ests of justice require a stay of the action against Zeltser pending his release from prison in Belarus, subject to the following conditions: (1) defense counsel is under a continuing obligation to make reasonably diligent efforts to search for and to produce the documents that this Court ordered produced to plaintiffs’ counsel in the OSC dated April 21, 2008; (2) defense counsel shall submit a letter every thirty days to plaintiffs’ counsel and the Court regarding the status of Zeltser’s detention in Belarus; and (3) immediately upon Zeltser’s release from detention in Belarus, or as soon thereafter as is reasonably possible, defense counsel shall confer with plaintiffs regarding lifting the stay in this action.
The Court finds that the stay will not prejudice any of the parties to this action, or disserve the public interest in any way. Rather, the entry of a stay ensures that plaintiffs’ claims against Zeltser will not be litigated in his absence.[1]
D. The Scope of the Instant Decision
Finally, the Court notes that the instant decision relates solely to defense counsel’s motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds, his request to conduct jurisdictional discovery, and plaintiffs’ request for a stay of the action against Zeltser. Nothing in this decision should be construed as bearing on the underlying merits of plaintiffs’ claims. In this regard, the Court notes that defense counsel’s May 21, 2008 letter refers to, and includes as an attachment, an order recently issued by a court in the Republic of Georgia, wherein, according to defense counsel, the court has appointed defendant Kay as “executor of the estate” at issue here. (See Hoffman’s May 21, 2008 Ltr. at 1.) The order from the Georgian court does not alter this Court’s conclusion as to the narrowly defined jurisdictional issues presented in the instant motion, and the Court takes no position as to the order’s bearing, if any, on the underlying merits of plaintiffs’ claims in this action.
Moreover, the instant decision should not be construed as conveying this Court’s sanction of the extremely troubling circumstances and conditions of Zeltser’s confinement in Belarus. Rather, this decision merely sets forth the Court’s legal conclusions regarding the two issues—namely, the sufficiency of service and personal jurisdiction—raised by defense counsel’s motion and plaintiffs’ request for a stay.
III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, the Court denies Zeltser’s defense counsel’s motion to dismiss this action and his request to conduct expedited discovery. In addition, the Court hereby orders a stay of the action against defendant Zeltser pending his release from prison in Belarus.
SO ORDERED.
Yoko Ono LENNON, Sean Ono Lennon, Julian Lennon, and EMI Blackwood Music, Inc, Plaintiffs,
v.
PREMISE MEDIA CORP., L.P., C & S Production L.P. d/b/a Rampant Films, Premise Media Distribution, L.P., and Rocky Mountain Pictures, Inc., Defendants.
No. 08 Civ. 3813(SHS).
United States District Court,
S.D. New York.
June 2, 2008.
- ↑ Defendant Kay has not taken a position on plaintiffs’ request for a stay.
