Chong's Produce, Inc. v. Queen Fresh Fruits, LLC ( 2020 )

1 || CAITLIN SINCLAIRE BLYTHE (CA SBN 265024) CBlythe@mofo.com 2 || MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP 425 Market Street 3 || San Francisco, California 94105-2482 Telephone: 415.268.7000 4 || Facsimile: 415.268.7522 5 || Settlement Attorneys for Defendants QUEEN FRESH FRUITS, LLC and QUEEN KHO BO, LLC 6 7 || SUSAN E. BISHOP (CA SBN 187253) susan.bishop @ berliner.com 8 || BERLINER COHEN, LLP Ten Almaden Boulevard 9 || Eleventh Floor San Jose, California 95113-2233 10 || Telephone: (408) 286-5800 Facsimile: (408) 998-5388 11 Attorneys for Plaintiff 12 || CHONG’S PRODUCE, INC. 13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 14 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 15 SAN JOSE DIVISION 16 17 CHONG’S PRODUCE, INC., Case No. 19-cv-01610-NC 18 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND ORDER OF 19 VOLUNTARY CONDITIONAL V. DISMISSAL PURSUANT TO 20 CONFIDENTIAL SETTLEMENT QUEEN FRESH FRUITS, LLC and QUEEN AGREEMENT 21 || KHO BO, LLC, Judge: Hon. Nathanael Cousins 22 Defendants. 23 Date Filed: March 28, 2019 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER OF VOLUNTARY CONDITIONAL DISMISSAL 1 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(i), Plaintiff Chong’s Produce, Inc. 2 || (‘Chong’s Produce”) and Defendants Queen Fresh Fruits, LLC, and Queen Kho Bo, LLC, 3 || (collectively the “Queen stores’’) (hereafter referred to collectively as the “Parties’’) jointly submit 4 || this Stipulation and Proposed Order of Voluntary Conditional Dismissal Pursuant to Confidential 5 || Settlement Agreement and request the Court to enter dismissal of this case without prejudice, but 6 || retain jurisdiction to enforce the Parties’ confidential settlement agreement. 7 STIPULATION 8 1. On March 28, 2019, Chong’s Produce filed a lawsuit against the Queen stores in 9 || the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to enforce alleged rights 10 || under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act of 1930, as amended, 7 U.S.C. § 499e, and 11 || certain alleged rights under breach of contract claims under state law. 12 2. A pleading was not received from the Queen stores and Chong’s Produce received 13 || an entry of default from the Clerk of Court. Chong’s Produce then proceeded to request a default 14 || judgment against the Queen stores. 15 3. There were two hearings for the Request for Entry of Default Judgment. The 16 || Queen stores’ manager and owner, Mr. Lam Thanh Le (“Le”), a non-party to this lawsuit, 17 || appeared at both hearings. But because the Queen stores are limited liability companies, Le, as 18 || the non-party manager and owner of the Queen stores, could not represent the Queen stores pro 19 || se. 20 4, Prior to ruling on the Request for Entry of Default, this Court appointed limited- 21 || scope Settlement Counsel for the Queen stores and ordered the Parties to participate in a 22 || Settlement Conference by December 31, 2019. 23 5. On December 6, 2019, Chong’s Produce, the Queen stores, and their limited-scope 24 || settlement attorneys, attended a Settlement Conference presided over by Magistrate Judge 25 || Virginia DeMarchi of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Le, 26 || the non-party manager and owner of the Queen stores, was also present at the Settlement 27 || Conference. 28 1 6. The Parties thereafter memorialized the terms of their settlement agreement in a 2 || written Confidential Settkement Agreement and Mutual Release (“Confidential Settlement 3 || Agreement’). Plaintiff and non-party Le also entered into a separate confidential agreement 4 || related to the settlement between the Parties. 5 7. The Parties have agreed to the continuing jurisdiction of this Court purely for 6 || purposes of enforcing the terms of the Confidential Settlement Agreement. Le, in his capacity as 7 || anon-party to this action, also consents to this Court’s jurisdiction solely for enforcement of the 8 || terms of a separate confidential agreement reached between Le and Plaintiff in relation to the 9 || settlement. 10 8. The Parties shall bear their respective attorney’s fees and costs incurred to date. 11 9. The Parties hereby stipulate and request that the Court issue an Order of 12 || Conditional Dismissal providing that the case be dismissed, conditioned on the Parties’ 13 || compliance with the terms of the Confidential Settlement Agreement. 14 5 Dated: February 25, 2020 MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP 16 By: __/s/ Caitlin Sinclaire Blythe 17 CAITLIN SINCLAIRE BLYTHE 18 Settlement Attorneys for Defendants QUEEN FRESH FRUITS, LLC and 19 QUEEN KHO BO, LLC 20 21 Dated: February 26, 2020 BERLINER COHEN, LLP 23 By: _/s/ Susan E. Bishop SUSAN E. BISHOP 25 Attorney for Plaintiffs CHONG’S PRODUCE, INC. 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER OF VOLUNTARY CONDITIONAL DISMISSAL 1 ORDER OF CONDITIONAL DISMISSAL PURSUANT TO SETTLEMENT 2 AGREEMENT 3 This Court having reviewed the foregoing voluntary stipulation by and between Plaintiff 4 || Chong’s Produce, Inc., and Defendants Queen Fresh Fruits, LLC, and Queen Kho Bo, LLC 5 || (collectively the “Parties’’), the action is dismissed without prejudice, subject to the Parties’ 6 || compliance with the Confidential Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release, with which the 7 || Parties are hereby directed to comply. This Court retains jurisdiction solely to enforce the terms 8 || of the confidential settlement agreements reached between the Parties and non-party Lam Thanh 9 || Le. See Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co of Am., 551 U.S. 375 (1994). 10 Should any Party seek enforcement of the confidential settlement agreements in this 11 || Action, they may request to submit copies of the relevant agreements under seal pursuant to the 12 || Civil Local Rules for the Northern District of California. Any request to seal must comply with 13 || N.D. Cal. Civil Local Rule 79-5. This order does not grant sealing in advance. 14 15 IT ISSO ORDERED. 16 Ks DISTR Ly 18 Dated: February 27, 2020 (fe ED V3 2b GRANT 20 ins 1 {| judge Nathanael M. Coust I > 22 YS & OS 23 DISTRICS 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER OF VOLUNTARY CONDITIONAL DISMISSAL