Catala v. Joombas Co LTD
- Paul Gardephe
- 1:18-cv-08401
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Catala v. Joombas, Judge Gardephe scheduled further proceedings after an appeal left Catala’s contract claims against Shin pending.
Juan Catala and Hyuk Shin are the parties who must address how the remaining breach-of-contract claims will proceed. The Reid Defendants and the Joombas Defendants are not part of the remaining claims identified in this order.
What happened
Catala v. Joombas Co LTD concerns Juan Catala’s claims arising from agreements about compositions authored by Hyuk Shin. The district court previously dismissed most claims and later granted Shin summary judgment on Catala’s remaining contract claim.
The Second Circuit affirmed some rulings, vacated others, and sent the case back for further proceedings. It upheld the dismissal of claims against the Reid Defendants and left the dismissals of fraud and tortious-interference claims against the Joombas Defendants undisturbed. It found that Catala plausibly alleged additional contract claims against Shin and that factual disputes required denying summary judgment on the remaining contract claim.
Judge Paul G. Gardephe stated that only Catala’s breach-of-contract claims against Shin remain. He scheduled a conference and ordered Catala and Shin to submit a joint letter addressing further motions, a possible trial date, and settlement discussions.
The detailed version
- Catala v. Joombas Co LTD · No. 1:18-cv-08401
- Paul Gardephe
- June 27, 2025
Background
Juan Catala, doing business as Majic Entertainment LLC and Adrawn Music Publishing, sued songwriter Hyuk Shin and several companies. The complaint asserted breach-of-contract, fraud, tortious-interference, copyright, and accounting claims against Shin and the Joombas Defendants. It also asserted breach-of-contract and breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims against the Reid Defendants. The claims arose from agreements concerning rights to compositions authored by Shin.
In a September 23, 2019 order, this Court granted the Reid Defendants’ motion to dismiss in its entirety and granted the Joombas Defendants’ motion to dismiss Catala’s fraud and tortious-interference claims. The Court also granted parts of Shin’s motion to dismiss, including dismissing Catala’s contract claims concerning conduct after January 1, 2014, while denying Shin’s motion as to a portion of the Contract 1 claim concerning earlier conduct. The Court dismissed Catala’s copyright and accounting claims against Shin. On March 31, 2021, the Court denied Catala’s requests for reconsideration and permission to amend the complaint. On September 20, 2023, the Court granted Shin summary judgment on the remaining contract claim.
Second Circuit Proceedings
Catala appealed the dismissal order and the summary-judgment order. In a June 3, 2025 summary order, the Second Circuit affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded the case.
The Second Circuit upheld dismissal of Catala’s breach-of-contract claim against the Reid Defendants, reasoning that the complaint did not plausibly allege that the Reid Defendants breached an obligation to Catala or Majic by settling their own claims against Shin. Catala did not challenge the dismissal of his fraud and tortious-interference claims against the Joombas Defendants, and the Second Circuit found no error in denying leave to amend those claims.
The Second Circuit held that Catala plausibly alleged breach-of-contract claims against Shin concerning conduct after January 1, 2014, and that the district court had erred by partially dismissing those claims. It also held that summary judgment should have been denied on the remaining contract claim because factual disputes existed about whether certain Joombas entities were Shin’s affiliates and whether Shin failed to deliver compositions and transfer required copyright ownership shares. The Second Circuit did not itself consider a summary-judgment motion concerning Shin’s conduct after January 1, 2014, because those claims had previously been dismissed. It stated that summary judgment on those claims would likewise be inappropriate if the record contained evidence of similar conduct in 2014 or later.
Current Order
In light of the Second Circuit’s decision, the Court stated that only Catala’s breach-of-contract claims against Shin remain. The Court scheduled a conference for July 11, 2025, and ordered Catala and Shin to submit a joint letter by July 7, 2025. The letter must address whether further motion practice is necessary, whether the Court should set a trial date, and whether there is an opportunity to settle the contract claims. Judge Paul G. Gardephe did not resolve the contract claims in this order.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.