Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

Case 3:07-cv-02552-MJJ

Document 33

Filed 07/23/2007

Page 1 of 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

DRATH, CLIFFORD, MURPHY & HAGEN, LLP JOHN M. DRATH (State Bar No. 045031) 1999 Harrison Street, Suite 700 Oakland, California 94612-3517 Telephone: (510) 287-4000 Facsimile: (510) 287-4050 Attorneys for Defendants HANDLER, THAYER & DUGGAN, LLC and THOMAS J. HANDLER

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

GREGORY R. RAIFMAN, individually and as ) Trustee of the RAIFMAN FAMILY REVOCABLE ) TRUST DATED 7/2/03; SUSAN RAIFMAN, ) individually and as Trustee of the RAIFMAN ) FAMILY REVOCABLE TRUST DATED 7/2/03; ) and GEKKO HOLDINGS, LLC, an Alaskan limited ) liability company, dba GEKKO BREEDING AND ) RACING, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) vs. ) ) CLASSICSTAR, LLC, a Utah limited liability ) company; CLASSICSTAR FARMS, LLC, a ) Kentucky limited liability company; BUFFALO ) RANCH, a business entity form unknown; ) GEOSTAR CORPORATION, a Delaware ) corporation; S. DAVID PLUMMER; SPENCER D. ) PLUMMER, III; TONY FERGUSON; THOMAS ) ROBINSON/ JOHN PARROT; HANDLER, ) THAYER & DUGGAN, LLC, an Illinois limited ) liability company; THOMAS J. HANDLER; ) KARREN, HENDRIX, STAGG, ALLEN & ) COMPANY, P.C., a Utah professional corporation, ) f/k/a/ KARREN, HENDRIX & ) ASSOCIATES, P.C., a Utah professional ) corporation; TERRY L. GREEN; and DOES ) 1-1000, inclusive, ) ) Defendants. ) )

No. C07-2552 MJJ

DECLARATION OF SCOTT STAINS IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO SET ASIDE DEFAULT

DATE TIME COURTROOM

: :

08/28/07 9:30 a.m. 11:

D E C L A R A T I O N O F S C O T T ST A I N S I N SU P P O R T O F M O T I O N F O R R E L IE F F R O M D E F A U L T

1

Case 3:07-cv-02552-MJJ

Document 33

Filed 07/23/2007

Page 2 of 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

I, SCOTT STAINS, declare and state as follows: 1. I am a claims representative with GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE

COMPANY, and I am in the Professional Liability Division located in Dallas, Texas. 2. On May 25, 2007, our company received a letter from THOMAS J.

HANDLER of HANDLER, THAYER & DUGGAN, LLC, and this letter was routed to me. The letter stated that the firm had "received" a summons in the Raifman litigation, and both the summons and the complaint was enclosed. A copy of the summons is attached hereto as EXHIBIT A. Since none of the boxes were checked, I assumed the summons and complaint had been mailed to the insured, as is typically done in legal malpractice actions. 3. On Friday, June 1, 2007 I sent JOHN DRATH of DRATH, CLIFFORD,

MURPHY & HAGEN an email asking him if he was willing and able to handle this matter, and the following week I received word from his assistant Roberta Beach that conflicts were cleared. She also advised that Mr. Drath was in trial and he would review this matter once his trial was over. 4. Believing that service had not yet been effected, I dictated a letter to

Mr. Drath, but due to a work backlog here in our office, the letter did not go out until July 5. There was no reference in my letter to any service on the insureds, as it was still my belief that no service had been effected. I did not learn that the summons and complaint had been served until I got an email from Mr. Drath dated July 12 advising me that a default had been taken the previous day. I declare under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the State of California, that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed this _____ day of July, 2007 at Dallas, Texas.

SCOTT STAINS
R:\75\3048\PDstains001.jmd.wpd

D E C L A R A T I O N O F S C O T T ST A I N S I N SU P P O R T O F M O T I O N F O R R E L IE F F R O M D E F A U L T

2