28 - motion for early discovery

7/29/2019 28 - Motion for Early Discovery

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MOTION FOR LEAVE TO PERFORM EARLY/EXPEDITED DISCOVERY

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GINGRAS

LAWOFFICE,P

LLC

3941E.CHANDLERBLVD.,

#106-243

PHOENIX,ARIZONA85048

David S. Gingras, #021097Gingras Law Office, PLLC3941 E. Chandler Blvd., #106-243Phoenix, AZ 85048Tel.: (480) 668-3623Fax: (480) 248-3196

[email protected]

Attorney for Plaintiff Xcentric Ventures, LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

XCENTRIC VENTURES, LLC, an

Arizona limited liability company,

Plaintiff,

v.

LISA JEAN BORODKIN, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No: 11-CV-1426-PHX-GMS

PLAINTIFFS MOTION FOR LEAVE

TO PERFORM EXPEDITED/EARLY

DISCOVERY

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(d)(1), Plaintiff Xcentric Ventures, LLC

(Xcentric) respectfully moves this Honorable Court for an order permitting Plaintiff to

perform limited early discovery (i.e, discovery prior to the Rule 26(f) conference). As

explained herein, Plaintiff seeks leave to perform discovery solely for the purposes of

locating and serving one of the defendants in this matter, Defendant Daniel F. Blackert

(Mr. Blackert).

I. BACKGROUNDThis matter is an action for malicious prosecution arising from a civil lawsuit filed

in California against Xcentric Ventures styled Asia Economic Institute, LLC v. Xcentric

Ventures, LLC, Case. No. 10-CV-1360 (C.D.Cal.). The defendants in this case are the

former plaintiffs from the California proceeding (Asia Economic Institute, LLC

Raymond Mobrez, and Iliana Llaneras) and the lawyers who represented them (Lisa J.

Borodkin and Daniel F. Blackert).

Case 2:11-cv-01426-GMS Document 28 Filed 10/12/11 Page 1 of 4


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GINGRAS

LAWOFFICE,P

LLC

3941E.CHA

NDLERBLVD.,

#106-243


To date, all defendants have been served with the Complaint/Summons except for

Mr. Blackert. As explained in the declaration of counsel submitted herewith, Mr

Blackert is an attorney licensed to practice law in California and he was the attorney who

initially commenced the California proceeding against Xcentric. Unfortunately, although

6002.1(a) of the California State Bar Act (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 6000, et seq.)

requires all California lawyers to provide the bar with current contact information, all of

the publicly-available contact information listed for Mr. Blackert on the State Bar of

Californias website is invalid.

Despite this, Xcentric has a good faith belief that the State Bar of California has

other updated contact information for Mr. Blackert which may be obtained via subpoena

This is so because on July 1, 2011, Mr. Blackert was suspended from the practice of law

in California for non-payment of bar dues, but he was subsequently reinstated less than

30 days ago on September 23, 2011. See Declaration of David S. Gingras (Gingras

Decl.) 12. This shows that Mr. Blackert has recently been in contact with the State

Bar of California, and for that reason, Xcentric believes that the Bar has additional

contact information for Mr. Blackert which may be obtained via subpoena. This

information may, in turn, be used to facilitate service upon Mr. Blackert.

II. ARGUMENT

Pursuant to Rule 26(d)(1), litigants generally cannot pursue discovery prior to

completion of their Rule 26(f) discovery conference unless authorized by Court order.

See Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, 8A Fed. Prac. & Proc. Civ. 2046.1 (3d

ed.). A party seeking leave to perform discovery prior to the Rule 26(f) conference must

first demonstrate the existence of good cause, and Good cause may be found where the

need for expedited discovery, in consideration of the administration of justice, outweighs

the prejudice to the responding party. Id.

Here, Xcentric seeks leave to perform discovery limited to the issue of locating

Mr. Blackert so that he can be served with Xcentrics Complaint/Summons. Xcentric has

exhausted all other available methods for locating Mr. Blackert. Given that Mr. Blackert



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GINGRAS

LAWOFFICE,P

LLC

3941E.CHA

NDLERBLVD.,

#106-243


is the only defendant who has not yet been served, Xcentric is unaware of any prejudice

that this discovery would cause to any of the other defendants.

II. CONCLUSIONGood cause exists to permit Xcentric to perform early/expedited discovery limited

to the issue of locating Defendant Blackert so that he may be served with the Complaint

and Summons in this matter. As such, Xcentric respectfully request leave to perform

such discovery under any conditions as the Court may deem appropriate.

DATED October 12, 2011. GINGRAS LAW OFFICE, PLLC

/S/ David S. Gingras

Attorneys for PlaintiffXCENTRIC VENTURES, LLC



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GINGRAS

LAWOFFICE,P

LLC

3941E.CHA

NDLERBLVD.,

#106-243


CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on October 12, 2011 I electronically transmitted the attached

document to the Clerks Office using the CM/ECF System for filing, and for transmittalof a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following:

Hartwell Harris, Esq.

LAW OFFICE OF HARTWELL HARRIS

1809 Idaho Avenue

Santa Monica, CA 90403

Attorney for Defendants

Raymond Mobrez

Iliana Llaneras and

Asia Economic Institute, LLC

John S. Craiger, Esq.

David E. Funkhouser III, Esq.

Krystal M. Aspey, Esq.

Quarles & Brady LLP

One Renaissance Square

Two North Central Avenue

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2391

Attorney for Defendant Lisa J. Borodkin

And a courtesy copy of the foregoing delivered to:

HONORABLE G. MURRAY SNOW

United States District Court

Sandra Day OConnor U.S. Courthouse, Suite 622

401 West Washington Street, SPC 80

Phoenix, AZ 85003

/s/David S. Gingras


28 - motion for early discovery

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