Mewawalla v. Middleman ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 RAHUL MEWAWALLA, Case No. 21-cv-09700-EMC 8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S 9 v. MOTION FOR ISSUANCE OF LETTERS ROGATORY 10 STANLEY C. MIDDLEMAN, et al., Docket Nos. 65, 69 11 Defendants. 12 13 Defendants Stanley Middleman, et al. (“Defendants”) filed a Motion for Issuance of 14 Letters Rogatory (Docket No. 65), including an attached Letter of Request for International 15 Judicial Assistance Pursuant to Hague Convention (Docket No. 66 Exh. 1). Defendants also filed 16 an Administrative Motion to Shorten Time to Hear Motion for Issuance of Request for 17 International Judicial Assistance (Docket No. 69) to move the hearing date from April 20, 2023, to 18 March 30, 2023. 19 The Hague Convention governs the taking of evidence abroad, of which both US and the 20 Germany are signatories. A deposition may be taken in a foreign country (1) under an applicable 21 treaty or convention; (2) under a letter of request; (3) on notice, before a person authorized to 22 administer oaths in the place where the examination is held, either by the law or by the law of the 23 United States, or (4) before a person commissioned by the court, and a person so commissioned 24 shall have the power by virtue of the commission to administer any necessary oath and take 25 testimony. Fed. R. Civ. P. 28(b). “Application for a letter rogatory ‘to take testimony pursuant to 26 the Hague Convention is an appropriate mechanism for obtaining discovery of a non-party witness 27 in a foreign country.’” S.E.C. v. Leslie, No. C 07-03444 JF (PVT), 2009 WL 688836, at *3 (N.D. 1 1781. “A letter rogatory may be transmitted directly by a United States court to the foreign 2 tribunal to whom it is addressed.” Leslie, 2009 WL 688836, at *2 (cleaned up). 3 A Letter of Request is warranted for Defendants to obtain relevant information in this 4 proceeding. “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to 5 any party’s claim or defense.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b). The opposing party must show good reason 6 for a court to deny an application for a letter rogatory. Leslie, 2009 WL 688836, at *3. As 7 Plaintiff Rahul Mewawalla (“Plaintiff”) seeks $19.2 million in lost wage damages for turning 8 down an alleged CEO or consultant position with the real estate company Engels & Volkers 9 (“E&V”) in Hamburg, Germany in favor of working for Freedom Mortgage, it is likely that E&V 10 employees and Plaintiff’s Grundwerk Legal representative will have relevant information as to the 11 value of P’s E&V contract, the status of whether the employment contract was “signature-ready,” 12 and whether E&V later retracted the offer. The submitted Letter of Request narrowly requests 13 testimony of witnesses with knowledge of the employment discussions with Plaintiff. 14 As for timing, this Court recognizes that the seven days between the scheduled hearing 15 date of April 20, 2023, and the deadline of fact discovery on April 27, 2023, is a short window for 16 Defendants to schedule and conduct all the requested depositions abroad. Accordingly, the Court 17 considers and decides this motion on the briefing. Although Plaintiff has not yet submitted their 18 opposition briefing, the Court is not persuaded that there are any good reasons to delay or to 19 prevent Defendants from obtaining clearly relevant testimony from the German witnesses. 20 The Court thus GRANTS Defendants’ Motion to Issue the Letter of Request and instructs 21 the Clerk of Court to ISSUE the Letter of Request for the oral testimony of corporate 22 representatives from the German companies (1) Engel Volkers AG, (2) EV Digital GMbH, and (3) 23 Grundwerk Legal accordingly. 24 This order disposes of Docket Nos. 65 and 69. 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 Dated: March 20, 2023 27 ______________________________________