Democratic National Committee v. The Russian Federation et al

Filing 150

DECLARATION of Julia Horwitz in Support re: #149 MOTION to Serve Defendant Wikileaks by Twitter and Mail.. Document filed by Democratic National Committee. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit A, #2 Exhibit B, #3 Exhibit C, #4 Exhibit D, #5 Exhibit E, #6 Exhibit F, #7 Exhibit G, #8 Exhibit H, #9 Exhibit I, #10 Exhibit J)(Sellers, Joseph)

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE,
Plaintiff,
v.
THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION et al.,
Defendants.

)
)
) Civil Action No. 1:18-cv-03501-JGK
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

DECLARATION OF JULIA A. HORWITZ
I, Julia Horwitz, declare as follows:
1.

I am an attorney at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC. I am counsel for Plaintiff in the

above-referenced matter. I submit this declaration in connection with Plaintiff’s Motion to Serve
Defendant WikiLeaks by Twitter and Mail (“WikiLeaks Motion”). I have personal knowledge of
all facts stated in this declaration, and if called to testify, I could and would testify competently
thereto.
2.

Regarding Defendant WikiLeaks, on April 25, 2018, per the instructions provided on

WikiLeaks’

website,

Plaintiff’s

counsel

attempted

to

send

an

email

to

[e-mail], asking for the postal address and contact details where legal
documents could be sent. Later that day, counsel received a notification that the outgoing email
had been rejected six times over the course of an hour. On April 29, 2018, Plaintiff’s counsel
received another notification that the email had been rejected 30 times over the course of 92 hours.
On July 10, 2018, Plaintiff’s counsel made another attempt to send an email to that same address.
An hour later, counsel received another notification that the email had not been delivered, despite

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 4

six attempts to deliver over a period of one hour. On July 14, 2018, Plaintiff’s counsel received
another notification that the email had been rejected 30 times over the course of 92 hours.
3.

Plaintiff’s counsel also made diligent attempts to contact counsel who represented

WikiLeaks in other matters. Plaintiff’s counsel searched PACER for any case in which WikiLeaks
was represented by counsel, and found only one case: a suit in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Maryland. In that case, WikiLeaks, one of the plaintiffs, was represented by two
attorneys from Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. On July 19, 2018, Plaintiff’s counsel emailed those
attorneys to ask if they were authorized to accept service on WikiLeaks’s behalf, or if they knew
of any other person who might be able to accept service. One of the two attorneys replied within
10 minutes, stating: “We are not authorized and have had no contact with this entity for several
years. I do not have any idea about who may be authorized to accept service for Wikileaks.”
4.

A Westlaw search unearthed another case where an attorney briefly represented

WikiLeaks, see Bank Julius Baer & Co. v. WikiLeaks, No. C 08-00824 JSW, 2008 WL 413737, at
*1 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 13, 2008), but that attorney later submitted a letter to the United States District
Court for the Northern District of California explaining that she had not been WikiLeaks’ attorney
since January 24, 2008, and she “could not and would not” accept service on WikiLeaks’ behalf.1
Additionally, Plaintiff’s counsel searched news reports and Wikipedia, and identified three
individuals who may have represented WikiLeaks. Of these, one is deceased, one lives in Spain
and does not have contact information that Plaintiff’s counsel can locate, and the third lives in
London and appears to represent Defendant Julian Assange (“Assange”), but is not clearly linked
by reliable sources to WikiLeaks.

1

Letter from Julie S. Turner at 2, Bank Julius Baer & Co. v. WikiLeaks (No. C 08-00824
JSW), 2008 WL 413737, ECF No. 26.

2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150 Filed 07/20/18 Page 3 of 4

5.

Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of WikiLeaks’ Tweet from

December 1, 2010 at 11:50 a.m. Eastern Time.
6.

Attached hereto as Exhibit B is a true and correct copy of WikiLeaks’ Tweet from April

20, 2018 at 3:13 p.m. Eastern Time.
7.

Attached hereto as Exhibit C are true and correct copies of WikiLeaks’ Tweets from April

21, 2018 at 5:10 p.m. and April 22, 2018 at 9:16 a.m. Eastern Time.
8.

Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct copy of another WikiLeaks’ Tweet from

April 21, 2018 at 5:10 a.m. Eastern Time.
9.

Attached hereto as Exhibit E is a true and correct copy of WikiLeaks’ Tweet from April

20, 2018 at 7:48 p.m. Eastern Time.
10.

Attached hereto as Exhibit F is a true and correct copy of WikiLeaks’ Tweet from April

20, 2018 at 3:49 p.m. Eastern Time.
11.

Attached hereto as Exhibit G is a true and correct copy of the email delivery failure

notification from April 25, 2018 at 3:03 p.m. Eastern Time.
12.

Attached hereto as Exhibit H is a true and correct copy of the email delivery failure

notification from April 29, 2018 at 10:13 a.m. Eastern Time.
13.

Attached hereto as Exhibit I is a true and correct copy of the email delivery failure

notification from July 10, 2018 at 11:57 a.m. Eastern Time.
14.

Attached hereto as Exhibit J is a true and correct copy of the email delivery failure

notification from July 14, 2018 at 7:08 a.m. Eastern Time.

3

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150 Filed 07/20/18 Page 4 of 4

I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
Executed this 20th day of July 2018 in Washington, D.C.

_____________________
Julia Horwitz

4

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-1 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-1 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-2 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-2 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-3 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-3 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-4 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-4 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-5 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-5 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-6 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-6 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-7 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Exhibit G

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-7 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

From:
To:
Subject:
Date:

Domain postMaster address
Julia Horwitz
[Postmaster] Email Delivery Warning
Wednesday, April 25, 2018 3:03:20 PM

This message is a warning that an email you are trying to send
has not yet been delivered. You do not have to do anything yet
as the email is still queued for delivery.
An email you addressed to email address :
-- [e-mail]
has not yet been delivered. The problem appears to be :
-- Internal mail relay processing error
Additional information follows :
-- Temporary error looking up MX record
This condition occurred after 6 attempt(s) to deliver over
a period of 1 hour(s).
You will receive a rejection notice after a maximum of 2 days
if the email cannot be delivered. If you sent the email to multiple
recipients you will receive one of these messages for each one
which is still undelivered, otherwise they have been sent.

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-8 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Exhibit H

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-8 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

From:
To:
Subject:
Date:

Domain postMaster address
Julia Horwitz
[Postmaster] Email Delivery Failure
Sunday, April 29, 2018 10:13:02 AM

This is a delivery failure notification message indicating that
an email you addressed to email address :
-- [e-mail]
could not be delivered. The problem appears to be :
-- Internal mail relay processing error
Additional information follows :
-- Temporary error looking up MX record
This condition occurred after 30 attempt(s) to deliver over
a period of 92 hour(s).
If you sent the email to multiple recipients, you will receive one
of these messages for each one which failed delivery,  otherwise
they have been sent.

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-9 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Exhibit I

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-9 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

From:
To:
Subject:
Date:

Domain postMaster address
Julia Horwitz
[Postmaster] Email Delivery Warning
Tuesday, July 10, 2018 11:57:02 AM

This message is a warning that an email you are trying to send
has not yet been delivered. You do not have to do anything yet
as the email is still queued for delivery.
An email you addressed to email address :
-- [e-mail]
has not yet been delivered. The problem appears to be :
-- Internal mail relay processing error
Additional information follows :
-- Temporary error looking up MX record
This condition occurred after 6 attempt(s) to deliver over
a period of 1 hour(s).
You will receive a rejection notice after a maximum of 2 days
if the email cannot be delivered. If you sent the email to multiple
recipients you will receive one of these messages for each one
which is still undelivered, otherwise they have been sent.

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-10 Filed 07/20/18 Page 1 of 2

Exhibit J

Case 1:18-cv-03501-JGK Document 150-10 Filed 07/20/18 Page 2 of 2

From:
To:
Subject:
Date:

Domain postMaster address
Julia Horwitz
[Postmaster] Email Delivery Failure
Saturday, July 14, 2018 7:08:10 AM

This is a delivery failure notification message indicating that
an email you addressed to email address :
-- [e-mail]
could not be delivered. The problem appears to be :
-- Internal mail relay processing error
Additional information follows :
-- Temporary error looking up MX record
This condition occurred after 30 attempt(s) to deliver over
a period of 92 hour(s).
If you sent the email to multiple recipients, you will receive one
of these messages for each one which failed delivery,  otherwise
they have been sent.