ME2 Productions, Inc v. Doe 1 et al
Filing
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ORDER granting in part plaintiff's 13 Motion for Extension of Time by Judge Robert S. Lasnik.(RS)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE
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ME2 PRODUCTIONS, INC.,
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Plaintiff,
Case No. C16-1882RSL
v.
DAVID LUPASTEAN, et al.,
ORDER GRANTING IN PART
MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF
TIME
Defendants.
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This matter comes before the Court on plaintiff’s motion for an extension of time
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in which to serve the complaint. Dkt. # 13. A party generally has 90 days after a
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complaint is filed in which to serve the defendant. Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m). It can be
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challenging to meet this deadline in BitTorrent cases where plaintiff must first conduct
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discovery from the ISP before it can identify and serve the defendant. It can be done,
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however, and the Court expects a good faith effort to comply with the service deadline.
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Where the motion for leave to conduct expedited discovery is filed and granted in a
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timely manner and the ISP responds promptly, plaintiff has some time – a few days or
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weeks depending on the production date – in which to pursue an amicable resolution of
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the case before utilizing the waiver of service procedure set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d).
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If plaintiff opts to spend additional time negotiating with persons who have not yet been
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brought into the suit, it would still have time to engage a process server and accomplish
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service in a timely manner. In these scenarios, an extension of time should be necessary
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ORDER GRANTING IN PART MOTION
FOR EXTENSION OF TIME - 1
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only if a defendant failed to waive or was dodging service.
Here, plaintiff obtained the necessary contact information more than five weeks
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before the March 8, 2017, service deadline. It opted to send two letters to the subscribers
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and delayed mailing the waivers until it was too late to obtain responses within the
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allotted time frame. It now seeks a sixty day extension of time so that it can receive
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waivers and, if one or more defendants refuse to waive, can hire a process server.
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Although good cause has not been shown and the Court expects plaintiff to further
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modify its procedures as set forth above, plaintiff has at least attempted service prior to
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the deadline and has timely moved for an extension. In these circumstances, the Court
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finds that dismissal of this action would be unnecessarily punitive. Nevertheless, a
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prophylactic sixty day extension of the service deadline – to deal with the possibilities
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that one or more defendants may refuse to waive and/or that personal service may prove
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difficult – is not warranted. Plaintiff shall have an additional month, until April 8, 2017,
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to file proofs of waiver as to all defendants or a second motion for extension of time
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detailing the efforts made toward effecting personal service.
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Dated this 22nd day of February, 2017.
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A
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Robert S. Lasnik
United States District Judge
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ORDER GRANTING IN PART MOTION
FOR EXTENSION OF TIME - 2
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