Ultra International Music Publishing, LLC v. West
- Analisa Torres
- 1:22-cv-05560
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Ultra International Music Publishing v. West, Judge Torres extended service time, rejected text-message service for now, and allowed a confidential declaration to be filed privately.
Greenberg Traurig, Kanye West, and the other parties or counsel who would otherwise receive the declaration were affected by the service and filing directives.
What happened
In Ultra International Music Publishing, LLC v. West, Greenberg Traurig, former counsel for Kanye West, asked for more time to personally serve West with an order allowing the firm to withdraw as his counsel. The firm also renewed its request to serve him by text message.
The court granted the sixteen-day extension but denied text-message service without prejudice to renewal. The court directed the firm to report its efforts and propose a specific alternative-service method if it could not personally serve West by the stated deadline.
The court also granted Greenberg Traurig’s request to file a declaration containing confidential attorney-client communications under seal and privately. Judge Torres directed the Clerk of Court to terminate the two related motions.
The detailed version
- Ultra International Music Publishing, LLC v. West · No. 1:22-cv-05560
- Analisa Torres
- Dec. 23, 2022
Background
Greenberg Traurig, LLP ("GT"), former counsel for Defendant Kanye West, individually and doing business as “Yeezy Tech,” asked the Court for a sixteen-day extension of the deadline to personally serve West with the Court’s November 30, 2022 order granting GT’s motion to withdraw as counsel. GT also renewed its request for permission to serve West by text message.
GT separately asked to file a supporting declaration under seal and in camera. Filing under seal keeps a document from public access; filing in camera means the court reviews it privately. The declaration contained confidential attorney-client communications.
Rulings
The Court granted GT’s request for a sixteen-day extension. It denied GT’s request to serve West by text message, without prejudice to renewal, meaning the request could be raised again. The Court stated that if GT could not personally serve West by January 9, 2023, GT had to file, by January 13, 2023, a letter describing its efforts and proposing a specific alternative method of service consistent with due process.
The Court also granted GT’s request to file the declaration under seal and in camera. A footnote states that this order resolved GT’s request to be excused from serving the declaration on the other parties or their counsel, and that GT was excused from doing so.
The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate the motions at ECF Nos. 68 and 69. The order did not decide the underlying claims in the lawsuit.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.