Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_15-cv-04895/USCOURTS-cand-4_15-cv-04895-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 360
Nature of Suit: Other Personal Injury
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Personal Injury

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Berman v. Modell Plaintiff’s Letter & Declaration 3:15-cv-04895-HSG

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John Berman

Mailing address for this case

PO Box 72101

Davis, CA 95617

Tel: (509) 730-5679

Email: johnb@drvideo.com

Appearing pro se

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOHN BERMAN,

 Plaintiff,

 

 v.

Plaintiff(s),

DAVID MODELL,

 Defendant. Defendant(s).

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Case No. 3:15-cv-04895-HSG

PLAINTIFF’S LETTER AND 

DECLARATION RE: DKT. 12 AND

REQUEST FOR COURT CALL 

APPEARANCE ON DEC. 10, 2015

Date: 

Time:

Judge: Hon. Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr.

Action Removed: October 26, 2015

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To the Court:

Plaintiff received by mail and read Dkt. 12 on Thanksgiving Day. Plaintiff very much 

appreciates the Court’s conditional grant of ECF privileges. Below is Plaintiff’s declaration, 

pursuant to the conditional grant. Plaintiff had previously received a message from the Courtroom 

Deputy via a transcribed-to-email voice mail concerning the extension to file. Through a 

combination of factors, including the imperfect computerized transcription and Plaintiff’s reading 

on the small screen and just thinking more quickly than accurately, Plaintiff wound up believing

Case 4:15-cv-04895-HSG Document 17 Filed 12/04/15 Page 1 of 3
Berman v. Modell Plaintiff’s Letter & Declaration 3:15-cv-04895-HSG

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that the message was that both papers were due on Nov. 27. (The actual voice mail was 

unavailable at the time due to a very poor wireless signal, and the double due date just stuck.)

Also in mid-November, Plaintiff had a very rare macbook failure sequence terminating 

with main-board failure. Though Plaintiff was well backed up (not perfectly) and the hard drives 

were apparently okay, the process of getting files even partially reorganized on a quicklypurchased, older, cheap, low-memory core duo-macbook just to resume asap, was laborious. And 

in the end, Plaintiff did not have all his tools (and what tools he had were not working well with 

the low, 2GB memory) because they were not compatible with the core duo set.

All that said, and it is a lot, Plaintiff got bogged down in the end checking record references 

(something Plaintiff tries to be meticulous about), but document organization on a mere 2GB 

memory is near impossible, with Acrobat constantly quitting. In the end, the reply on remand was 

late and the other one needed errata.

Plaintiff is planning to make a trip to San Francisco tomorrow to get hard copies to the 

clerk, though two will be late. 

Courtcall request: Plaintiff respectfully request courtcall permission for Dec. 10. Getting 

to San Francisco and managing Plaintiff’s other obligations and managing the city parking are very 

arduous for Plaintiff.

Plaintiff declares as follows. I, John Berman, declare:

1. The following facts are based on my personal knowledge, except those facts stated on 

information and belief, and as to all such facts stated on information and belief, I am 

informed and believe that the same are true and shall so provide the bases of that 

information and belief. If called to testify, I would and could do so competently as 

follows:

2. I have read and understood General Order 45. I will attempt to comply with the 

General Order and will so attempt to the best of my ability. I state, in full disclosure,

that sometimes financial constraints and the sometimes impossible task, in my 

experience, of finding a courier will prevent the hard copies from arriving as required in 

the General Order.

3. I declare that the foregoing is true and correct.

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Berman v. Modell Plaintiff’s Letter & Declaration 3:15-cv-04895-HSG

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4. Executed this 1st day of December 2015 in Sacramento, Sacramento County, California 

under penalty of perjury under applicable laws.

 Respectfully submitted,

Dated: December 1, 2015

 

/s/John Berman 

John Berman, Plaintiff

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORN

I

A

DENIED

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. 

Case 4:15-cv-04895-HSG Document 17 Filed 12/04/15 Page 3 of 3