Safflane Holdings Ltd. et al v. Gagosian Gallery, Inc.

Filing 89

TRANSCRIPT of Proceedings re: MOTION held on 10/14/2011 before Judge Denise L. Cote. Court Reporter/Transcriber: Denise Richards, [phone]. Transcript may be viewed at the court public terminal or purchased through the Court Reporter/Transcriber before the deadline for Release of Transcript Restriction. After that date it may be obtained through PACER. Redaction Request due 2/6/2012. Redacted Transcript Deadline set for 2/17/2012. Release of Transcript Restriction set for 4/13/2012.(McGuirk, Kelly)

1
1AE0SAFM
1
2
3

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
------------------------------x
SAFFLANE HOLDINGS LTD., and
ROBERT WYLDE,

4
Plaintiff,
5
v.

11 CV 1679

6
CHARLES COWLES,
7
Defendant.
8
------------------------------x
9

New York, N.Y.
October 14, 2011
12:00 Noon

10
11
12

Before:
HON. DENISE COTE,

13
14

District Judge
APPEARANCES

15
16

AARON RICHARD GOLUB, ESQ.
Attorney for Plaintiff

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

[phone]

2
1AE0SAFM
1

(In open court; defendant present)

2

THE CLERK:

3

In the matter of Safflane against Charles Cowles, is

4

Please be seated.

counsel for plaintiff ready to proceed?

5

MR. GOLUB:

Yes.

6

THE COURT:

Hello, Mr. Golub.

7

MR. GOLUB:

How are you, your Honor.

8

THE COURT:

Good, thank you.

9

So I understand that the complaint in this case was

10

served July 21st and an affidavit of service was filed with the

11

clerk of court on August 10th.

12

Mr. Cowles, has not yet filed an answer.

13

And, that the defendant,

I understand, also, that you have served the order to

14

show cause on Defendant Cowles on September 9.

15

that by certified mail; is that correct?

16

MR. GOLUB:

17

mail.

18

me a second ago.

19

And did you do

That, I'm not sure if it was certified

We have a mailing receipt that -- I had it in front of

served by --

It was just in front of me.

But it was

20

THE COURT:

By mail?

21

MR. GOLUB:

By mail.

22

THE COURT:

Have you heard anything from Mr. Cowles or

And it --

23

any representative on his behalf indicating that he intends to

24

answer or participate in this litigation?

25

MR. GOLUB:

Absolutely not.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

[phone]

3
1AE0SAFM
1

Your Honor, it's September 9, I found it.

September

2

9, 2011 we served the OSC with all of the exhibits on Charles

3

Cowles at his address.

4

THE COURT:

Thank you so much.

So I find a default.

5

I understand that this is not for sum certain and, therefore, I

6

will refer it for an inquest on damages.

7

against Mr. Cowles.

8

matter was set for noon, it's now ten after 12:00 noon, and Mr.

9

Cowles has not appeared in the courtroom.

But I enter a default

The record should indicate that this

10

Mr. Golub, is there anything else we need to do?

11

MR. GOLUB:

Your Honor, the matter was partially

12

settled this week, which I'm -- I -- we settled the Gagosian

13

case.

14

except for the -- the Cowles -- as you know, Jan Cowles and the

15

Metropolitan Museum sued my clients, Safflane and Mr. Wylde.

16

We have signed settlement documents with the Gagosian Gallery.

17

And we have a conference scheduled for 11:00 on Tuesday with

18

Magistrate Dolinger.

19

And we are in the process of settling The Met case,

In the interim, The Met and my clients have settled.

20

We are just finishing up the settlement papers.

We have not

21

settled with Cowles.

22

and there is only two claims in that action, declaratory

23

judgment and replevin.

24

the case will be deemed moot anyway, because we're returning

25

the painting to The Met.

But, as you know it, is a replevin case

So if we can't settle with Jan Cowles,

And there is nothing left in that

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

[phone]

4
1AE0SAFM
1

case.

So we'll move for summary judgment, or we'll ask -- I

2

don't know whether it is appropriate to ask this Court for a

3

stay, because there is a time period during which Gagosian has

4

to make full the payments for the settlement, which the last

5

payment is December 26th.

6

with that case because all of the issues are moot, so -- or

7

should I bring it up with the magistrate and ask for a stay on

8

Tuesday.

9

THE COURT:

There is no point in going forward

And are you talking about a stay with

10

respect to the inquest or further proceedings against Charles

11

Cowles?

12
13

MR. GOLUB:

No, I'm talking about a stay in all of the

proceedings of The Met case, not a stay of the --

14

THE COURT:

Okay, well -- thank you.

15

I don't have the other parties here in the courtroom

16

before me.

17

because I have entered the scheduling order with respect to the

18

litigation.

19

made to me for an adjustment of the schedule, the appropriate

20

thing to do is to talk with the other parties in the litigation

21

and see if you can get a stipulation or joint application to

22

me, or otherwise make your separate application in a letter no

23

longer than two pages indicating that your adversaries do not

24

support your application.

25

I would be the one who have to enter any stay,

So if you think that there is an application to be

MR. GOLUB:

Well, just one adversary.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

We have no
[phone]

5
1AE0SAFM
1

dialogue.

2

representing Jan Cowles and I have no dialogue at all.

3

with The Met, we do have a dialogue.

4

same complaint, so the issues are identical.

5

The problem is that with the -- the person
But,

And they have filed the

So I will make an application for stay of all

6

proceedings until the Gagosian settlement is fully performed

7

and there is nothing left in the case.

8

Court be bothered with unnecessary litigation.

9
10

THE COURT:

And why should this

Well, I just -- without -- I just can't

address this in an ex parte way.

11

MR. GOLUB:

I understand, your Honor.

I was just --

12

THE COURT:

Thank you so much.

13

MR. GOLUB:

-- edifying you about the fact that this

14

case has been essentially settled.

But we were going to put

15

that on the record with Magistrate Dolinger on Tuesday.

16

THE COURT:

17

So I have entered a default against Charles Cowles in

18

Thank you.

this matter.

19

Thank you very much.

20

THE CLERK:

21

(Adjourned)

All rise.

22
23
24
25
SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

[phone]