Universitas Education, LLC v. Nova Group, Inc.

Background

Universitas Education, LLC filed March 23, 2020 letter motions asking the court to enter judgments against Moonstone Partners, LLC, Benistar Admin Services, Inc. (BASI), and Molly Carpenter. Counsel for those parties opposed the requests in a March 30, 2020 letter. The court had previously entered a memorandum order confirming an arbitration award and had previously denied Universitas Education’s turnover motion.

Court’s reasoning

The court stated that the requested relief was not among the applications that may be brought by letter motion under Southern District of New York Local Civil Rule 7.1(d). The court therefore did not decide whether Universitas Education was entitled to judgments against the named nonparties.

The court identified issues that any later formal motion would need to address: the legal basis, if any, for personal jurisdiction over the nonparty entities; whether the proposed motion was the proper way to enforce the order confirming the arbitration award against parties that were not parties to the underlying litigation; whether the motion would comply with limits on the court’s related jurisdiction described in Peacock v. Thomas and the court’s earlier order; and the legal and factual basis for the requested judgment amount after accounting for any recoveries Universitas Education had already obtained.

Disposition

Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied the letter motions without prejudice to formal motion practice complying with the relevant federal, local, and individual court rules. The order did not rule on the merits of the requested judgments.