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Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin - Plaintiff App To Extend Time For Summary Judgment PDF
Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin - Plaintiff App To Extend Time For Summary Judgment PDF
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Plaintiff,
PLAINTIFFS EX PARTE
APPLICATION FOR A ONE-WEEK
EXTENSION TO RESPOND TO
SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION
v.
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Defendants.
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER
Plaintiff Michael Skidmore, Trustee for the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust, hereby
applies to this Court, ex parte, for a one-week extension to respond to the summary
currently due on April 7, 2016. The hearing is currently set for March 28, 2016.
Authorities; the Declaration of Glen L. Kulik (Kulik Decl.); all records and
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pleadings on file with the Court in this action; and on such further evidence and
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notice of this ex parte application to Defendants counsel Mr. Anderson and Ms.
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Freeman. Plaintiff asked that they consider stipulating to the relief sought and
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offered to agree that defendants could have an additional week to reply. Mr.
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Anderson responded that defendants would not agree to a stipulation and would
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Lead Attorney for Defendants James Patrick Page, Robert Anthony Plant,
John Paul Jones, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Super Hype Publishing, Inc.,
Atlantic Recording Corp., Rhino Entertainment Company and Warner Music
Group:
Peter J. Anderson, Esq., Cal. Bar No. 88891
E-Mail: [email protected]
LAW OFFICES OF PETER J. ANDERSON
A Professional Corporation
100 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 2010
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Tel: (310) 260-6030
Fax: (310) 260-6040
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER
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Attorney for Defendants James Patrick Page, Robert Anthony Plant and John
Paul Jones:
Helene Freeman, Esq., admitted pro hac vice
E-Mail: [email protected]
PHILIPS NIZER LLP
666 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10103-0084
Tel: (212) 977-9700
Fax: (212) 262-5152
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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I.
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1
II.
III.
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
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Cases
Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Loube,
134 F.R.D. 270 (N.D. Cal. 1991) ........................................................................... 3
Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc.,
975 F.2d 604 (9th Cir. 1992) .................................................................................. 3
Rios-Berrios v. I.N.S.,
776 F.2d 859 (9th Cir. 1985) .................................................................................. 3
United States v. 2.61 Acres of Land,
791 F.2d 666 (9th Cir. 1985) .................................................................................. 3
United States v. Flynt,
756 F.2d 1352 (9th Cir. 1985) ................................................................................ 3
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Other Authorities
6A Charles A. Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure 1522.2
(3d ed. 2010) ........................................................................................................... 3
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Rules
Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b) .................................................................................................... 3
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER
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INTRODUCTION
This is a copyright infringement action in which Plaintiff alleges that the song
Stairway to Heaven, written by Defendants James Patrick Page and Robert Anthony
Plant and recorded/performed by the rock group Led Zeppelin, infringes the
copyright of the late Randy Craig Wolfe in his composition entitled Taurus which he
wrote in 1967 while a member of the rock group Spirit. Led Zeppelins first concert
in the United States was as the opening act for Spirit. Thereafter, the two groups
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Heaven was written, and Led Zeppelin famously performed one of Spirits songs in
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On August 17, 2015, the Court entered a Scheduling Order (Doc. No. 79)
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setting a discovery cutoff date of February 11, 2016 and a deadline to file motions of
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February 25, 2016. The present summary judgment motion was filed by defendants
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on the last possible day and set for hearing on the first possible date affording
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Defendants did not respond in any meaningful way until January. They would not
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produce any documents until the court entered a protective order, which did not
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occur until December 28, 2015. Thereafter, in January, Defendants produced 40,000
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pages of materials which took the entire month of January to review. Further, when
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it was determined that many crucial documents had not been produced, Defendants
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have continued to produce documents right up until the last two weeks. Plaintiff
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23, 2015, the responses contained mostly objections. It was not until Defendants
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Disclosures or at any other time. Thus, it was not until January 2016 that Plaintiff
With the documents and information in hand, the entire month of January up
to the discovery cutoff date on February 11, 2016 was consumed with both sides
taking depositions including two separate trips to Europe (Defendants would not
produce the band members for depositions in the United States) and in several
locations all over the United States. At least nine depositions were taken in London,
and Los Angeles, California between January 7, 2016 and February 10, 2016.
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As if this were not enough, the deadline for expert reports to be served was
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shortly before the discovery cut-off date. Plaintiff produced detailed and complex
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reports from five separate experts located all over the country, and this consumed
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weeks of working with the experts and fighting to get from defendants the
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produce any expert reports, claiming that they did not have to produce anything until
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30 days after Plaintiffs reports were produced. Thus, when the current motion was
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filed, Plaintiff did not have the benefit of seeing any expert report from the
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Defendants.
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litigation to get this case to trial as soon as possible, against formidable adversaries
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who have unlimited resources whose main strategy has been to delay and make the
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process as burdensome as possible for Plaintiff and his principal attorney, Francis
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while Plaintiff has been afforded a mere seven (7) business days to respond. Plaintiff
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respectfully requests one additional week to file its opposition so it will have a full
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and fair opportunity to present its best arguments to the court. There are a plethora
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of witnesses and expert witnesses located all over the country in this case, and the
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER
complexity of the issues and the volume of the evidence is such that Plaintiff
deserves more than the bare minimum amount of time to respond to the pending
complex motion.
II.
LEGAL STANDARD
Good cause exists for Plaintiff's requested extension. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b).
Good cause will be found if the schedule cannot reasonably be met despite the
Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (quoting the advisory committees notes); 6A
Charles A. Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure 1522.2, at 312-19 (3d
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ed. 2010). Although the existence or degree of prejudice to the party opposing the
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modification might supply additional reasons to deny a motion, the focus of the
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inquiry is upon the moving party's reasons for seeking modification. Johnson, 975
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F.2d at 609. As explained below, Plaintiff's diligent efforts satisfy this standard.
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discretion of the trial court. Woods v. Saturn Distribution Corp., 78 F.3d 424, 427
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(9th Cir. 1996); Rios-Berrios v. I.N.S., 776 F.2d 859, 862 (9th Cir. 1985). In the
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Ninth Circuit, four factors are weighed in order to determine whether the grant or
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denial of a continuance is reasonable: (1) whether the moving party has been diligent
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in readying its case; (2) the usefulness of the requested continuance; (3) the extent to
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which granting the continuance would inconvenience the court, the opposing party
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and the witnesses; and (4) prejudice to the moving party if a continuance is not
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granted. United States v. 2.61 Acres of Land, 791 F.2d 666, 671-72 (9th Cir.
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1985) (per curiam); United States v. Flynt, 756 F.2d 1352, 1359-62 (9th Cir. 1985).
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discovery cutoff and trial dates to permit a party adequate time to complete its
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discovery. See, e.g., Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Loube, 134 F.R.D. 270, 274 (N.D.
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Cal. 1991).
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER
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III.
the deadline by one week for Plaintiff to respond to the pending summary judgment
motion. Plaintiff has been diligent throughout this litigation in the face of serious
discourage Plaintiff. Defendants had unlimited time to prepare the motion, and
Plaintiff should be afforded more than seven (7) working days to respond. Plaintiff
respectfully requests that its time to oppose the motion be extended from March 7,
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EX PARTE APPLICATION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER