2012-10-19 Hearing Transcript.txt

 1

 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

 2 EASTERN DIVISION

 3 JOHN WILEY & SONS, LTD., et al., )

 )

 4 Plaintiffs, )

 ) No. 12 C 1446

 5 vs. ) Chicago, Illinois

 ) October 19, 2012

 6 MC DONNELL BOEHNEN HULBERT ) 10:30 a.m.

 & BERGOFF, et al., )

 7 )

 Defendants. )

 8

 9 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

 BEFORE THE HONORABLE CHARLES R. NORGLE, SR.

 10

 11 For the Plaintiffs: DUNNEGAN & SCILEPPI LLC

 350 Fifth Avenue

 12 New York, New York 10118

 BY: MR. WILLIAM I. DUNNEGAN

 13

 For the Defendants: KIRKLAND & ELLIS

 14 300 North LaSalle Street

 Chicago, Illinois 60654

 15 BY: MR. BARRY F. IRWIN

 16 Official Court Reporter: MAELLEN E. PITTMAN, FCRR, RDR

 219 South Dearborn Street

 17 Room 2342

 Chicago, Illinois 60604

 18 (312) 435-5576

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2012-10-19 Hearing Transcript.txt

 1 (Proceedings heard in open court:)

 2 THE CLERK: Are there any matters on the 10:30 call

 3 where both counsel are present?

 4 MS. MC GARRY: Wiley, we are both here.

 5 THE COURT: Okay.

 6 THE CLERK: 12 C 1446, John Wiley & Sons versus

 7 McDonnell, Boehnen, Hulbert & Bergoff.

 8 Motion to compel.

 9 MR. IRWIN: Hello, your Honor.

 10 Barry Irwin for the defendant McDonell Boehnen Hulbert &

 11 Bergoff.

 12 THE COURT: Good morning.

 13 MR. DUNNEGAN: Good morning, your Honor.

 14 Bill Dunnegan and Annette McGarry for the plaintiffs.

 15 THE COURT: Good morning.

 16 I have the several motions before me.

 17 I informed Mr. Fulbright to take appropriate steps to

 18 direct this matter to the assigned magistrate judge to deal with

 19 these pretrial issues.

 20 As I see this case, it appears that it will be before

 21 the Court for a long period of time, involving numerous discovery

 22 issues. It starts out in a very contentious manner, and so

 23 directing it to the magistrate judge in the first instance would

 24 seem to be appropriate.

 25 Ultimately, however, if the case were to go to trial, it



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 1 would be tried by the district court unless you were to otherwise

 2 consent.

 3 Now, one of the issues is Homeward Residential, Inc.'s

 4 motion to stay and compel arbitration, and incorporated

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 5 memorandum in support. There is --

 6 THE CLERK: That's a different case.

 7 MS. MC GARRY: Your Honor, I think that's a different

 8 case.

 9 THE COURT: Excuse me. That's the wrong case. Too many

 10 pleadings.

 11 MS. MC GARRY: Your pile got mixed up.

 12 THE COURT: Right. You are correct. I have the

 13 remnants of a bench trial before me.

 14 MR. DUNNEGAN: We are flexible. We could work with that

 15 one too.

 16 THE COURT: But the long and short of it, we will get

 17 back to this. I now have the right motions that the magistrate

 18 judge will take the task of dealing with this case in the early

 19 stages, and that eventually if it does go to trial it will go to

 20 trial in the district court.

 21 Some of these issues will involve recommendations by the

 22 magistrate judge and not necessarily decide the issues. But at

 23 this early stage, and being unfamiliar with the file, I can't

 24 tell which that would be.

 25 So proceed before the magistrate judge. And I would say



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 1 wait about two weeks before you get in touch up with the

 2 magistrate judge, and follow whatever schedule he or she may set.

 3 And, of course, the magistrate judge can act pursuant to

 4 the limits of his authority under the rules. But I want to

 5 assure you that when and if the case goes to trial, it will be in

 6 the district court.

 7 All right. So all of your motions are filed, taken

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 8 under advisement. No briefing schedule is set by the district

 9 judge, they will be set by the magistrate judge.

 10 Nothing would prevent you, however, from attempting to

 11 try to settle the case while you are before the magistrate judge.

 12 MS. MC GARRY: Your Honor, with regards to the summary

 13 judgment motion that was filed this week --

 14 THE COURT: On that particular issue, the magistrate

 15 judge will not deal with summary judgment.

 16 MS. MC GARRY: Yes. You have entered a briefing

 17 schedule.

 18 THE COURT: I have already done that. All right. So

 19 that would remain before the district judge.

 20 MS. MC GARRY: Okay. One question.

 21 The reply brief that was scheduled is due November 23rd,

 22 which is the Friday after Thanksgiving. And we were wondering if

 23 we could get that moved to November 27th, the Tuesday.

 24 THE COURT: It is so ordered.

 25 MS. MC GARRY: Thank you, your Honor.



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 1 THE COURT: I don't think I had the calendar before me

 2 when I did that.

 3 But the summary judgment will be before the district

 4 judge.

 5 Is there enough discovery already produced to deal with

 6 summary judgment in this case?

 7 MS. MC GARRY: If I can address that, your Honor, yes.

 8 There are two issues raised by the summary judgment

 9 motion. One is raw law: Is laches a defense to the copyright

 10 infringement.

 11 The second is is there any evidence of prejudice by the

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 12 defendants which would meet the element of laches if laches

 13 applies?

 14 We have asked them two sets of interrogatories. We have

 15 come up with one sentence of prejudice. We're saying that's not

 16 sufficient.

 17 THE COURT: All right. Now, on discovery that may go to

 18 summary judgment, that you can bring to the attention of the

 19 magistrate judge.

 20 So when the motion for summary judgment is fully briefed

 21 with sufficient discovery having occurred, then the district

 22 court will rule.

 23 But while this is in the processing stage, including

 24 discovery and production, and so on, those kinds of issues will

 25 be decided by the magistrate judge.



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 1 So when the final product is produced fully briefed, the

 2 district court will rule.

 3 All right. Thank you, counsel.

 4 MR. IRWIN: Thank you, your Honor.

 5 MR. DONNEGAN: Thank you, your Honor.

 6 MS. MC GARRY: Thank you, your Honor.

 7 (Proceedings concluded.)

 8 C E R T I F I C A T E

 9 I, Maellen E. Pittman, do hereby certify that the

 10 foregoing is a complete, true, and accurate transcript of the

 11 proceedings had in the above-entitled case before the Honorable

 12 CHARLES R. NORGLE, SR., one of the judges of said Court, at

 13 Chicago, Illinois, on October 19, 2012.

 14

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 15 /s/ Maellen E. Pittman, FCRR, RDR

 16 Official Court Reporter

 17 United States District Court

 18 Northern District of Illinois

 19 Eastern Division

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