Opinion
CASE NO. 2:05-cv-01364-LDG-VCF
04-15-2013
MORGAN STANLEY HIGH YIELD SECURITIES INC.; MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER HIGH INCOME ADVANTAGE TRUST; MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER HIGH INCOME ADVANTAGE TRUST II; MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER HIGH INCOME ADVANTAGE TRUST III; MORGAN STANLEY VARIABLE INVESTMENT SERIES; MORGAN STANLEY DIVERSIFIED INCOME TRUST; and MORGAN STANLEY SELECT DIMENSIONS INVESTMENT SERIES, Plaintiff, v. HANS JECKLIN; CHRISTIANE JECKLIN; GEORGE HAEBERLING; JOHN TIPTON; SWISS LEISURE GROUP AG; and JPC HOLDING AG, Defendants.
GORDON SILVER ERIC D. HONE (NV Bar No. 8499) JOEL Z. SCHWARZ (NV Bar No. 9181) Attorneys for Defendant Haeberling BROWNSTEIN HYATT FARBER SCHRECK, LLP TAMARA BEATTY PETERSON, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 5218 Attorneys for Hans Jecklin, Christiane Jecklin, Swiss Leisure Group AG, and JPC Holding AG Steven J. Engelmyer Eric J. Schreiner McDONALD CARANO WILSON LLP Attorneys for Defendant John Tipton
GORDON SILVER
ERIC D. HONE (NV Bar No. 8499)
JOEL Z. SCHWARZ (NV Bar No. 9181)
Attorneys for Defendant Haeberling
DEFENDANTS' JOINT REQUEST TO
VACATE SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE
Defendants Hans Jecklin, Christiane Jecklin, George Haeberling, John Tipton, Swiss Leisure Group AG and JPC Holding AG, by and through their respective counsel, hereby request that the Court vacate the pending Settlement Conference scheduled to commence at 10:00 a.m., June 17, 2013, pursuant to the Court's Order [Dkt #365]. For the following reasons, defendants do not believe that a settlement conference is logistically feasible nor that such a settlement conference would be productive at this point:
1. All but one of the four individual defendants, including the principals for the business entity defendants, reside in Switzerland and are unable to travel to the United States and Las Vegas on the proposed date. One of the Swiss defendants, George Haeberling, presently has pending a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction based on, among other things, his limited contact with the forum in particular, and the United States in general [Dkt #237].
2. All parties have long-pending motions for summary judgment. Each of the defendants filed separate motions for summary judgment on February 17, 2010 [Dkt ## 231, 236, and 239]. Plaintiffs moved for an extended period of time to file their own motion for summary judgment, which was granted on September 15, 2010 [Dkt # 311]. Briefing has been completed on all of the motions for summary judgment since March 31, 2011, more than two years ago. Defendant George Haeberling's renewed motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction was filed February 17, 2010 [Dkt #237]. Briefing on that motion was completed on June 23, 2010.
3. The parties have previously, on several occasions, discussed the potential for settlement. None of these discussions have resulted in positive movement towards resolution. Generally, none of the parties have been willing to compromise on terms during the pendency of the cross-motions for summary judgment. Nor, given the extremely large amount of damages sought, have the parties been within any reasonable range of resolution on monetary terms. Plaintiffs' claims are, in essence, claims to pierce the corporate veil and to hold the individual and corporate defendants responsible for a $38,489,055 judgment already in place against Seven Circle Gaming Corporation entered in favor of the Morgan Stanley plaintiffs on December 18, 2003, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
For these reasons, including (i) the unavailability of the Swiss defendants, (ii) the pendency of the motions for summary judgment and motion to dismiss, and (iii) the inability to make settlement progress during prior settlement discussions, the defense parties respectfully request the Court vacate the settlement conference set for June 17, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. BROWNSTEIN HYATT FARBER
SCHRECK, LLP
________________________
TAMARA BEATTY PETERSON, ESQ.
Nevada Bar No. 5218
Attorneys for Hans Jecklin, Christiane Jecklin,
Swiss Leisure Group AG, and JPC Holding AG
KLEINBARD BELL & BRECKER ________________________
Steven J. Engelmyer
Eric J. Schreiner
McDONALD CARANO WILSON LLP
Attorneys for Defendant John Tipton
GORDON SILVER ________________________
ERIC D. HONE (NV Bar No. 8499)
ehone@gordonsilver.com
JOEL Z. SCHWARZ (NV Bar No. 9181)
jschwarz@gordonsilver.com
3960 Howard Hughes Parkway, 9th Floor
Las Vegas, NV 89169
Telephone: (702) 796-5555
Facsimile: (702) 369-2666
Attorneys for Defendant Haeberling
IT IS SO ORDERED.
________________________
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE