 percent
contingency fee. Judge Lowe confirmed the arbitration panel's $13 million award on Nov. 8, saying that to
"continue to stall payment of the award would be to frustrate the very purpose of and reason for the

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/LawArticleFriendly.jsp?id=1202476939482&slreturn=1

10/31/2011

Law.com: Facebook foes claim lawyer linked to sealed opinion in Twitter post

Page 2 of 2

arbitration."
Lowe marked his Nov. 8 decision as "do not post," and, according to a Dec. 3 e-mail from a lawyer for the
ConnectU founders, which is now part of the record before Judge Ware, the New York judge intended for
his ruling to be sealed. (The online New York court record has since become inaccessible to the public.)
Michael Petrella of O'Shea Partners, who represents the Winkelvoss twins in the fee dispute with Quinn,
asserts in the Dec. 3 e-mail that after John Quinn posted Judge Lowe's opinion on Twitter, Lowe ordered
Quinn and another Quinn Emanuel partner to appear before him "to explain their actions." That hearing took
place on Nov. 22.
Though Petrella's Dec. 3 e-mail asserts that Judge Lowe "expressed some receptivity" to the Winklevosses'
proposal that Quinn forfeit the firm's $13 million fee award as sanction for publishing the opinion, Quinn
Emanuel partner Richard Werder Jr. told us the judge issued a judgment enforcing the award the day after
the Nov. 22 hearing.
As for the tweet that began much of the drama, John Quinn appears to have deleted it. But after The New
York Times reported on the Winklevoss's never-ending fight with Zuckerberg last week, Quinn couldn't
resist Tweeting: "No comment on this article except that the twins have posted a bond to cover our
judgment v. them pending their appeal."

Copyright 2011. ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/LawArticleFriendly.jsp?id=1202476939482&slreturn=1

10/31/2011