Spread Your Wings, LLC v. AMZ Group
- Virginia Demarchi
- 5:20-cv-03336
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 4
In Spread Your Wings v. AMZ Group, Judge Demarchi denied fees and a stay, ordering transfer to New York to proceed.
Spread Your Wings, LLC and the other plaintiffs could not delay the transfer of the matter to the Eastern District of New York; AMZ Group LLC did not receive the requested attorney’s fees.
What happened
In Spread Your Wings, LLC v. AMZ Group LLC, the court considered the defendant’s request for attorney’s fees from an earlier appeal and the plaintiffs’ request to pause a transfer to the Eastern District of New York. The Ninth Circuit had denied the plaintiffs’ request to challenge the transfer order, and the district court had lifted its earlier stay.
The court denied the defendant’s motion for fees because the defendant had not shown that this court could award fees for the appellate proceedings. The defendant had not requested those fees from the Ninth Circuit and had not identified statutory language allowing this court to award fees for all stages of the litigation.
The court also denied the plaintiffs’ motion to reinstate the stay because they did not show likely success, irreparable harm, or a public-interest basis for delaying the transfer. Judge Virginia K. Demarchi directed the clerk to promptly transfer the matter to the Eastern District of New York.
The detailed version
- Spread Your Wings, LLC v. AMZ Group · No. 5:20-cv-03336
- Virginia Demarchi
- Oct. 8, 2021
Background
The court had previously ordered this matter transferred to the Eastern District of New York and had stayed that transfer. After the Ninth Circuit denied the plaintiffs’ petition challenging the transfer, the court lifted the stay on August 6, 2021. The plaintiffs then moved for a continued stay while they intended to seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court. The defendant separately moved for attorney’s fees incurred during the Ninth Circuit proceedings.
Defendant’s Motion for Fees
The court denied the defendant’s motion for fees. The defendant had not sought appellate fees from the Ninth Circuit in the first instance. The court discussed Ninth Circuit authority generally requiring requests for fees incurred on appeal to be made to the appellate court, unless a statute provides otherwise. Unlike the statute discussed in one of those decisions, the defendant identified no statutory language authorizing this court to award fees for all levels of litigation. The defendant relied on the agreements at issue, but the court noted that those agreements are governed by New York law and that no decision had been made on the merits of any claim or defense. The court concluded that the defendant had not shown that this court could properly award the requested fees.
Plaintiffs’ Motion to Stay
The court denied the plaintiffs’ motion to reinstate the stay of the transfer order. A stay is a discretionary pause in court proceedings, and the party requesting one must justify it. Courts consider the likelihood of success, irreparable harm without a stay, harm to other parties, and the public interest. The court found that the plaintiffs had not addressed the two most important factors: they did not explain why they were likely to succeed or why they would suffer irreparable injury without a stay. They also did not provide a basis for finding harm to the public interest. The court further observed that the plaintiffs waited nearly two weeks after the stay had been lifted to seek a continued stay.
Disposition
Both motions were denied. The clerk was directed to promptly process the transfer to the Eastern District of New York. Judge Virginia K. Demarchi entered the order on October 8, 2021.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.