Bates-Ferreira v. Phillip Morris International Inc. ( 2024 )

BURSOR & FISHER, P.A. 1 L. Timothy Fisher (State Bar No. 191626) Brittany S. Scott (State Bar No. 327132) 2 1990 North California Blvd., Suite 940 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 3 Telephone: (925) 300-4455 Facsimile: (925) 407-2700 4 E-mail: ltfisher@bursor.com bscott@bursor.com 5 Counsel for Plaintiff 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 JOHN DOE, individually and on behalf of all Case No. 2:24-CV-00987-TLN-CKD 11 other persons similarly situated, 12 STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR Plaintiff, LEAVE TO FILE AMENDED 13 COMPLAINT v. 14 PHILLIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL INC. 15 and SWEDISH MATCH NORTH AMERICA, 16 LLC, 17 Defendants. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Pursuant to Local Rules 143 and 144, Plaintiff John Doe (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants 2 Swedish Match North America LLC (“Swedish Match”) and Philip Morris International Inc. 3 (“PMI”) (collectively, “Defendants”), by and through their respective counsel, hereby agree and 4 stipulate to Plaintiff’s filing of a first amended complaint and an extension of time for Defendants 5 to respond to Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint. 6 WHEREAS, this stipulation is made in good faith and not for the purpose of undue delay. 7 This stipulation will not alter any deadline previously set by the Court; 8 WHEREAS, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this Court on March 29, 2024; 9 WHEREAS, Plaintiff served Swedish Match on April 4, 2024, and served PMI on April 5, 10 2024; 11 WHEREAS, Defendants received one extension of 28 days to respond to Plaintiff’s 12 Complaint pursuant to Local Rule 144(a); 13 WHEREAS on April 1, 2024, Plaintiff filed an Administrative Motion to Proceed Under a 14 Pseudonym (ECF No. 2.) (the “Motion”); 15 WHEREAS on May 8, 2024, Swedish Match filed its opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion (ECF 16 No. 17); 17 WHEREAS, Plaintiff withdraws his Motion; 18 WHEREAS, the Parties have met and conferred and IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and 19 between Plaintiff and Defendants: 20 1. Plaintiff shall file by May 23, 2024, an amended complaint for the sole purposes of 21 disclosing his name and amending his claim for damages under California’s Consumer 22 Legal Remedies Act; 23 2. This amendment shall not waive Plaintiff’s right to amend his Complaint under Fed. R. 24 Civ. P. 15(a)(1); 25 3. Defendants shall have 21 days from the filing of Plaintiff’s amended complaint to 26 respond, by answer, motion, or otherwise; 27 1 4. Defendants do not waive any jurisdictional, affirmative, or other defenses1 and reserve 2 all rights, including the right to seek any additional extension of time for good cause. 3 4 Dated: May 20, 2024 Respectfully submitted, 5 BURSOR & FISHER, P.A. 6 By: _/s/ Brittany S. Scott___________ 7 Brittany S. Scott (State Bar No. 327132) 8 bscott@bursor.com 9 Counsel for Plaintiff and the Putative Class 10 11 Dated: May 20, 2024 MUNGER, TOLLES & OLSON LLP 12 By: _/s/ Bethany W. Kristovich 13 (As authorized on May 17, 2024) 14 Michael R. Doyen (SBN 119687) michael.doyen@mto.com 15 Daniel B. Levin (SBN 226044) daniel.levin@mto.com 16 Bethany W. Kristovich (SBN 241891) bethany.kristovich@mto.com 17 John L. Schwab (SBN 301386) john.schwab@mto.com 18 19 Attorneys for Defendant Swedish Match North America LLC 20 21 22 23 1 Defendants’ participation in this stipulation and request for an extension of time is not intended to 24 waive and should not be construed to waive any challenge to personal jurisdiction or other defense available to Defendants under Rule 12(b). See Johnson v. Comm’n on Presidential Debates, 2014 25 WL 12597805, at *4–5 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 6, 2014); see also Freeney v. Bank of Am. Corp., 2015 WL 4366439, at *20 (C.D. Cal. July 16, 2015) (filing a notice of related cases, notice of appearance, 26 and motion for extension of time to answer did not constitute a waiver of Rule 12(b) defense); Benny v. Pipes, 799 F.2d 489, 493 (9th Cir. 1986) (“Generally, a motion to extend time to respond 27 gives no hint that the answer will waive personal jurisdiction defects, and is probably best viewed as a holding maneuver while counsel consider how to proceed.”). Dated: May 20, 2024 LATHAM & WATKINS LLP 1 2 By: _/s/ Christine G. Rolph___________ 3 (As authorized on May 17, 2024) 4 Christine G. Rolph (SBN 190798) christine.rolph@lw.com 5 Attorney for Defendant Philip Morris International Inc. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 ORDER 2 IT IS SO ORDERED. /) 4 Vb Date: May 20, 2024 a ZAM is 5 Troy L. Nunley» United States District Judge 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ETIDITT ATION TA LETTE ARAGNITAET COARNMDIATNIT