Free MOTION to Relate Case - District Court of California - California

Case 3:08-cv-03558-VRW

Document 6

Filed 08/11/2008

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1 GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

JOEL S. SANDERS, SBN 107234 GEORGE A. NICOUD III, SBN 106111 RACHEL S. BRASS, SBN 219301 REBECCA JUSTICE LAZARUS, SBN 227330 RICHARD J. MCPALMER, SBN 244962 One Montgomery Street, Suite 3100 San Francisco, California 94104 Telephone: (415) 393-8200 Facsimile: (415) 986-5309 Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

MATSON NAVIGATION COMPANY, INC. 10 AND ALEXANDER & BALDWIN, INC.

9 Attorneys for Defendants

11 12 13 14 15 Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, 16 Plaintiff, 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO CONSIDER WHETHER CASES SHOULD BE RELATED, Case No. 08-cv-02402-VRW and 08-cv-03558-WDB

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND DIVISIONS

ROBERT H. STEINBERG, Individually and on ) ) ) ) ) v. ) ) MATSON NAVIGATION COMPANY, INC., ) et al. ) ) Defendants ) ) ---------------------------------------------------------- ) SJ VENTURE GROUP, LLC dba PACIFIC ) IMPORTS INTERNATIONAL, Individually ) and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) MATSON NAVIGATION COMPANY, INC., ) et al. ) ) Defendants. )

Case No. 08-cv-02402 VRW ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO CONSIDER WHETHER CASES SHOULD BE RELATED

Case No. 08-cv-03558 WDB

Case 3:08-cv-03558-VRW

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Filed 08/11/2008

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TO THE COURT AND ALL PARTIES AND COUNSEL OF RECORD: PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT, pursuant to Civ. L.R. 3-12, Defendants Matson

3 Navigation Company, Inc. and Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., hereby give notice that the following 4 two cases are related within the meaning of Civ. L.R. 3-12: 5
Robert H. Steinberg, et al. v. Matson Navigation Company, Inc., Alexander &

6 Baldwin, Inc., Horizon Lines, Inc., and Horizon Lines LLC, 08-cv-02402-VRW ("Steinberg"); and 7
SJ Venture Group, LLC, dba Pacific Imports International, et al. v. Matson

8 Navigation Company, Inc., Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., Horizon Lines, LLC, and Horizon Lines, 9 Inc., 08-cv-03558-WDB ("SJ Venture"). 10
Steinberg is a civil action currently pending in the Northern District of California before

11 the Honorable Vaughn R. Walker. SJ Venture is a civil action currently pending in the Northern 12 District of California before the Honorable Wayne D. Brazil. Steinberg was filed prior to SJ 13 Venture and, as such, is assigned the lower case number. 14
This Administrative Motion is made pursuant to Local Rule 3-12(a), which provides that

15 actions are related when: 16 17 and 18
(2) It appears likely that there will be an unduly burdensome duplication of labor and (1) The actions concern substantially the same parties, property, transaction or event;

19 expense or conflicting results if the cases are conducted before different judges. 20
Steinberg and SJ Venture are related within the meaning of Civ. L.R. 3-12. Both cases

21 involve allegations of violations of antitrust statutes in connection with ocean shipping services. 22 Specifically, both actions allege that the Matson and Horizon defendants agreed, combined, or 23 conspired with each other to fix, raise, maintain and/or stabilize prices of noncontiguous domestic 24 ocean shipping and/or to allocate markets and/or customers for those services in the United States. 25 Plaintiffs in both actions name the same defendants. At least three other, similar matters have
1 26 been assigned or reassigned to Judge Walker.

27

1

28 VRW; 50th State Distributors, Inc. v. Matson Navigation Company, Inc., et al., 08-cv-02603-

Those matters are: Acutron, Inc. v. Matson Navigation Company, Inc., et al., 08-cv-02600-

ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO CONSIDER WHETHER CASES SHOULD BE RELATED, Case No. 08-cv-02402-VRW and 08-cv-03558-WDB

Case 3:08-cv-03558-VRW

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Filed 08/11/2008

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The factual and legal matters presented in Steinberg and SJ Venture will be largely

2 identical. Whereas assignment to separate judges will create an unduly burdensome duplication of 3 labor, generate unneeded expense, and may lead to conflicting results, assignment to a single
2 4 judge will conserve judicial resources and lead to more efficient determination of all the actions.

5

Defendants Matson Navigation Company, Inc. and Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. respectfully

3 6 request that the SJ Venture action be related to the Steinberg action.

7 Dated: August 11, 2008 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
100491520_2.DOC

GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER, LLP /s/ RACHEL S. BRASS GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER, LLP One Montgomery Street, Suite 3100 San Francisco, CA 94104 Telephone: (415) 393-8200 Facsimile: (415) 986-5309 Counsel for Defendants Matson Navigation Company, Inc. and Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

VRW; and Winkler Woods, LLC v. Matson Navigation Co., Inc., et al., 08-cv-03169-VRW.
2

There are currently two MDL proceedings involving at least fourteen complaints alleging

24 antitrust violations by the Matson and Horizon defendants in the noncontiguous domestic ocean 25 Ocean Cabotage Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1972. The Steinberg plaintiffs have been 26 identified as interested parties to both proceedings, while SJ Venture has been identified as a
potential tag-along action.
3

shipping industry. In Re: Hawaiian Cabotage Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1970; In Re: Pacific

27

By filing this Notice of a Related Case, Defendants Matson Navigation Company, Inc. and 28 Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. do not consent to proceed before a United States Magistrate Judge. 3
ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO CONSIDER WHETHER CASES SHOULD BE RELATED, Case No. 08-cv-02402-VRW and 08-cv-03558-WDB