Tales.com Inc. v. The Partnerships Identified On Schedule A

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Edmond E. Chang: On review of the joinder filings, R. 17, 18, the Court holds as follows: the Plaintiff may file a Second Amended Schedule A with the nine Defendants in Group A. Those Defendants are sufficiently connected via the unique VAT number to be properly joined under Estee Lauder Cosmetics Ltd. v. Schedule A, 334 F.R.D. 182, 18789 (N.D. Ill. 2020). On the other Groups, although the Court appreciates the effort in compiling R. 18-1, joinder is not proper across all of the 35 Defendants (35 when counting Group A too). First, some of the asserted commonalities are not sufficiently unique to raise the inference of joint action, most prominently, the mere use of the same legal representative. R. 18-1 at 9 (Group B), at 11 (Group C), at 14 (Group D), at 16 (Group E), at 18 (Group F), at 20 (Group G). Second, for those asserted commonalities that would be sufficient for the narrow subset of Defendants, such as same business phone number or same unique brand name, that single commonality between the narrow subset does not then loop in all the other Groups of Defendants in which the narrow subset is a group member. That is, there is no mixing/matching theory of joinder, where one (or a few) in one group has a commonality with one (or a few) in another group, and then somehow a transitive property brings the disparate groups together. So Group A may remain intact in a Second Amended Schedule A, which is due by 10/17/2025. The motion [3] to seal is granted given the goal of asset restraint. Second Amended Schedule A may be filed under seal. (2.) The prior motions [19], [22] are terminated without prejudice to refiling after filing Second Amended Schedule A, focusing on just the remaining Defendants. The refiled motions, if refiled at all, are due by 10/24/2025. (3.) The tracking status hearing of 10/10/2025 is reset to 10/31/2025 at 8:30 a.m., but to track the case only (no appearance is required, the case will not be called). Emailed notice

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Edmond E. Chang: On review of the status report, R. 12, the Plaintiff did not file the Amended Schedule A as forecasted on 04/30/2025. The Plaintiff shall file the amendment by 05/16/2025, along with a supplemental joinder filing if there is more than one defendant. The tracking status hearing of 05/09/2025 is reset to 05/23/2025 at 8:30 a.m., but to track the case only (no appearance is required, the case will not be called). Emailed notice

MINUTE entry before the Honorable Edmond E. Chang: Initial tracking status hearing set for 05/09/2025 at 8:30 a.m. to track the case only (no appearance is required, the case will not be called). Instead, the Court will set the case schedule after reviewing the written status report. The parties must file a joint initial status report with the content described in the ***ATTACHED*** status report requirements (do ***not*** use templates from other cases) by 04/29/2025. Plaintiff must still file the report even if Defendants have not responded to requests to craft a joint report. If not all Defendants have been served, then Plaintiff must complete the part of the report on the progress of service. Also, counsel (or the parties, if proceeding pro se) must carefully review Judge Chang's Case Management Procedures, available online at ilnd.uscourts.gov (navigate to Judges / District Judges / Judge Edmond E. Chang). Because the Procedures are occasionally revised, counsel (or the party, if proceeding pro se) must read them anew even if the counsel or the party has appeared before Judge Chang in other cases. Emailed notice