District Court, D. Nevada, 2020

BGC Partners, Inc. v. Avison Young (Canada), Inc.

BGC Partners, Inc. v. Avison Young (Canada), Inc.
District Court, D. Nevada · Decided March 26, 2020
BGC Partners, Inc. v. Avison Young (Canada), Inc.

Trial Court Opinion

1 Robert S. Larsen, Esq. (NV Bar No. 7785) Wing Yan Wong, Esq. (NV Bar No. 13622) GORDON REES SCULLY MANSUKHANI, LLP South Fourth Street, Suite 1550 Las Vegas, Nevada 89104 Telephone: (702) 577-9301 Facsimile: (702) 255-2858 [email protected] [email protected] Nathaniel Kritzer, Esq. (Admitted Pro Hac Vice) STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP 1114 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 Tel. (212) 378-7535 Fax. (212) 506-3950 [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants Avison Young (Canada) Inc.; Avison Young (USA) Inc.; Avison Young-Nevada, LLC; Mark Rose, Joseph Kupiec, John Pinjuv and The Nevada Commercial Group, LLC UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEVADA NEWMARK GROUP, INC., G&E ACQUISITION ) CASE NO.: 2:15-cv-00531-RFB-EJY COMPANY, LLC, and BGC REAL ESTATE OF ) NEVADA, LLC, ) ) 19 Plaintiffs, ) DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR vs. LEAVE TO APPEAR 20 ) TELEPHONICALLY BY ) AVISON YOUNG (CANADA) INC.; AVISON CELLULAR PHONE AT APRIL 6, YOUNG (USA) INC.; AVISON YOUNG - ) 2020 HEARING NEVADA, LLC, MARK ROSE, THE NEVADA ) COMMERCIAL GROUP, JOHN PINJUV, and ) (Emergency Motion) JOSEPH KUPIEC; DOES 1 through 5; and ROE ) BUSINESS ENTITIES 6 through 10 , ) ) 24 Defendants. ) ) 26 Defendants respectfully request that Defendants’ out-of-state counsel Nathaniel Kritzer and Jeremy Goldkind be permitted to attend the April 6, 2020 hearing telephonically by cellular phone. Local counsel Robert S. Larsen intends to appear telephonically through a landline. This request is made pursuant to LR 7-4 and the following Memorandum of Points and Authorities.

3 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 4 This Court has set a hearing for April 6, 2020 on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel Directed to the AY Defendants and the NCG Defendants. See ECF No. 318. The Court permits the parties to appear telephonically but prohibits the use of a cell phone. Id. Given the extraordinarily unusual circumstances with the COVID-19 outbreak, and the current lockdown in New York and Chicago where Mr. Kritzer and Mr. Goldkind reside respectively, Defendants request that counsel be permitted to attend the hearing through the use of cell phones.

10 The governors of New York and Illinois have issued directives prohibiting residents from traveling and requiring residents to stay at home, with exceptions not applicable here. See New York Exec. Order No. 202.6 (March 18, 2020), https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/no-2026- continuing-temporary-suspension-and-modification-laws-relating-disaster-emergency; Ill. Exec.

14 Order No. 2020-10 (March 20, 2020), https://www2.illinois.gov/Pages/Executive- Orders/ExecutiveOrder2020-10.aspx. Under those two states’ directives, law firms are not considered “essential businesses” and attorneys are prohibited from entering the work premises to conduct “non-essential business.” Mr. Kritzer is the lead counsel for Defendants. Both Mr. Kritzer and Mr. Goldkind do not have access to a landline at their respective residences. See Ex. 1, Decl. of Nathaniel Kritzer at ¶¶ 7-8. They anticipate that they will not be able to travel to or enter their respective offices where landline access is available to attend the April 6 hearing. Id. 21 This Court has inherent power and discretion to manage its courtroom. U.S. v. W.R. Grace, 526 F.3d 499, 509 (9th Cir. 2008) (“[a]ll federal courts are vested with inherent powers enabling them to manage their cases and courtrooms effectively”). Allowing telephonic appearances by cell phone would not prejudice Plaintiffs. Counsel will take steps to ensure that the cell phone connection will be as clear and with as few interruption as practicable within their control. Local counsel Mr. Larsen intends to appear with the use of a landline.

1 For these reasons, Defendants respectfully request that counsel be permitted to appear || telephonically through the use of cell phones.

3 Dated: March 24, 2020 4 Respectfully submitted, 6 /s/_Robert S. Larsen Robert S. Larsen, Esq.

7 Nevada Bar No. 7785 Wing Y. Wong, Esq.

8 Nevada Bar No. 13622 GORDON REES SCULLY 9 MANSUKHANI, LLP South Fourth Street, Suite 1550 10 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Telephone: (702) 577-9301 4 11 Facsimile: (702) 255-2858 rlarsen @ grsm.com S2e Nathaniel J. Kritzer (pro hac vice) a3 B 13 STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP 1114 Avenue of the Americas 14 New York, New York 10036 & Tel. (212) 378-7535 15 Fax (212) 506-3950 2 nkritzer @ steptoe.com am 16 3 Attorneys for Defendants Avison Young & 17 (Canada) Inc., Avison Young (USA) Inc., Avison Young-Nevada, LLC, Mark Rose, 18 Joseph Kupiec, The Nevada Commercial Group, and John Pinjuv IT |S SO ORDERED.

UNITED/STATES/M TRATE JUDGE Dated: March 26, 2020

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