Joyce v. Amazon.com Inc ( 2022 )

THE HONORABLE JOHN H. CH 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 wanna nnn nnn nnn XK SONNY JOYCE, Individually and on Behalf: No.: 2:22-cv-00617 ? || of All Others Similarly Situated, : 10 Plaintiff, : JOINT RESPONSE AND 1] : STIPULATION BY LEAD V. : PLAINTIFF MOVANTS AND 12 : ORDER APPOINTING LEAD B AMAZON.COM, INC., ANDREW R. : PLAINTIFFS AND APPROVING JASSY, JEFFREY P. BEZOS, BRIAN T. : LEAD PLAINTIFFS’ SELECTION 14 OLSAVSKY, DAVID A. ZAPOLSKY, and : OF COUNSEL NATE SUTTON, : 15 : Defendants. : NOTE ON MOTION CALENDAR: 16 222-22 □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ x [JULY 22, 2022] 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Joint Resp. & Stip. by Lead Pl. Movants & Order Appointing Lead Pls. & Approving BRESKIN | JOHNSON | TOWNSEND Lead Pls.’ Selection of Counsel i 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 1 WHEREAS, the above-captioned class action lawsuit, Joyce v. Amazon.com, Inc., No] 2 2:22-cv-00617 (W.D. Wash.) (the “Action”) was filed on May 6, 2022 (ECF No. 1), and allege violations of the federal securities laws on behalf of all persons who purchased the stock o Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”) between February 1, 2019 and April 5, 2022, inclusive (the “Clas 6 Period”); 7 WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 21(D)(a)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 193 8 (“Exchange Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(A), Plaintiff Joyce published a notice on Glob 9 || Newswire on May 6, 2022, advising class members of the deadline to move the Court to serve a 10 lead plaintiff; 1] WHEREAS, on July 5, 2022, with a loss of $165,111.09, Jerry Hannah (““Hannah”’) filed motion to be appointed Lead Plaintiff in the Action and for approval of his selection of Faruqi 14 Faruqi LLP as Lead Counsel for the Class (ECF No. 25); 15 WHEREAS, on July 5, 2022, with a loss of $62,700,150.75, Universal-Investment 16 || Gesellschaft mbH and Universal-Investment-Luxembourg S.A. (“Universal”) filed a motion to b 7 appointed Lead Plaintiff in the Action and for approval of its selection of Motley Rice LL 18 (“Motley Rice”) as Lead Counsel for the Class (ECF No. 28); WHEREAS, on July 5, 2022, with a loss of $566,915.30, Lauren Kattuah (““Kattuah”) file > motion to be appointed Lead Plaintiff in the Action and for approval of her selection of Glanc 92 || Prongay & Murray LLP as Lead Counsel for the Class (ECF No. 31); 23 WHEREAS, on July 5, 2022, with a loss of $55,617,436, Menora Mivtachim Insurance 24 Menora Mivtachim Pensions, and Gemel Ltd. (collectively, “Menora”) and The Phoeni 25 Insurance Company, Ltd. and The Phoenix Provident Pension Fund Ltd. (collectively, “Phoenix” 26 © Onder Appointee Lead Peg BRESKIN | JOHNSON | TOWNSEND □□□□ Approving Lead Pls.’ Selection of Counsel 1 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 || filed a motion to be appointed Lead Plaintiff in the Action and for approval of Menora’s/Phoenix’ selection of the law firm Pomerantz LLP (“Pomerantz”) as Lead Counsel for the Class (ECF No] 3 34); 4 5 WHEREAS, following the filing of the respective lead plaintiff motions, counsel for th 6 Lead Plaintiff movants listed above discussed the pending motions; 7 WHEREAS, recognizing that they do not have the largest financial interest in the relie 8 || sought by the class, movant Hannah filed a notice of non-opposition to the competing lead plaintifi 9 || motions (ECF No. 38) and movant Kattuah withdrew her motion for appointment as lead plaintifi 10 (ECF No. 45); 11 WHEREAS, as of the date of this stipulation, the only remaining Lead Plaintiff movant 12 3 are (1) Universal; and (2) Menora/Phoenix; 14 WHEREAS, Universal and Menora/Phoenix have filed signed sworn certifications 1 15 || support of their respective motions for appointment as Lead Plaintiff, which comply with th 16 || requirements of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(2 17 (“PSLRA”), setting forth, inter alia, their transactions in Amazon common stock; 18 WHEREAS, Universal and Menora/Phoenix respectfully submit that resolution of thei 19 lead plaintiff motions via stipulation and without further litigation is appropriate and in the bes 20 interests of the Class; 22 WHEREAS, 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(i1), provides, inter alia, that the most adequat 23 || plaintiff to serve as lead plaintiff is, in the determination of the Court, the “person or group o 24 || persons” that has the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class and otherwis 25 satisfies the relevant requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See, e.g. 26 Joint Resp. & Stip. by Lead Pl. Movants & Order Appointing Lead Pls. & BRESKIN | JOHNSON | TOWNSEND □□□□ Approving Lead Pls.’ Selection of Counsel 2 oo 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 1 Arciaga v. Barrett Bus. Servs., Inc., No. C14-5884 BHS, 2015 WL 791768, at *2 (W.D. Wash. * II Feb. 25, 2015): ; WHEREAS, Universal with a claimed loss of $62,700,150.75 (ECF No. 29-2) an Menora/Phoenix with a claimed loss of $55,617,436 (ECF No. 35-2) from their transactions 1 6 Amazon common stock during the Class Period have the largest losses of all the competin 7 || movants; 8 WHEREAS, Universal and Menora/Phoenix have the largest known financial interest 9 among Class members who filed timely applications for appointment as Lead Plaintiff in this case} 10 WHEREAS, Universal and Menora/Phoenix also “otherwise satisf[y] the requirements o " Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.” 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)Gi11)(1)(cc); see als ECF Nos. 28, 34. 14 WHEREAS, courts have endorsed stipulations among competing lead plaintiff movants a 15 || promoting the statutory purposes of the PSLRA, and have permitted “independent lead plaintifi 16 || movants [to] join together to help ensure that ‘adequate resources and experience are available t 17 the prospective class in the prosecution of th[e] action’ and because ‘[e]mploying a co-lea 18 plaintiff structure .. . will also provide the proposed class with the substantial benefits of join decision-making.’” Jn re Xinhua Fin. Media Ltd. Sec. Litig., No. 07 Civ. 3994 (LTS), Stip. & Orde Appointing Lead Pls. and Approving Selection of Lead Counsel, at 2-3 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2007) 77 || (citations omitted); see also City of Westland Police & Fire Ret. Sys. v. Philip Morris Int’l Inc. 23 || No. 1:18-cv-08049-RA, Stip. & Order: (1) Appointing Union Asset Mgmt. Holding AG 24 |! Teamsters Local 710 Pension Fund as Co-Lead Pls.; & (2) Approving of Selection of Pomerant 25 LLP & Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP as Co-Lead Counsel (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 25, 2019 26 © Onder Appointee Lead Peg BRESKIN | JOHNSON | TOWNSEND □□□□ Approving Lead Pls.’ Selection of Counsel 3 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 1 || (citing Yuan v. Facebook, Inc., No. 5:18-cv-01725-EJD, Stip. & Order Consolidating Cases 2 Appointing Lead Pl. & Lead Counsel, at 21-3 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 3, 2018) (approving stipulation o lead plaintiff movants where movants “concluded that a protracted dispute concerning lea plaintiff appointment .. . [was] not in the best interests of the class and that jointly prosecutin 6 [the] litigation would be appropriate and assist with the speedy commencement of [the] 7 || litigation”)); Kumar v. Kulicke and Soffa Indus., Inc., No. 2:18-cv-03969-R-FFM, Order Grantin 8 || Joint Stip. Appointing Lead Pls. & Approving Co-Lead Counsel (C.D. Cal. Sept. 11, 2018 9 (appointing independent lead plaintiff movants as co-lead plaintiffs and approving their selectio 10 of counsel); Hatamian v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., No. 3:14-cv-00226-PJH, Joint Resp. " Stip. by Movants KBC Asset Mgmt. NV & Arkansas Teacher Ret. Sys. & Order Appointing Lea Pl. & Approving Lead P1.’s Selection of Counsel (N.D. Cal. Apr. 4, 2014) (same); Monroe Cnty. 14 || 2mps. Ret. Sys. v. Astrazeneca Plc, No. 1:21-cv-00722-JPO, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84745 15 || (S.D.N-Y. Apr. 28, 2021) (same); 16 WHEREAS, Universal and Menora/Phoenix collectively have agreed to serve as co-Lea 17 || plaintiffs and believe that it is in the best interest of the Class to jointly and efficiently litigate thi 18 action; and 19 50 WHEREAS, Universal and Menora/Phoenix collectively have agreed to the selection o Motley Rice and Pomerantz as Lead Counsel; IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED and AGREED, subject to the Court’s approval, as follows: 23 1. Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B), Universal and Menora/Phoenix ar 24 || appointed to serve as Lead Plaintiffs in the Action; and 25 26 © Onder Appointee Lead Peg BRESKIN | JOHNSON | TOWNSEND □□□□ Approving Lead Pls.’ Selection of Counsel 4 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 | 2. Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 78u-4(a)(3)(B)(v), Lead Plaintiffs’ selection of Motley Ric and Pomerantz as Lead Counsel is approved. 3 Dated: July 18, 2022 4 5 MOTLEY RICE LLC POMERANTZ LLP 6 || s/ Gregg S. Levin s/ Jeremy A. Lieberman Gregg S. Levin Jeremy A. Lieberman 7 || glevin@motleyrice.com jalieberman@pomlaw.com g Joshua C. Littlejohn J. Alexander Hood II jlittlejohn@motleyrice.com ahood@pomlaw.com g |} Christopher F. Moriarty 600 Third Avenue cmoriarty@motleyrice.com New York, New York 10016 10 || 28 Bridgeside Blvd. Telephone: (212) 661-1100 Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464 Facsimile: (212) 661-8665 11 || Telephone: (843) 216-9000 Facsimile: (843) 216-9450 POMERANTZ LLP 2 Orly Guy B Counsel for Movant Universal and oguy@pomlaw.com Proposed Co-Lead Counsel for the Class Eitan Lavie 14 eitan@pomlaw.com Ariel Shannon 4, 34" Floor 15 Givatayim, Israel 5320047 16 Telephone: +972 (0) 3 624 0240 Facsimile: +972 (0) 3 624 0111 17 Counsel for Movant Menora/Phoenix and 18 Proposed Co-Lead Counsel for the Class 19 BADGLEY MULLINS TURNER 0 PLLC s/ Duncan C. Turner 21 Duncan C. Turner, WSBA No. 20597 dturner@badgleymullins.com 22 19929 Ballinger Way NE, Suite 200 Seattle, WA 98155 23 Telephone: (206) 621-6566 24 Local Counsel for Movant 25 Menora/Phoenix 26 Joint Resp. & Stip. by Lead Pl. Movants & Order Appointing Lead Pls. & BRESKIN | JOHNSON | TOWNSEND □□□□ Approving Lead Pls.’ Selection of Counsel 5 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 oe 1 BRESKIN, JOHNSON & TOWNSEND, PLLC 2 By: s/ Roger M. Townsend Roger M. Townsend (WSBA #25525) 3 rtownsend@bjtlegal.com 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 4 Seattle, WA 98104 Telephone: (206) 652-8660 5 Facsimile: (206) 652-290 6 Local Counsel for Movant Universal 7 8 9 |} IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 9 La K, Chor 12 || Dated: July 22, 2022 , 13 THE HONORABLE JOHN H. CHUN U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Joint Resp. & Stip. by Lead Pl. Movants & Order Appointing Lead Pls. & BRESKIN | JOHNSON | TOWNSEND Approving Lead Pls.’ Selection of Counsel 6 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3670 oe