Omnitracs, LLC v. Platform Science, Inc.

District Court, S.D. California·Decided March 24, 2023·No. 3:20-cv-00958·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 OMNITRACS, LLC and XRS Case No.: 20-cv-958-CAB-DDL CORPORATION, 12 ORDER GRANTING IN PART Plaintiffs, 13 DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR v. ISSUANCE OF LETTER 14 ROGATORY PLATFORM SCIENCE, INC., 15 Defendant. [Dkt. No. 279] 16

17 18 Before the Court is Defendant Platform Science, Inc.’s (“Defendant”) unopposed 19 Motion for Issuance of Letters Rogatory to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for Colin 20 D. Warkentin (the “Motion”). Dkt. No. 279. The Court held a hearing on the Motion on 21 March 22, 2023, at which counsel for Plaintiffs Omnitracs, LLC and XRS Corporation 22 (“Plaintiffs”) and Defendant appeared. The Court has considered the moving papers, the 23 applicable law, and the arguments of counsel. For the reasons stated below and at the 24 hearing, the Motion is GRANTED IN PART. 25 Defendant seeks documents and testimony from Colin D. Warkentin, who is the first 26 named inventor on two of the patents-in-suit (the ‘568 and ‘575 patents) and a former 27 employee of XRS Corporation. Dkt. No. 279 at 4. According to Defendant, Mr. Warkentin 28 possesses unique knowledge regarding the conception and reduction to practice regarding 1 the ‘568 and ‘575 patents. Id. at 4-5, 11. Defendant further asserts that Mr. Warkentin is 2 uniquely knowledgeable about the “key prior art products” that were developed by XRS 3 Corporation during his employment there. Id. at 11. Defendant also seek any documents 4 that Mr. Warkentin has in his possession, custody and control related to the development 5 of these products. Plaintiffs do not oppose the Motion and indeed have identified Mr. 6 Warkentin as a witness with relevant knowledge in their Rule 26 disclosures. See Dkt. No. 7 279-9 at 9. Defendants have tried to contact Mr. Warkentin to solicit his voluntary 8 cooperation with their discovery efforts, but to no avail. Dkt. No. 279 at 9. 9 “A letter rogatory is ‘a formal written request sent by a court to a foreign court’ for 10 the purpose of obtaining evidence, including depositions and documents, in a pending 11 action.” Scalia v. Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union, 337 F.R.D. 281, 287 (N.D. Cal. 12 2020) (citation omitted). The issuance of such a request is within the Court’s inherent 13 powers and is also implicitly authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 1781. See Asis Internet Servs. v. 14 Optin Global, Inc., No. C-05-05124 JCS, 2007 WL 1880369, at *3 (N.D. Cal. June 29, 15 2007); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 28(b)(1)(B) (providing for the taking of foreign depositions 16 by means of a letter rogatory). Whether to do so is a matter of the Court’s discretion. 17 Scalia, 337 F.R.D. at 288. As with any other discovery request, discovery sought by means 18 of a letter rogatory must be within the scope of discovery defined by Rule 26(b). See id. 19 Defendant has provided the Court with its proposed letter rogatory setting forth the 20 requested discovery, which consists of 11 document requests and 13 topics for examination 21 at deposition. See Dkt. No. 279-1. 22 Having reviewed Defendant’s Motion and considered the information provided by 23 counsel at the March 22 hearing, the Court finds that the deposition testimony and 24 documents sought by Defendant are within the scope of Rule 26(b) with the exception of 25 proposed deposition topic number 13. Therefore, and for good cause shown, Defendant’s 26 Motion is GRANTED IN PART. The Court hereby authorizes a request for discovery 27 from Colin D. Warkentin consistent with the terms of this Order and as reflected in the 28 attached Letter Rogatory. It shall be the responsibility of the parties to deliver the Letter | || Rogatory to the appropriate authorities in Canada. A signed copy of the Letter Rogatory 2 || bearing the Court’s seal is available to be picked up from the Clerk of the Court, whose 3 address and business hours are available on the Court’s website. 4 IS SO ORDERED. 5 || Dated: March 24, 2023 That! bahar. ; Ge □□ United States Magistrate Judge. am □□ □

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 OMNITRACS, LLC and XRS Case No.: 20-cv-958-CAB-DDL CORPORATION, 12 LETTER ROGATORY TO THE Plaintiffs, 13 ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT FOR v. JUSTICE 14 PLATFORM SCIENCE, INC., 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 TO THE APPROPRIATE JUDICIAL AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF 19 CANADA: 20 The United States District Court for the Southern District of California (hereafter 21 “United States District Court”) presents its compliments to the Ontario Superior Court of 22 Justice and respectfully requests international judicial assistance to obtain evidence to be 23 used in the above-captioned civil action proceeding before this Court. The United States 24 District Court has determined that it would further the interests of justice if the Ontario 25 Superior Court of Justice utilizes its proper and usual process to summon Colin D. 26 Warkentin to appear before a person empowered under Canadian law to administer oaths 27 and take testimony forthwith, to give testimony under oath or affirmation by questions and 28 answers upon oral examination in respect of the matters and issues identified in Schedule 1 B, and permit the parties to create a written transcript and video recording of such 2 testimony. The United States District Court has also determined that it would further the 3 interests of justice if the Ontario Superior Court of Justice utilizes its proper and usual 4 process to summon Colin D. Warkentin to produce copies of the documents in his 5 possession, custody, or control that are identified in Schedule A. 6 The applicant for this letter is Defendant Platform Science, Inc. Counsel is available 7 to answer any questions the Ontario Superior Court of Justice may have. 8 This request is made pursuant to Rule 4(f)(2)(B) of the Federal Rules of Civil 9 Procedure; the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. §1651, and 28 U.S.C. §1781 (permitting the 10 transmittal of letters rogatory through the district courts and the Department of State); the 11 Ontario Evidence Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E. 23; and the Canada Evidence Act, R.S.C., 1985, 12 c. C-5. The United States District Court is a competent court of law and equity which 13 properly has jurisdiction over this proceeding and has the power to compel the attendance 14 of witnesses and production of documents both within and outside its jurisdiction. 15 According to information provided by the parties in the above-captioned matter, Colin D. 16 Warkentin resides in Canada, within the Province of Ontario, and has or is likely to have 17 possession of the documents specified in Schedule A and knowledge of the subject matter 18 specified in Schedule B herein. 19 The testimony and production of documents are intended for use at trial or directly 20 in the preparation for trial in this case, and in the view of the United States District Court, 21 will be relevant to claims and defenses in this case. This request is made with the 22 understanding that it will in no way require any person to commit any offense, or to 23 undergo a broader form of inquiry than he or she would if the litigation were conducted in 24 a Canadian court. The United States District Court is satisfied that the evidence sought to 25 be obtained through this request is relevant and necessary and cannot reasonably be 26 obtained by other methods. Because the United States District Court lacks authority to 27 compel participation of Mr.

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Omnitracs, LLC v. Platform Science, Inc., (S.D. Cal. 2023).

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Related

Writs
28 U.S.C. § 1651