G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC v. Macias

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 21, 2021
Docket5:20-cv-02916
StatusUnknown

This text of G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC v. Macias (G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC v. Macias) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC v. Macias, (N.D. Cal. 2021).

Opinion

1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 SAN JOSE DIVISION 6 7 G & G CLOSED CIRCUIT EVENTS, LLC, Case No. 20-cv-02916-BLF

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND 9 v. DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S RENEWED MOTION FOR DEFAULT 10 RAMON MACIAS, et al., JUDGMENT 11 Defendants. [Re: ECF 30]

12 13 The Clerk of Court entered default against Defendants Ramon Macias, individually and 14 d/b/a Los Compadres Bar & Grill, and Los Compadres Bar& Grill, Inc., an unknown business 15 entity d/b/a Los Compadres Bar & Grill (collectively, “Defendants”), after Defendants failed to 16 respond to the summons and complaint within the time prescribed by the Federal Rules of Civil 17 Procedure. ECF 14. Before the Court is Plaintiff G&G Closed Circuit Events, LLC’s motion for 18 default judgment. Mot., ECF 29-1. Defendants, not having appeared in this action to date, have not 19 opposed the motion. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7-1(b), the Court finds this matter for suitable 20 for resolution without oral argument. For the reasons that follow, the Court GRANTS IN PART 21 and DENIES IN PART Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment. 22 I. BACKGROUND 23 Plaintiff is a commercial distributor and licensor of closed-circuit sports and entertainment 24 programming. Compl. ¶ 21; Gagliardi Decl., ECF 15-2 ¶ 3. Plaintiff alleges that it owns 25 exclusive nationwide commercial distribution (closed-circuit) rights to the Saul “Canelo” 26 Alvarez v. Daniel Jacobs WBA/WBC/IBF Middleweight Championship Fight Program, which 27 was telecast nationally on May 4, 2019, including all under-card bouts and fight commentary 1 Plaintiff then sublicensed the right to publicly exhibit the Program to various commercial 2 entities throughout California and North America. Compl. ¶ 19; Gagliardi Decl. ¶ 3. Plaintiff 3 alleges that Defendants unlawfully intercepted and exhibited the Program at their commercial 4 establishment, Los Compadres Bar & Grill, located at 4126 Monterey Road, San Jose, California 5 95111. Compl. ¶¶ 12, 23-24; Gagliardi Decl. ¶¶ 3, 7, 9-11. 6 On April 28, 2020, Plaintiff filed this action for violation of 47 U.S.C. §§ 553 and 605, 7 conversion, and violation of California Business and Professions Code §§ 17200 et seq. See 8 generally Compl. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen denied Plaintiff’s original motion for 9 default judgment because “inadequacies in Plaintiff’s complaint and the affidavit of its 10 investigator [left] open the possibility of disputes concerning material facts and therefore weigh 11 against entry of default judgment.” ECF 17 at 5. Judge van Keulen provided Plaintiff the 12 opportunity to file an amended complaint or renewed motion for default judgment that rectified 13 the concerns stated in the order and “state[d] with particularity sufficient facts to establish 14 Defendants’ liability.” Id. Plaintiff subsequently declined magistrate judge jurisdiction, ECF 19, 15 and the case was reassigned to the undersigned, ECF 21. Due to a failure of Plaintiff to comply 16 with the requirements of Judge van Keulen’s order, this Court issued an order to show cause. 17 ECF 25. Plaintiff responded to that order, ECF 26, and on April 8, 2021, the Court discharged the 18 order to show cause and required Plaintiff to file an amended complaint or renewed motion for 19 default judgment by May 7, 2021. ECF 28. On May 7, 2021, Plaintiff filed a renewed motion for 20 default judgment. Mot. 21 In the present motion, Plaintiff seeks default judgment as to its claims under 47 U.S.C. §§ 22 553 and 605 and for conversion. ECF 30 ¶ 4(c)(4)-(5); see also Mot. at 4 (“To prevail under 47 23 U.S.C. § 605 or 47 U.S.C. § 553 . . . ”). Plaintiff does not seek default judgment as to its claim 24 under California Business and Professions Code §§ 17200 et seq. Plaintiff acknowledges that it 25 may recover only under either 47 U.S.C. § 553 or § 605, and requests that this Court find liability 26 under § 605. Mot. at 6 fn. 3. Accordingly, Plaintiff presents its damages request pursuant to § 605. 27 See id. at 11-17. Plaintiff further contends that, notwithstanding that request, “if the Court were 1 Plaintiff[’s] . . . damages request is well within the lower damages range under 47 U.S.C. § 553. 2 Id. at 7. 3 II. LEGAL STANDARD 4 After entry of default, a court may, in its discretion, enter default judgment. See Fed. R. 5 Civ. P. 55; Aldabe v. Aldabe, 616 F.2d 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). Before entering default 6 judgment, the Court must assess the adequacy of the service of process on the party against whom 7 default is requested. See Trustees of ILWU-PMA Pension Plan v. Coates, No. C–11–3998 EMC, 8 2013 WL 556800, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 12, 2013). The Court must also determine whether it has 9 subject matter jurisdiction over the action and personal jurisdiction over the defaulted defendant. 10 Id. at *3–4. 11 If the Court concludes that the defaulted defendant was properly served and that the Court 12 has jurisdiction, the Court must next consider whether default judgment is appropriate, 13 considering seven factors set forth by the Ninth Circuit: (1) the possibility of prejudice to the 14 plaintiff; (2) the merits of plaintiff’s substantive claims; (3) the sufficiency of the complaint; (4) 15 the sum of money at stake in the action; (5) the possibility of dispute concerning material facts; (6) 16 whether default was due to excusable neglect; and (7) the strong policy under the Federal Rules of 17 Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits. Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1471–72 (9th 18 Cir. 1986). In considering these factors, the Court takes all well-pleaded factual allegations in the 19 complaint as true, except those concerning damages. Televideo Sys., Inc. v. Heidenthal, 826 F.2d 20 915, 917–18 (9th Cir. 1987). 21 III. DISCUSSION 22 A. Service and Jurisdiction 23 Plaintiff filed proofs of service of the summons and complaint on Defendant Ramon 24 Macias, both personally and as agent for service of process for Defendant Los Compadres Bar & 25 Grill, Inc. ECF 10; ECF 11. A sworn proof of service constitutes “prima facie evidence of valid 26 service which can be overcome only by strong and convincing evidence.” Securities & Exchg. 27 Comm’n v. Internet Solutions for Business, Inc., 509 F.3d 1161, 1166 (9thCir. 2007). Accordingly, 1 proper. 2 The Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this matter because federal statutes are at 3 issue, and the Court can exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims. 28 U.S.C. 4 §§1331, 1367. The requirement of personal jurisdiction is also satisfied because Defendants were 5 served, reside, and do business in California. See J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, 564 6 U.S.873, 880-81 (2011). 7 B. Eitel Factors 8 Having concluded that the threshold requirements of service and jurisdiction are met, the 9 Court considers the Eitel factors.

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