Chow vs. Chau -- Who's the Prevailing Party?

 As the hand-pulled noodle turns, so does the legal wrangling in the aftermath of the Michael Chow/Philippe Chow trial still pending before Judge Hoeveler.

Now the parties are arguing over who was the "prevailing party" for purposes of assessing fees and costs, a not-insubstantial issue in a case that has dragged on rather pointlessly and for years.

Here is Philippe Chow's lawyer Anthony Accetta trying to set the record straight that his clients actually prevailed on most issues:

The undersigned realizes that this Court has read all of the parties Motions and conducted the over Four Week Trial. However, because of the complex nature of the case and the fact that the Plaintiffs continuously try to ignore all of the parties that sued and were sued in this case and the central issues that were won by the Defendants at great expense. The undersigned is going to break down each claim and each party one by one to hopefully stop the Plaintiffs from playing the “smoke screen tactic” of litigation that has cost the Defendants Millions of Dollars in expenses and has almost put them out of business.

Oy veh -- good luck with that!

Mixed Verdict in Chow v. Chow Hand-Pulled Noodle Throw Down!

Seems like a lot of litigation, time and expense for a half million recovery, particularly where a counterclaim succeeded in roughly the same amount.

Time to spin it!

Hand-Pulled Noodle Case Going to Trial!

 Can you believe Judge Hoeveler is trying the Chow on Chau hand-pulled noodle case?

After disposing of a few claims and parties via summary judgment, the trial is due to commence today.

You can read the plaintiff's trial memo on damages here.

As Californication's Hank Moody says at the end of last week's episode, "please don't let this be my last credit."

Hand-Pulled Noodle Update: And the Chow Goes On!

Will we ever see an end to the hand-pulled noodle contretemps?

This case has seen some of my favorite lawyers leave (Alan, Lyle), new ones brought in (Curt), yet the Chow goes on.

After next to no activity since March, the parties now want to stretch the noodle even further, asking Judge Hoeveler to continue the pre-trial conference to January 2012!

In the words of the immortal Carol Leifer, whose very funny, very hamisher short-lived WB show was way ahead of its time, Alright Already!!

I have the feeling this case will outlast all the restaurants involved.

Oh well, again with the rain -- stay dry, mespucha!

(Wow, I have officially become my grandparents.)

Hand-Pulled Noodle Case Slowly Unraveling.

Longtime readers know we have been tracking Mr. Chow's long hand-pulled noodle-like passage through the SD FL for some time now.

There have been several substitutions in the cast of characters fondling handling this matter.

Now it appears the defendants may be running out of money; at a minimum they have run out of Richman Greer's good counsel, as that firm has recently withdrawn from the case.

Methinks all is not well in noodle-land.

Chow v. Chow Hand-Pulled Noodle Weekend (MLK Edition)!

Noodle Weekend

Much has happened since we last checked in on the hot Chow v. Chow hand-pulled noodle action proceeding before Judge Hoeveler.

Some of you may recall there was an issue regarding plaintiff's discovery responses and the upcoming depositions of the defendants.

Judge Hoeveler basically urged everyone to work things out.

Not surprisingly, the parties were unable to work things out.

But to have to work weekends and holidays?

That's not right:

Philippe’s counsel spent three (3) long sessions with Plaintiffs’ counsel in an effort to resolve the discovery disputes over the next few days, completing their meet and confer during Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a United States Federal holiday.

BTW, that's called Monday in Arizona.

(Thank you, President McCain!).

And it gets worse:

The Motion was filed on January 25, only five (5) business days after the last meet and confer conference. Philippe was able to get the motion on file notwithstanding that it had to dedicate time engaging in a meet and confer on Plaintiffs’ written discovery to Philippe. Undersigned counsel worked this past weekend so that the Motion to Compel could be filed yesterday, January 25.

Weekends and holidays, all for a case over competing hand-pulled noodles!

Somewhere, delicious cup in hand, Mr. Ando is watching.

Judge Hoeveler Splits Hand Pulled Chow Noodle.

Chow Order

For those of you keeping track of the hot Chow on Chow action unfolding before Judge Hoeveler, you may recall there was an emergency motion filed by defendants to stop upcoming depositions set for this week in New York.

Well in a Solomonic order, Judge Hoeveler postponed them 10 days and told the parties to make nice nice and try to get along, will 'ya?

He also said if the discovery issues really really really can't get resolved he would consider another brief postponement in order to rule on that motion.

I have to hand this round to Big Lyle (Shapiro, not Waggoner).

Hand-Pulled Noodle Emergency

I don't know about you, but whenever I get a yen for a hand-pulled noodle, I think of this case.

Well, that's not all I think about.

Anyways, yesterday the defendant Mr. Chow -- through Richman Greer's Lyle Shapiro -- filed an emergency motion for protective order.

Emergency motions are serious stuff. They upset the usual order of the Court. They ask for special treatment and for the Court to turn to an issue ahead of other cases and on a timetable demanded by one of the parties. Still, I recognize these motions are sometimes necessary.

So why here?

In a nutshell, the motion seeks to prevent depositions of the defendants from going forward next week until such time as defendants prepare and the Court rules on whether plaintiff Mr. Chow properly answered contention rogs and other discovery (which in defendants' view were improperly objected).

Note that the defendants have not yet prepared the motion to compel.

Essentially, defendants are complaining that they don't know which trade secrets were allegedly stolen and shouldn't have to sit for a depo until discovery directed to that issue is resolved.

(Even though the original complaint survived a motion to dismiss).

So it's either a scheduling issue turned ugly or an effort to sandbag the defendants at a depo.

See how easy that was? I should do this for a living.

Now, about that hand-pulled noodle emergency.....

The Interesting But Really Long Life Story of Michael Chow

You know, some idiot bloggers have suggested that certain recent Supreme Court cases have forced litigants to include a lot of extra verbiage in complaints nowadays, most of it entirely irrelevant and unrelated to the actual legal claims for relief.

I don't know about you, but now that Alan Kluger is off the Mr. Chow case, celebrity lawyer Bert Fields has really amped it up with a Second Amended Complaint that reads like a screenplay for the soon-to-be-major-motion-picture about the Life and Times of Michael Chow.

Here's a taste of the pleading:

From Exile comes Reinvention, Revolution and Innovation

20. Michael Chow, the real Mr. Chow, was born in Shanghai, China. His father was a renowned grand master of the Beijing opera and is regarded as a “national treasure,” a rare and highly respected honor in The Peoples Republic of China. In a bipartisan bill introduced into the United States Senate in 2005 by then-Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman and Republican Senator Lamar Alexander for the purpose of educating American youth about the rich culture of China, Mr. Chow’s father was recognized as one of the eight most influential people in the history of China.

21. As a result of his father’s influence, young Mr. Chow was immersed in China’s venerable and refined arts. The legacy bestowed by his father’s position and artistic accomplishments ultimately inspired the work of Mr. Chow in the West.

22. Mr. Chow was first introduced to Western culture at the tender age of 13, when he was sent to London to further his education. In London, he studied arts and architecture. As an uprooted young man, he was isolated from his family and from the rich Chinese culture. In fact, from the very day he left Shanghai, Mr. Chow was never able to communicate with nor see his father again.

23. Being separated from his family and his heritage left Mr. Chow longing to bring the great culinary tradition of China to the West. Mr. Chow realized his dream in 1968, when he opened his first visionary and revolutionary designer restaurant, the eponymous MR CHOW. The mission of Mr. Chow – both the man and his restaurant – was then and remains today to promote an appreciation and understanding of the complex and varied cuisine of China through authentic interpretations, refinements, and reinventions of classic dishes.

24. Successfully accomplishing these goals, Mr. Chow has devoted his entire life to carefully constructing at his restaurant a universe of experiences for his clients, with each detail intended to bridge the gap between East and West through the medium of Chinese cuisine, creating a unique fine dining experience. Over time, and through painstaking effort, Mr. Chow has been able to convert a misunderstood and largely unfamiliar cuisine into an art form with a cult following by providing clients of the MR CHOW Restaurants with a dining experience that both enlightens and entertains.

Bert also does an extended riff on the ancient art of "hand-pulled noodle-making":

27. In addition to preparing authentic Chinese cuisine, Mr. Chow has always been keenly interested in educating and entertaining his clients, with a view towards honoring and sharing China’s cultural heritage. Among the many things Mr. Chow has done to accomplish this objective was to bring the ancient art of hand-pulled noodle-making to his restaurants, where he created and introduced a nightly noodle-making show in the dining room at his first restaurant some forty-one years ago which has continued ever since in each MR CHOW Restaurant. This show has been exhibited on national television and has even been demonstrated in the Kung Fu Panda movie DVD.

28. The ancient art of stretching hundreds of fine noodle strands from a mound of dough entirely by hand and without knives or other utensils, remained first in Asia and then in the kitchen, until Mr. Chow brought it to England and America and into the dining room in his nightly noodle show. The rapid, skillful transformation of dough into noodle strands from a trolley in the center of the dining room is one of Mr. Chow’s many signature innovations, and is inextricably associated with the MR CHOW Restaurants.

Ok fine, but Ramen noodles got me through college.

Seriously though, does Judge Hoeveler need to read all that?

Lamar Alexander, "tender age of 13," London, East meets West, Beijing Opera, trolleys, Kung Fu Panda -- oy!

Last I checked, it's still Chinese food.

(BTW, there's a great recent book on how Chinese food got so amazingly uniform and ubiquitous in American culture here.)

I'd never thought I'd say this, but we may need to bring back Alan.

Mr. Chow Substitutes Bertram Fields for Alan Kluger!

I don't know, is my coverage of this Mr. Chow suit pending before Judge Hoeveler getting borderline chronic?

We saw what happened when I tried to delve into the hot monkey judicial love that is ERISA.

So let's get back to my mespucha Alan.

WHOA -- no more Alan:

Plaintiffs Michael Chow, known as “Mr. Chow,” together with the entities that operate the restaurants known as “MR. CHOW”, MR CHOW ENTERPRISES, LTD., MC MIAMI ENTERPRISES, LLC, TC VENTURES, INC., and MC TRIBECA, LLC (collectively, the “MR CHOW Restaurants”), by and through its undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate to the substitution of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP in place of Kluger Kaplan Silverman Katzen & Levine, P.L. as lead counsel for Plaintiffs. They further agree that Alan Kluger, Esq., Terri T. Meyers, Esq., Lisa J. Jerles, Esq. and Kluger Kaplan Silverman Katzen & Levine, P.L. shall be relieved as counsel of record for Plaintiffs, and all future pleadings and notices shall be sent to Bertram Fields, Esq., Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger, and other continuing counsel of record for Plaintiffs at the electronic and other addresses reflected in the record before the Court.

No offense to Bert (who recently gave a lecture at Harvard Law with Tom Cruise sitting in), but I've suddenly lost all interest in this case.