Judge Nixes SeaWorld's Bid for Sanctions Against Covington & Burling in Killer Whale Case
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California denied SeaWorld's motion for sanctions against Covington & Burling.
February 27, 2018 at 08:39 PM
3 minute read
SeaWorld has lost its bid to make its opposing counsel pick up a $2 million and running legal tab in a class action lawsuit over life in captivity for killer whales.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California denied SeaWorld's motion for sanctions against Covington & Burling, which has five lawyers of record working on the case in San Francisco and San Diego. The lawsuit accuses Orlando-based SeaWorld of misleading potential visitors with false claims that captive orcas live as long as those in the wild and that babies are allowed to stay with their mothers. The plaintiffs argue they would not have purchased tickets and merchandise from SeaWorld, had they known those claims were untrue.
“SeaWorld asks the court to impose sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 (“Rule 11”) against plaintiffs' counsel on the basis that plaintiffs' deposition testimony shows their claims were groundless and counsel knew—or should have known—that to be true,” White wrote in a four-page order. “SeaWorld also argues that the involvement of Earth Island Institute (“EII”) and the International Marine Mammal Project in this case demonstrates that counsel filed and pursued the case for an improper purpose.”
SeaWorld opposed the organizations assisting the plaintiffs because of their opposition to orcas being kept in captivity. SeaWorld accused Covington lawyers of recruiting “puppet plaintiffs” to join in a case already being made.
Both sides could take heart from parts of White's order. He said that deposition testimony and other documents show “it is evident that EII and plaintiffs' counsel were in search of class representatives well before the case was filed.”
But in considering sanctions, White said he must use the “improper purpose” prong of Rule 11, which “considers whether plaintiffs' claims had a colorable basis in law and whether the various iterations of the complaint were well-grounded in fact.”
Although White has granted SeaWorld's motions to dismiss portions of the plaintiffs' claims, he said he “cannot say the plaintiffs did not have a colorable basis for asserting the claims that have since been dismissed.”
White said he was “troubled” by some inconsistencies in one of the plaintiff's deposition testimony regarding who purchased the ticket to SeaWorld. But he said SeaWorld was repeating earlier arguments.
Bottom line: “There were triable issues of fact on most of the issues raised.”
SeaWorld's defense team leader is John Simpson of Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington. He could not be reached immediately for comment.
Covington & Burling's Christine Haskett, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, referred an inquiry to the firm's spokesman, who said by email: “We are pleased with the court's decision and look forward to trying the case.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllVisa CLO-Turned-Vice Chair Seeing Payoff From Expanded Role
Supreme Court allows investors' class action to proceed against microchip company Nvidia
3 minute read‘Really Deflating’: Judges React to Biden Threat to Veto New Judgeships Bill
Trending Stories
- 1Like a Life Raft: Ben Brafman Reflects on Nearly 50 Years as a Defense Attorney
- 2HSF Partner Removed Over ‘Deeply Offensive’ Tweets
- 3Another Latham Partner Heads to Sidley in London
- 4In 'Kousisis,' the DOJ Once Again Pushes the Limits of Federal Fraud Prosecutions
- 5How Kirkland Has 'Reinvented a Meaningful Aspect' of Funds Work
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250