Chen v. Lilis 200 West 57th Corp. ( 2021 )

USDC SUIN DOCUMENT ENDORSED ELECTRONICALLY FIL! ENDORSED Troy LAw, PLLC DOC #__ ATTORNEYS / COUNSELORS AT LAW oe Tel: (718) 762-1324 troylaw@troyplle.com Fax: (718) 762-1342 41-25 Kissena Boulevard, Suite 103, Flushing, NY 11355 October 7, 2021 Via ECF Hon. Valerie E. Caproni, U.S.D.J. United States District Court Southern District of New York 500 Pearl Street New York, NY 10007 Re: Emergency Plaintiffs’ Letter Requesting for a Ruling on Deposition for October 8, 2021 & October 11, 2021: Chen vy. Lilis 200 West 57th Corp., No. 19-cv-07654 (VEC), (S.D.N.Y.) Your Honor, We write respectfully seek an emergency Court’s Conference and Order on Plaintiffs’ request to compel Defendants Lilis 200 West 57th Corp., Baumgart’s Next Door Inc., Thean Choo Chong, Siew Moy Low, Ephan “Doe” and “Migi” Doe represented by Defense Counsel from Law Office of Morrison Tenenbaum PLLC to appear on the upcoming scheduled Deposition for October 8, 2021, and October 11, 2021. Plaintiffs’ proposes to do a Telephone Conference Today. On September 17, 2021, Your Honor, extended the discovery deadline in this matter until October 15, 2021, and mentioned no further extensions would be granted in this matter. See Dkt. No. 86. Accordingly, parties conferred and set the deposition of Defendants Lilis 200 West 57th Corp., Baumgart’s Next Door Inc., Thean Choo Chong, Siew Moy Low to take place on October 8, 2021, with the continued deposition along with Defense Counsel Raymond Nardo’s Clients Alan Philips and Jonah Philips to take place on October 11, 2021. On October 6, 2021, at 9:47 p-m., Defence Counsel Joshua Androphy, from Law Office of Morrison Tenenbaum PLLC, notified Plaintiffs’ Counsel via email, of their clients (Lilis 200 West 57" Corp., 792 Restaurant Food Corp., and Siew Moy Low) anticipated filing of Bankruptcy on October 7, 2021, and that the deposition of the Defendant Thean Choo Chong should also not proceed. See Exhibit 1, Defendants Email. On October 7, 2021 at 11:40 a.m., Plaintiffs’ Counsel John Troy, conferred with Defense Counsel Joshua Androphy in order to not incur additional costs for cancelling the deposition, Plaintiffs’ requested at what time the Notice of Bankruptcy will be filed since the deposition 1s scheduled for Tomorrow, October 8, 2021; Defense Counsel merely stated, it will be filed today. Additionally, Plaintiffs’ Counsel stated, even if Defendants Lilis 200 West 57" Corp., 792 Restaurant Food Corp., and Siew Moy Low, filed for Bankruptcy on the E/eventh Hour of the scheduled deposition, Defendants will still be held liable for any costs associated with the Hon. Valerie E. Caproni, U.S.D.J. United States District Court Chen vy. Lilis 200 West 57th Corp., No. 19-cv-07654 (VEC), (S.D.N.Y.) Page 2 of 2 deposition cancellation for October 8, 2021 and the Non-Debtor Defendant Thean Choo Chong will be deposed on October 8, 2021, since the automatic stay does not apply to non-debtor Defendants. Declining to extend automatic stay to individual co-defendants despite bankruptcy of corporate defendant because the individual defendants were sued in their individual capacities as employers of plaintiffs and were alleged to be jointly and severally liable for violations of the FLSA. See Mardice v. Ebony Media Operations, LLC, 2021 WL 146358, at * (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 15, 2021). Declining to extend automatic stay to non-debtors who plaintiffs alleged were “joint employers and, therefore ... jointly and severally liable to the plaintiffs for violations of the FLSA and NYLL”. Cano v. DPNY, Inc., 287 F.R.D. 251, 262 (S.D.N.Y. 2012). In light of the discovery deadline currently set for October 15, 2021, Plaintiffs now respectfully requests this Court to compel Defendants to appear for their deposition in this matter on October 8, 2021, and for their continued deposition on October 11, 2021. Additionally, should the Defendants file an E/eventh Hour Bankruptcy petition today, then Plaintiffs requests, Defendant Thean Choo Chong be made available for his deposition on October 8, 2021, and make Defendants represented by Law Office of Morrison Tenenbaum PLLC be held liable for any costs associated in cancelling the depositions scheduled for Tomorrow October 8, 2021. We thank the Court for its time and consideration in this matter. Respectgully Submitted, /s/ John Troy John Troy Attorney for Plaintiffs Ce: all counsel of record via ecf /pk The Court will address this issue at the discovery conference currently scheduled for Friday, October 8, 2021, at 11:30 a.m. SO ORDERED. 10/7/21 HON. VALERIE CAPRONI UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE RCEor: pS.cheduling a discovery call for Friday for 19-cv-7654 Chen v. Lilis 200 West 57th 2 messages Joshua Androphy Wed, Oct 6, 2021 at 9:47 PM To: troylaw@troypllc.com Cc: Raymond Nardo , Lawrence Morrison Counsel, I want to give you a heads up that tomorrow we will be filing bankruptcies for Lilis 200 West 57th Corp., 792 Restaurant Food Corp., and Siew Moy Low. We maintain that the case should be stayed in its entirety due to the bankruptcies. Please let us know if you agree. If not, at a minimum, Siew Moy Low’s deposition cannot go forward on Friday, nor should Thean Choo Chong’s. Joshua S. Androphy MORRISON + TENENBAUM PLLC 87 WALKER STREET, FLOOR 2, NEW YORK, NY 10013 TEL: 212-620-0938 | FAX: 646-390-5095 | MOBILE: 646-539-8228 EMAIL: jandrophy@m-t-law.com WEB: www.m-t-law.com Notice: The information contained in this email message may be privileged, confidential and protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication or these attachments, any dissemination, distribution or copying is strictly prohibited. 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