Free Response ( Non Motion ) - District Court of California - California

Case 3:08-cv-00778-MHP

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Filed 03/17/2008

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1 SHEPPARD MULLIN RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP 2 3 4 5 6
A Limited Liability Partnership Including Professional Corporations NEIL A. SMITH, Cal. Bar No. 63777 NATHANIEL BRUNO, Cal. Bar No. 228118 Four Embarcadero Center, 17th Floor San Francisco, California 94111-4106 Telephone: 415-434-9100 Facsimile: 415-434-3947 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

7 Attorneys for Defendants DANRICK COMMERCE
GROUP, LLC a/k/a 8 MODERNCOLLECTIONS.COM and DANNY LOUIE

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION Case No. 08-CV-0778 MHP RESPONSE BY DANRICK COMMERCE GROUP, LLC AND DANNY LOUIE TO PREMATURELY-FILED CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT OF KNOLL, INC. Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel United States District Judge Complaint Filed: February 1, 2008

13 KNOLL, INC., a Delaware corporation, 14 15
v. Plaintiff,

16 DANRICK COMMERCE GROUP, LLC a/k/a
MODERNCOLLECTIONS.COM, DANNY 17 LOUIE, and DOES A­Z, Retailers for Alphaville Design, Inc.,

18
Defendants.

19
DANRICK COMMERCE GROUP, LLC a/k/a 20 MODERNCOLLECTIONS.COM, a California limited liability company,

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Counterclaimant,

22

v.

23 KNOLL, INC., a Delaware corporation, 24 25 26 27 28
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Counterdefendant.

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Case No. 08-CV-0778 MHP

RESPONSE TO KNOLL, INC.'S PREMATURELYFILED CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

Case 3:08-cv-00778-MHP

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1

TO THE HONORABLE COURT, AND TO ALL PARTIES AND THEIR

2 COUNSEL OF RECORD: 3
For the purpose of clarifying the docket and record in this action,

4 Defendant/Counterclaimant Danrick Commerce Group, LLC ("Danrick") and Defendant Danny 5 Louie ("Louie") hereby file this statement in response to the purported "Joint Case Management 6 Statement" ("Knoll's CMC Statement") filed in this action as Docket No. 19 by 7 Plaintiff/Counterdefendant Knoll, Inc. ("Knoll"). Knoll's CMC Statement was initially filed as 8 Docket No. 36 in the related case of Alphaville Design, Inc. v. Knoll, Inc., Case No. 07-CV-55699 MHP. Danrick and Louie are not parties to that action, were erroneously sued pursuant to 10 purported "counterclaims" by Knoll in that action, have never been served with a summons in that 11 action, and did not participate in the Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 conference or communicate with Knoll 12 regarding the preparation of a case management statement in that action. In fact, Danrick and 13 Louie have requested that Knoll officially dismiss them from Knoll's erroneously-filed 14 "counterclaims" in that action. But for some unexplained reason, Knoll filed its Case Management 15 Statement from that action (i.e., Docket No. 36 in Case No. 07-CV-5569-MHP) as Docket No. 19 16 in this action as well, creating potential confusion as to whether Danrick and Louie participated or 17 are somehow parties to that action and case management process, which they are not. 18
Danrick and Louie did not participate with Knoll in the preparation of Knoll's Case

19 Management Statement or in the meet and confer process leading thereto in the separate but 20 related Alphaville Action (Case No. 07-CV-5569-MHP) because, as explained above, Danrick and 21 Louie are not parties to that action. Knoll has now filed three separate actions against Danrick and 22 Louie for the same purported claims (one in the Southern District of New York which was 23 dismissed, and now two more here in the Northern District of California), thereby increasing the 24 unfair expense and burden to Danrick and Louie, which are a small company that is a customer of 25 Alphaville Design, Inc. (Danrick) and one of Danrick's owners (Louie). 26
Furthermore, Danrick and Louie have been specifically advised by Knoll's counsel

27 that their Fed. R. Civ. P. 26-related and case management-related issues will be dealt with 28 according to the schedule set forth in this action, for which the Initial Case Management -2W02-WEST:6NB1\400748978.1

Case No. 08-CV-0778 MHP

RESPONSE TO KNOLL, INC.'S PREMATURELYFILED CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

Case 3:08-cv-00778-MHP

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1 Conference is currently set for May 12, 2008. (See Docket No 2.) Therefore, the time for filing a 2 joint case management statement has not yet arrived (the appropriate date is set for May 5, 2008), 3 Knoll's filing of a purported statement was improper and confusing, and Danrick and Louie will 4 adhere to the schedule of dates set forth in this action in connection with the Initial Case 5 Management Conference set for May 12, 2008, pending any future modifications to that schedule. 6 7
Respectfully submitted, DATED: March 17, 2008

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SHEPPARD MULLIN RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP

By /s/ Nathaniel Bruno NEIL A. SMITH NATHANIEL BRUNO Attorneys for DANRICK COMMERCE GROUP, LLC and DANNY LOUIE

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Case No. 08-CV-0778 MHP

RESPONSE TO KNOLL, INC.'S PREMATURELYFILED CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT