HYPERPHRASE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC v. GOOGLE INC.

Filing 161

ORDER on 158 Motion to Withdraw as Attorney. Deft. given the opportunity to respond by 9/28/2009. If needed, plaintiff's Brief in Reply due by 10/5/2009. Signed by Chief Judge Barbara B. Crabb on 9/24/09. (rep)

H Y P E R P H R A S E TECHNOLOGIES, LLC v. GOOGLE INC.

D o c . 161

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FO R THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN --------------------------------------------H Y PER PH R A S E TECHNOLOGIES, L L C ., and HYPERPHRASE, INC.,, ORDER Plaintiffs, 0 6 - cv -1 9 9 - b b c v. G O O G L E, INC., D efendan t. --------------------------------------------In response to a motion from plaintiff's counsel to withdraw as counsel for plaintiffs and an objection from defendant to granting the motion of plaintiffs' counsel, I held two telep ho n e hearings on September 22, 2009. At the first hearing, which was ex parte and in clu ded counsel Raymond Niro, Sally Wiggins and Jennifer Amundsen, I heard from p lain tiffs' counsel about the reasons for their request for leave to withdraw as counsel for p lain tiffs. Essentially, plaintiffs' owner has been emotionally unable to respond to any em ails or telephone calls from plaintiffs' counsel. He sees his business as ruined and he is exp erien cin g serious family problems. He does not believe that he can assist counsel in any w a y in responding to any requests for discovery or orders from the court. After hearing from

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co un sel, I informed them that I believed it was necessary to hold a second hearing to allow defendant's counsel to be heard on its objections to the motion to withdraw as counsel. Acco rdingly, a second telephone conference was held later in the same day. At this con ference, the same persons appeared on behalf of plaintiffs and Jason Wolff participated on behalf of defendant. After Mr. Niro explained the reasons for counsel's request to withdraw, Mr. Wolff stated that he would have to talk to his client before he could advise the court and opposing cou nsel whether defendant would still oppose the motion to withdraw. I gave Mr. Wolff un til September 28, 2009, in which to advise the court and plaintiffs' counsel whether d efen dan t still opposes withdrawal. If defendant does not oppose withdrawal, I will grant th e motion filed by plaintiffs' counsel to withdraw. If it does object and has a good reason for doing so, I will give plaintiffs' counsel until October 5, 2009, in which to reply. Also, if prim ary counsel for plaintiffs are allowed to withdraw, local counsel will be allowed to w ithdraw as well.

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Furtherm ore, Mr. Niro agreed to provide defendant's counsel the information he has on the whereabouts of plaintiffs' owner. E n tered this 24 t h day of September, 2009. B Y THE COURT: /s/ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ B AR B AR A B. CRABB D istrict Judge

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