Somers v. Apple, Inc.

Response to 21 Court's Order Re. Consolidation

N.D. Cal.May 2, 2008

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 HAEGGQUIST LAW GROUP ALREEN HAEGGQUIST (221858) 501 West Broadway, Suite A-276 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone: 619/955-8218 Facsimile: 619/342-7878 alreen@haeggquistlaw.com LAW OFFICE OF HELEN ZELDES HELEN I. ZELDES (220051) 249 S. Highway 101, #370 Solana Beach, CA 92075 Telephone: 858/523-1713 Facsimile: 858/523-1783 helenz@zeldeslaw.com MEHRI & SKALET, PLLC STEVEN A. SKALET CRAIG L. BRISKIN 1250 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: 202/822-5100 Facsimile: 202/822-4997 sskalet@findjustice.com cbriskin@findjustice.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN JOSE DIVISION STACIE SOMERS, On Behalf of Herself and All Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiff, vs. APPLE, INC., a California Corporation, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No. 5:07-cv-06507-JW CLASS ACTION INDIRECT PURCHASER PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO COURT'S ORDER REGARDING CONSOLIDATION JUDGE: Hon. James Ware DATE: May 12, 2008 TIME: 10:00 a.m. CTRM: 8-4TH FLOOR Case 5:07-cv-06507-JW Document 22 Filed 05/02/2008 Page 1 of 6 INDIRECT PURCHASER PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO COURT'S ORDER RE. CONSOLIDATION CASE NO. 5:07-CV-060507-HRL -1- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Plaintiff Stacie Somers, on behalf of herself and the putative class she represents in Somers v. Apple, Inc., et. al., No. C-07-06507-JW (“Somers”), respectfully submits the following response to this Court’s April 22, 2008, Order Directing All Parties to Submit Briefing re: Consolidation. While Plaintiff supports consolidation of the Somers action with the Apple iPod iTunes Anti-Trust Litigation, No. C-05-00037-JW, for the limited purposes of pretrial discovery and scheduling, Plaintiff Somers opposes consolidation for the purposes class certification, summary judgment and trial. I. CONSOLIDATION IS NOT PRACTICABLE FOR ALL PURPOSES HERE A. The Direct and Indirect Purchaser Actions are at Different Stages in their Development and Each Would be Prejudiced by Consolidation for All Purposes While the direct purchaser class cases were filed more than two years ago, the indirect purchaser action, the Somers case, was filed only five months ago. The direct purchaser class has already engaged in extensive discovery and is prepared to file its class certification brief this month. The parties in Somers, the indirect purchaser action, have only just held their Rule 26(f) conference and agreed to a schedule in which Plaintiff’s motion for class certification would be filed on or before November 3, 2008. Plaintiff Somers believes that a November class certification deadline is necessary in the indirect purchaser action to allow Plaintiff sufficient time to obtain necessary discovery, including discovery specific to her indirect purchaser claims that was not requested or produced in the direct purchaser action, to allow sufficient time to prepare her expert report and to adequately prepare her motion for class certification. There is no reason to delay the filing of class certification in the Apple iPod iTunes Anti- Trust Litigation, the direct purchaser action, nor is there any benefit to the Court in doing so. To the contrary, it is likely that the class certification issues decided in the Apple iPod iTunes Anti-Trust Litigation would in fact aid the Court in deciding certification issues in the Somers action. Case 5:07-cv-06507-JW Document 22 Filed 05/02/2008 Page 2 of 6 INDIRECT PURCHASER PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO COURT'S ORDER RE. CONSOLIDATION CASE NO. 5:07-CV-060507-HRL -2- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 B. There are Potential Conflicts Between the Direct and Indirect Purchaser Classes While the two actions pending before this Court allege similar issues of fact and law -- both claiming Apple engaged in illegal tying conduct, monopolization and unfair competition related to its iPod and iTune products -- the Somers action is an indirect purchaser action while the Apple iPod iTunes Anti-Trust Litigation is a direct purchaser action. As such, the two proposed classes stand in potential conflict to each other as they are required to prove different sets of facts and meet different tests under the law. II. CONSOLIDATION FOR THE LIMITED PURPOSES OF SCHEDULING AND PRETRIAL DISCOVERY WOULD PROMOTE EFFICIENCY Plaintiff Somers agrees with the direct purchaser plaintiffs that limited consolidation of the direct and indirect purchaser actions is appropriate for scheduling and pretrial discovery. Coordination of scheduling and discovery will promote efficiency and reduce expenses for all. III. CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, the indirect purchaser Plaintiff respectfully requests that this Court only consolidate these cases, if at all, for the limited purposes of scheduling and pretrial discovery. DATED: May 2, 2008 LAW OFFICE OF HELEN I. ZELDES /s/ Helen I. Zeldes HELEN I. ZELDES 249 S. Highway 101, #370 Solana Beach, CA 92075 Telephone: 858/523-1713 858/523-1783 (fax) HAEGGQUIST LAW GROUP ALREEN HAEGGQUIST 501 West Broadway, Suite A-276 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone: 619/955-8218 619/342-7878 (fax) Case 5:07-cv-06507-JW Document 22 Filed 05/02/2008 Page 3 of 6 INDIRECT PURCHASER PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO COURT'S ORDER RE. CONSOLIDATION CASE NO. 5:07-CV-060507-HRL -3- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 MEHRI & SKALET, PLLC STEVEN A. SKALET CRAIG L. BRISKIN 1250 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: 202/ 822-5100 202/822-4997 (fax) Attorneys for Plaintiff CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on May 2, 2008, I electronically filed the following documents with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system which will send notification of such filing to the e-mail addresses denoted on the attached Electronic Mail Notice List, and I hereby certify that I have caused the foregoing document or paper to be mailed via the United States Postal Service to the non- CM/ECF participants indicated on the attached Manual Notice List and Service List: • Indirect Purchaser Plaintiff’s Response to Court's Order Regarding Consolidation s/ HELEN I. ZELDES HELEN I. ZELDES LAW OFFICES OF HELEN I. ZELDES HELEN I. ZELDES (220051) 249 S. Highway 101, #370 Solana Beach, CA 92075 Telephone: 858/523-1713 858/523-1783 (fax) E-mail: helenz@zeldeslaw.com Case 5:07-cv-06507-JW Document 22 Filed 05/02/2008 Page 4 of 6 INDIRECT PURCHASER PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO COURT'S ORDER RE. CONSOLIDATION CASE NO. 5:07-CV-060507-HRL -4- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Mailing Information for a Case 5:05-cv-00037-JW Electronic Mail Notice List The following are those who are currently on the list to receive e-mail notices for this case. • Francis Joseph Balint , Jr fbalint@bffb.com • Michael David Braun service@braunlawgroup.com • Andrew S. Friedman rcreech@bffb.com,afriedman@bffb.com • Roy A. Katriel rak@katriellaw.com,rk618@aol.com • Thomas J. Kennedy tkennedy@murrayfrank.com • Caroline Nason Mitchell cnmitchell@jonesday.com,mlandsborough@jonesday.com,ewallace@jonesday.com • Robert Allan Mittelstaedt ramittelstaedt@jonesday.com,ybennett@jonesday.com • Brian P Murray bmurray@rabinlaw.com • Jacqueline Sailer jsailer@murrayfrank.com • Adam Richard Sand , Esq invalidaddress@invalidaddress.com • John J. Stoia , Jr jstoia@csgrr.com • Tracy Strong tstrong@jonesday.com,dharmon@jonesday.com • Bonny E. Sweeney bonnys@csgrr.com,tturner@csgrr.com,E_file_sd@csgrr.com Manual Notice List Case 5:07-cv-06507-JW Document 22 Filed 05/02/2008 Page 5 of 6 INDIRECT PURCHASER PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO COURT'S ORDER RE. CONSOLIDATION CASE NO. 5:07-CV-060507-HRL -5- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The following is the list of attorneys who are not on the list to receive e-mail notices for this case (who therefore require manual noticing). You may wish to use your mouse to select and copy this list into your word processing program in order to create notices or labels for these recipients. Todd David Carpenter Bonnett, Fairbourn, Friedman, & Balint 2901 N. Central Avenue Suite 1000 Phoenix, AZ 85012 Mailing Information for a Case 5:07-cv-060507-HRL Electronic Mail Notice List The following are those who are currently on the list to receive e-mail notices for this case. • Craig L. Briskin cbriskin@findjustice.com • Alreen Haeggquist alreen@haeggquistlaw.com • Steven A. Skalet sskalet@findjustice.com • Helen I. Zeldes helenz@zeldeslaw.com Manual Notice List The following is the list of attorneys who are not on the list to receive e-mail notices for this case (who therefore require manual noticing). You may wish to use your mouse to select and copy this list into your word processing program in order to create notices or labels for these recipients. • No manual recipients Case 5:07-cv-06507-JW Document 22 Filed 05/02/2008 Page 6 of 6