In re Cedar Shake & Shingle Antitrust Litigation ( 2019 )

l The Honorable Marsha J. Pechman 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE IN RE CEDAR SHAKE & SHINGLE No. 2:19-cv-00288-MJP 10 ANTITRUST LITIGATION This Document Relates to: UNOPPOSED MOTION AND ll QQ ORDER GRANTING LETTERS ROGATORY RE: 12 ‘ TELEPHONE RECORDS TO ROGERS All Class Act 4 ae eens COMMUNICATIONS CANADA INC. 14 5 I. UNOPPOSED MOTION 16 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 28(b)(3) and 28 U.S.C. 1781(b)(2), 7 undersigned Plaintiffs (“Plaintiffs”) move this Court for an Order issuing the attached Letters 18 Rogatory to the appropriate authorities in British Columbia, Canada for the telephone records of 19 certain executives and competitors of Defendants in this case. Plaintiffs seek telephone records of telephone calls made to and from executives and competitors of Defendants in Canada. > Defendants have been consulted and do not oppose this motion. Courts have the inherent authority to issue Letters Rogatory and Letters of Request to 73 foreign nations, and may request that the foreign nation order a witness to provide testimony that will aid in the resolution of a matter pending in the United States. See United States v. Reagan, 35 453 F.2d 165, 172 (6th Cir. 1971); United States v. Staples, 256 F.2d 290, 292 (9th Cir. 1958). In addition, federal statutes provide for the issuance of Letters Rogatory by a federal court. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1781(b)(2), a tribunal in the United States may directly transmit a Letter Rogatory or UNOPPOSED MOTION AND (EEE) ORDER GRANTING KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. FOR LETTERS ROGATORY RE: TELEPHONE RECORDS (19- 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 00288-MJP) - 1 TELEPHONE, (206) 623-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 1 || request to a foreign or international tribunal. The British Columbia Evidence Act also provides 2 || that a court outside of Canada may serve Letters Rogatory upon a Canadian court. British 3 Columbia Evidence Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, C. 124 § 53. 4 On applications for the issuance of Letters Rogatory, the Court will not ordinarily weigh 5 || the evidence to be elicited, nor will the Court determine whether the witnesses will be able to 6 || provide the anticipated testimony. B&L Drilling Electronics v. Totco, 87 F.R.D. 543, 545 (W.D. 7 || Okla. 1978). Rather, “good reason” must be shown for denying the issuance of a Letter 8 || Rogatory. Zassenhaus v. Evening Star Newspaper Co., 404 F.2d 1361, 1364 (D.C. Cir. 1968). 9 Here, Plaintiffs seek to obtain telephone records to provide further evidence to prove the 10 || allegations in their Second Amended Complaint, namely that the alleged co-conspirators furthered the conspiracy to coordinate price fixing for cedar shakes and shingles over the phone. 12 || For example, Plaintiffs allege that Mr. Dziedzic, G & R’s Sales Manager, spoke on the phone 13 || with some competitors, either Brooke Meeker of Anbrook Industries or Curtis Walker of Waldun 14 || Forest Products, who asked him to raise G & R’s shake and shingle prices. Pl]. Liebo’s Second 15 |} Amended Complaint, { 201. 16 Plaintiffs further allege Defendants Waldun and CSSB “pressure[d] Teal to raise its prices 17 || via phone conversations.” Jd. at § 218. Plaintiffs allege that, “[o]n multiple occasions during the 18 || last 10 years, Curtis Walker made calls to Pacific Cedar’s Vice President Kathy Klassen, in which 19 || he told her that her company’s cedar shake and shingle prices were too low and urged her to raise 20 || those prices to levels recommended by Mr. Walker.” Jd. at § 219. Plaintiffs allege that “[oJn 21 || multiple occasions ... Curtis Walker made calls to Bill Maitland of Goat Lake Cedar in which he 22 || asked Mr. Maitland to raise his company’s cedar shake and shingle prices to levels recommended 23 || by Mr. Walker.” Jd. at § 220. Plaintiffs seek phone records of these and other calls to prove their 24 || case. 25 Moreover, the issuing of a Letter Rogatory will not be overly burdensome. Plaintiffs seek 26 || telephone records of only 56 telephone numbers from January 1, 2011 to the date of collection. UNOPPOSED MOTION AND (§@RRR’ ORDER GRANTING KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. 00288-MUP) 2 ROGATORY RE: TELEPHONE RECORDS (19- ardent, WA 88 orstee FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 1 || These documents are regularly produced by Rogers Communications Canada Inc., as evidenced 2 || by the fact that they have a policy for producing telephone records, i.e., one has to submit a filed 3 || Court Order in order to obtain copies of records. 4 Further, Plaintiffs have volunteered to pay reasonable fees and judicial costs associated 5 || with the requested production of telephone records. Plaintiffs have been informed by Rogers 6 |} Communications Canada Inc. that they will produce telephone records only pursuant to a filed 7 || court Order. Thus, it is necessary to compel production of telephone records through a Letter 8 || Rogatory. 9 Defendants do not oppose the issuance of Letters Rogatory compelling the phone records 10 || of the executives of defendants in this case listed in the attached Exhibit A. Defendants’ non- 11 || opposition is made without prejudice to its right to oppose the introduction of any documents or 12 || information obtained from Rogers Communications Canada Inc. based on any objection allowed 13 || by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or other applicable law. Defendants expressly reserve 14 || all evidentiary and trial objections. Defendants further reserve the right to obtain from Plaintiffs 15 || copies of all documents obtained from Rogers Communications Canada Inc. pursuant to the 16 || Letters Rogatory. 17 DATED this 3rd day of December, 2019. 18 KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. 19 By: /s/Karin B. Swope 20 Mark A. Griffin, WSBA #16296 Raymond J. Farrow, WSBA #31782 21 Karin B. Swope, WSBA #24015 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 22 Seattle, WA 98101 %3 Phone: (206) 623-1900 Fax: (206) 623-3384 94 meriffin@kellerrohrback.com rfarrow@kellerrohrback.com 25 kswope@kellerrohrback.com 26 LOCKRIDGE GRINDAL NAUEN P.L.L.P. UNOPPOSED MOTION AND (QE ORDER GRANTING KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. FOR LETTERS ROGATORY RE: TELEPHONE RECORDS (19- 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 00288-MIP) - 3 TELERHONE. (206) 623-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 | W. Joseph Bruckner (MN#0147758) Elizabeth R. Odette (MN#0340698) 2 Brian D. Clark (MN#00390069) 3 Arielle S. Wagner (MN#00398332) 100 Washington Avenue S., Suite 2200 4 Minneapolis, MN 55401 Phone: (612) 339-6900 5 Fax: (612) 339-0981 wjbruckner@locklaw.com 6 erodette@locklaw.com 7 bdclark@locklaw.com aswagner@locklaw.com 8 Co-Lead Counsel for the Proposed End User 9 Plaintiff Classes 10 ll MCNAUL EBEL NAWROT & TOUSLEY BRAIN STEPHENS HELGREN PLLC Kaleigh N.B. Powell, WSBA #52684 12 Gregory J Hollon, WSBA #26311 Kim D. Stephens, WSBA #11984 600 University Street, Suite 2700 Chase C. Alvord, WSBA #26080 13 Seattle, WA 98101-3143 1700 Seventh Avenue, Suite 22200 14 Phone: (206) 467-1816 Seattle, WA 98101 Fax: (206) 624-5128 Phone: (206) 682-5600 15 ghollon@menaul.com kpowell@tousley.com kstephens@tousley.com 16 Liaison Counsel for the Proposed Reseller —_ calvord@tousley.com Indirect Purchaser Plaintiff Classes YW HAUSFELD LLP 18 BURNS CHAREST LLP Bonney Sweeney Christopher J Cormier Samantha Stein 19 5290 Denver Tech Center Pkway, Suite 150 600 Montgomery Street, Suite3200 Greenwood Village, CO 80111 San Francisco, CA 94111 20 Phone: (720) 630-2092 Phone: (415) 633-1908 ccormier@burnscharest.com bsweeney@hausfeld.com 21 sstein@hausfeld.com BURNS CHAREST LLP Warren T. Burns HAUSFELD LLP 23 Spencer M Cox James J. Pizzirusso William B. Thompson Nathaniel C. Giddings 24 900 Jackson Street, Suite 500 Paul Gallagher Dallas, TX 75202 1700 K Street NW, Suite 650 Phone: (469) 904-4550 Washington, DC 20006 6 wburns@burnscharest.com Phone: (202) 540-7200 scox@burnscharest.com jpizzirusso@hausfeld.com UNOPPOSED MOTION AND (RR ORDER GRANTING KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. FOR LETTERS ROGATORY RE: TELEPHONE RECORDS (19- 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 00288-MJP) - 4 TELEPHONE” (208) 623-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384 1 wthompson@burnscharest.com ngiddings@hausfeld.com _ pgallagher@hausfeld.com 2 BURNS CHAREST LLP 3 Lydia A Wright Co-Lead Counsel for the Proposed Direct 365 Canal Street, Suite 1170 Purchaser Plaintiff Class 4 New Orleans, LA 70130 Lo. Phone: (504) 799-2845 5 lwright@burnscharest.com STOLL BERNE LOKTING & 4 SHLACHETER PC Keith Dubanevich 8 209 SW Oak Street, Suite 500 Portland, OR 97204 9 Phone: (503) 227-1600 10 kdubanevich@stollberne.com . ll Co-Lead Counsel for the Proposed Indirect Purchaser Plaintiff Classes 12 3 I. cate ORDER 14 Upon consideration of the pleadings, declarations, and orders filed to date in this case, the 15 || Court finds and orders as follows: 16 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED THAT: 17 The Court, having reviewed the submitted material and relevant authority, and therefore 18 || being fully informed, GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion and Proposed Order For Letters 19 || Rogatory Re Telephone Records and will execute the Letters Rogatory without delay. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 || DATED this 6 day of December 2019. Yi 99 □□□ 34 Honorable Marsha {. Pechman United States District Court Judge 24 25 26 UNOPPOSED MOTION ANTM ORDER GRANTING KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. FOR LETTERS ROGATORY RE: TELEPHONE RECORDS (19- 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 00288-MJP) - 5 TELEOHONE, (208) 629-1900 FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384