Kageta Tech LLC v. Ford Motor Co.

District Court, E.D. California·Decided January 9, 2024·No. 2:23-cv-01632·Unknown

Opinion

DAALIVSIODN P A. B. RERICTHEANR (DPrSo ( HPraoc HVaicce )V ice) 55 W. Monroe Street Suite 3400 Chicago, IL 60603 Telephone: (312) 241-1505 Email: dberten@giplg.com arichards@giplg.com LANDON D. BAILEY (State Bar No. 240236) BAILEY PLC 1200 Suncast Lane, Suite 7 El Dorado Hills, CA 95762 Telephone: (916) 713-2580 Email: landon@baileyplc.com Attorneys for Plaintiff Kageta Tech LLC

KAGETA TECH LLC, a California Limited Case No. 2:23-cv-1632-WBS-CKD Liability Company; Plaintiff, PLAINTIFF KAGETA TECH’S EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR AN v. ORDER SHORTENING TIME TO HEAR MOTION FOR LEAVE TO TAKE THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY, DEPOSITION OF FORD’S DECLARANT RELATING TO VENUE; DECLARATION Defendant. OF DAVID P. BERTEN; [PROPOSED]

Date of Submission: January 8, 2024 Hon. Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney

Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 144(e), Plaintiff Kageta Tech LLC (“Kageta”) respectfully applies for an order shortening the time to hear its Motion For Leave To Take The Deposition Of Ford’s Declarant Relating To Venue (the “Motion For Leave”), filed concurrently herewith. The undersigned contacted counsel for Defendant Ford Motor Company (“Ford”) on January 5, 2023 at approximately 11:30 a.m. to obtain its position on this application to shorten time and to request that they stipulate to the relief sought. Berten Decl. ¶5. Counsel for Ford responded by saying that the motion should be heard even later than the next available motion date, i.e. instead of January 31 moving it to February. Id. Good cause exists for this application. By its Motion For Leave, Kageta seeks to take the deposition of a Ford employee who provided a declaration in support of Ford’s Motion to Transfer Venue, a motion seeking to transfer this entire litigation matter to the Eastern District of Michigan (see Dkt. No. 27). However, unless Kageta’s Motion For Leave can be heard on shortened time, that Motion For Leave will effectively be moot because it will not be possible for Kageta to take the deposition of the witness prior to the due date of its opposition to the Motion to Transfer Venue. Berten Decl. ¶¶7-10. This Court has authority to shorten the time to hear the Motion for Leave. Rule 6(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure sets forth the time for hearings on noticed motions “except[ ] . . . when a court order – which a party may, for good cause, apply for ex parte – sets a different time.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(c)(1); see also United States v. Fitch, 472 F.2d 548, 549 n.5 (9th Cir. 1973) (citing former Rule 6(c) and explaining that this rule “allows the district court discretion to shorten time”). The Local Civil Rules for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California recognize this authority, and provide that “applications to shorten time shall set forth by affidavit of counsel the circumstances claimed to justify the issuance of an order shortening time.” Local R. The Ford employee whose deposition Kageta seeks purports to provide facts in the declaration about where the parts at issue in this patent infringement case were designed, developed, and tested, and what entities and individuals were involved. The Motion for Leave addresses a simple single issue: whether the Ford employee who provided the declaration should be subject to cross examination on the matters set forth in the declaration prior to hearing on, and adjudication of, the underlying Motion to Transfer Venue. Taking the deposition prior to hearing the Motion to Transfer is particularly essential given the problems with the purported facts asserted in the subject declaration, some of which are detailed in the Motion For Leave To Take The Deposition. Deposition of the Ford declarant should be taken before Kageta’s response to Ford’s Motion to Transfer is due so the Court can duly consider the information it may reveal or confirm in the course of determining the merits of the Motion to Transfer. Kageta’s response in opposition to Ford’s motion to transfer is currently due on January 31, 2024. This is the same date that this Court would hear the Motion For Leave To Take The Deposition Of Ford’s Declarant Relating To Venue, in the absence of an Order shortening time. The issue of whether there will be a deposition of Ford’s declarant should be determined – and any deposition should be taken – well before Plaintiff’s response to the transfer motion is due. Absent the relief sought by this application, Kageta would be unable to get meaningful relief by way of its Motion For Leave position to the transfer motion. Alternatively, supplementing the opposition to the transfer motion with the information from the deposition would be wasteful and inefficient. Berten Decl. ¶¶7-10. To address the issues in an efficient and proper order, Plaintiff Kageta therefore requests that the Court enter an Order in response to this Application providing that any response from Ford to the Motion for Leave to Take the Deposition of Ford’s Declarant Relating to Venue be Plaintiff by 5:00 p.m. on January 17, 2024, and that the Motion For Leave To Take The Deposition Of Ford’s Declarant Relating To Venue be heard on Friday January 18, 2024, or as soon thereafter as the Court is available to hear it. Counsel for Ford has been aware of this issue, and, specifically, Kageta’s desire to take the deposition, since November 30, 2023, when Kageta’s counsel first requested that Ford make the witness available for deposition. The parties have repeatedly discussed the deposition issue by email, and conducted a telephonic meet and confer on the deposition issue on January 4, 2024. Kageta thus respectfully requests that the Court exercise the authority granted to it by Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(c)(1) and Local Civil Rule 144(e) here and shorten the time by which the Motion for Leave to Take the Deposition of Ford’s Declarant Relating to Venue will be briefed.

Dated: January 8, 2024 BAILEY PLC

By: /s/ Landon D. Bailey Landon D. Bailey Attorneys for Plaintiff

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Kageta Tech LLC v. Ford Motor Co., (E.D. Cal. 2024).

Kageta Tech LLC v. Ford Motor Co. (Kageta Tech LLC v. Ford Motor Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related