Free Response to Motion - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP Collier Center 201 East Washington Street Suite 1600 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2382 Telephone: (602) 257-5200 Facsimile: (602) 257-5299 Karl M. Tilleman (013435) P. Bruce Converse (005868) Jason Sanders (018600) Attorneys for Defendants Harlem Globetrotters International, Inc. and Mannie L. Jackson DREIER LLP 499 Park Avenue New York, New York 10022 Telephone: (212) 328-6100 Facsimile: (212) 328-6101 Ira S. Sacks, admitted pro hac vice Attorneys for Defendant GTFM, LLC UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Meadowlark Lemon, et al., Plaintiffs, vs. Harlem Globetrotters International, Inc., et al. Defendants.
DEFENDANTS' RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFF' MOTION TO STRIKE S DEFENDANTS' UNTIMELY RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF' S MOTION FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEY' S FEES AND REQUEST FOR SANCTIONS

Nos. CV-04-0299 PHX DGC and CV-04-1023 PHX DGC

Case 2:04-cv-00299-DGC

Document 639

Filed 04/05/2007

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Plaintiff' Motion to Strike Defendants'Response to Plaintiff' Motion for s s Attorneys' Fees as untimely is frivolous and completely unsupported by the Arizona Local Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff filed his Motion for Award of Attorney' Fees on March 16, 2007. s Pursuant to L. R. Civ. P. 7.2(c), parties generally have ten days to respond to motions, " except as otherwise provided by . . . L. R. Civ. P. 54.2(b)." L. R. Civ. P. 54.2(b)(3) provides that the party opposing a motion for award of attorneys' fees may file and serve a responsive memorandum " within fifteen (15) days" after service of the motion. As plaintiff recognizes, an additional three days are added for electronic service pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(e). Fifteen days from March 16, 2007 was March 31, 2007. Adding the additional three days for electronic service made the due date for Defendants' Response April 3, 2007. Defendants' Response, filed on April 3, 2007, was therefore timely. Plaintiff' Motion to Strike is frivolous, violates Rule 11, has caused the s Defendants to incur additional attorneys' fees, and is a waste of the Court' time. See s Coca-Cola Foods v. Empresa Comercial Internacional de Frutas, 941 F. Supp. 1182, 1184 (M.D. Fla. 1996) (finding that a party' frivolous " s motion to strike needlessly delays the Court'time and borders on a sanctionable offense" Defendants therefore s ). respectfully request that plaintiff' Motion to Strike be rejected, and that plaintiff' s s counsel be ordered to reimburse Defendants for the fees they have incurred responding to this Motion.

Case 2:04-cv-00299-DGC

Document 639 1 Filed 04/05/2007

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Case 2:04-cv-00299-DGC Document 639 2 Filed 04/05/2007 Page 3 of 4
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DATED this 5th day of April, 2007. STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP By: /s/ Jason Sanders Karl M. Tilleman P. Bruce Converse Jason Sanders 201 East Washington Street Suite 1600 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2382 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants Harlem Globetrotters International, Inc., and Mannie L. Jackson

and DREIER LLP

By:

/s/ Ira S. Sacks with permission Ira S. Sacks 499 Park Avenue New York, New York 10022 [email protected]

Attorneys for Defendant GTFM, LLC

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Case 2:04-cv-00299-DGC

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 1. I hereby certify that on the 5th day of April, 2007, a true and

correct copy of the foregoing Motion was electronically transmitted to the Clerk' s Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: Safia A. Anand: [email protected] Florence M. Bruemmer: [email protected] Edward R. Garvey: [email protected], Christa O. Westerberg: [email protected] [email protected] Robert Williams Goldwater III: [email protected] Ray Kendall Harris: [email protected] [email protected] Joel Louis Herz: [email protected], [email protected] Alec R. Hillbo: [email protected] [email protected] Brandon Scott Peters: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Anders V. Rosenquist , Jr: [email protected] Ira S. Sacks: [email protected] Clay M. Townsend: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Jason R. Leonard: [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected]

By: /s/ Jason Sanders Jason Sanders

Document 639 3 Filed 04/05/2007

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