EFTA00078895

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 4 DOE 1, et al., : 19-CV-07675 (GBD) 5 Plaintiffs, 6 v. : 500 Pearl Street 7 JEFFREY EPSTEIN, et al., : New York, New York 8 Defendants. : November 21, 2019 X 9 VE, 10 Plaintiff, : 19-CV-07625 (AJN) 11 v. 12 NINE EAST 71st STREET, et al., 13 Defendants. X 14 TRANSCRIPT OF CIVIL CAUSE FOR CONFERENCE 15 BEFORE THE HONORABLE DEBRA C. FREEMAN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 16 17 APPEARANCES: 18 For Jane Doe 1: ARICK W. FUDALI, ESQ. 19 The Bloom Firm 20 21 [Appearances continue next page.) 22 23 Court Transcriber: MARY GRECO 24 T eWrite Word Processing Service 25 Proceedings recorded by electronic sound recording, transcript produced by transcription service EFTA00078895 一 bJ l』J 笋叼「 渺為渺老D 国仂 。。z『Hza国U " a 喲。鬥 ＜国“ w為＞。「閎嵫 q ． 国U 客渺為U 仂 ． 国仂。． lJ1 w為 『 閂 巴 怠 靄国zU 国為仂。z ． 国仂。． 国 出烤qm 呦。什什 口．面烤 「「n . 。、 峭 毫。烤 嘞 口脚口。 〉一 」烤＝加什』 w巴 靜 晶 『 q ．寓。仂圳。習H 『忡』 国仂。． 曲 一 q岷升．』 Ka 廿 , NE 仂 ‘ 9 巋為「閎仂 Q ＜閩為』 国仂。． z一口巾 Ea 加t 71 医 “ " 『烤。仁什呂〉口 J I仂山口q巾烤加 「「U \D I- 。 喲。鬥 。~~．烤 「H 山 口什一 「m " U"<HU m。H 国仂』 国仂。． I- 尸 仂HQ 為HU 零n 向廬笔．国吣， 国功C . 白。仂工 仂甸工己H』圃為嘞 崮仂C · 一 四。一 m 仂。，一 尸巾州 閨尸巾拼口．烤 l'3 一 uj I- 為。m 国為『歲 犬歲吧H.>z ' ESQ . a 犬渺閂国 。 弓 晶 Q 国為． 閎 仂 p I- u1 U渺＜HU m為。U吣 』 蜀仂。． 一 為拋 仂『＞為， 国仂C . I- 鋤 d 一 H』渺z Q。「。~．為m ． 国仂。． 。、 鋤zU 為国霉 ．。仂閎z ' E仂C · I- 3渺為H 巴 皂 客 渺 z 9 国仂C · U渺zH 国 零己H』「器。勾嘞， 国仂C . 一 曲 一 \D bJ 。 14 尸 14 l与） 嘞 J對 EFTA00078896 3 THE COURT: Good morning. MALE SPEAKER: Good morning. FEMALE SPEAKER: Good morning, Your Honor. 4 THE COURT: Ordinarily we'd start by calling the 5 case but we have a number of cases here and rather than do 6 this in a tedious way, we've asked everyone to sign in on an 7 appearance sheet. And I just want to make sure I know who 8 everyone is. So first, on plaintiff's side in these various 9 cases, these are cases, just for the record, these are cases 10 that are brought by various plaintiffs against for shorthand 11 the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein. 12 Can I know who Brad Edwards and Brittany Henderson 13 are? 14 MR. EDWARDS: Yes, Your Honor. Brad Edwards. 15 MS. HENDERSON: Brittany Henderson. 16 THE COURT: Okay. Arick Fudali? 17 MR. FUDALI: Good morning, Your Honor. Arick 18 Fudali. 19 THE COURT: Good morning. Roberta Kaplan? 20 MS. KAPLAN: Good morning, Your Honor. 21 THE COURT: And Kate Donneger [Ph.)? 22 MS. DONNEGER: Good morning, Your Honor 23 THE COURT: Good morning. David Brody, Laura Star, 24 Alan Goldfarb and Andrew Posen [Ph.). 25 MR. BRODY: Good morning, Your Honor. David Brody. EFTA00078897 4 1 MS. STAR: Laura Star. 2 MR. POSEN: Andrew Posen [Ph.]. 3 MR. GOLDFARB: Alan Goldfarb. 4 THE COURT: Got it. Then I have David Boies, Sigrid 5 McCawley, Josh Schiller. 6 MR. BOIES: Good morning, Your Honor. David Boies. 7 MR. SCHILLER: Josh Schiller. Good morning. 8 MS. McCAWLEY: Sigrid McCawley. 9 THE COURT: Got it. Marion Wang and David Mullkoff. 10 MS. WANG: Mariann Wang. Daniel Mullkoff will join 11 me later. 12 THE COURT: Okay. 13 MS. WANG: Good morning. 14 THE COURT: Good morning. And on defendant's side, 15 well, you have a fewer number of people so why don't you just 16 introduce yourselves? 17 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Good morning, Your Honor. Bennet 18 Moskowitz; Troutman Sanders, here with my colleague Charles 19 Glover, and we represent the co-executors of the Estate of 20 Jeffrey E. Epstein as well as with certain exceptions various 21 other defendants in the actions for which we're here today. 22 To explain that a little further -- 23 THE COURT: That's all right. 24 MR. MOSKOWITZ: That's fine. 25 THE COURT: For the time being, that's fine. EFTA00078898 5 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Thank you. 2 THE COURT: All right. So the first thing I want to 3 do is just explain what my role is in these cases and perhaps 4 what my role isn't in these cases. First of all, I don't know 5 how much you all know about the inner workings of the court 6 but when a civil case comes into this court it is assigned to 7 a district judge and it is designated to a magistrate judge. 8 Or a magistrate judge is designated on the case. Having a 9 magistrate judge such as myself designated on a case does not 10 mean that I do anything on the case. It usually doesn't even 11 mean I know that the case is in front of me at all. And 12 certainly, it doesn't give me authority to act. The authority 13 to act comes from an order of reference by the district judge 14 on that case. There is a difference between a designation and 15 a reference. When a district judge refers a case to a 16 magistrate judge, the docket for that case will have an entry 17 that says order of reference. The order of reference will 18 specify what it's for. In these cases, a number of the 19 district judges have referred the cases to me for what's 20 called general pretrial supervision. General pretrial 21 supervision includes supervising the discovery process, 22 certain motions that are not dispositive motions, seeing if I 23 can assist with settlement, scheduling matters. It does not 24 include diapositive motions, making reports and 25 recommendations on dispositive motions unless the order of EFTA00078899 6 1 reference says that. And an order of reference can be 2 anything as narrow as can you work on one very particular 3 thing or can you assist with settlement? To as broad as on 4 the parties' consent it's before you for all purposes. 5 The decision was made, as I understand it, that as 6 an institutional matter all these cases were not going to be 7 placed before a single district judge. But it was also 8 decided that they would be designated to a single magistrate 9 judge so that if the district judges wanted to refer for, for 10 example, discovery supervision or to aid in settlement, that 11 would be before a single magistrate judge, and I am that lucky 12 magistrate judge. But not all of the cases that we've seen 13 come into the court have been referred to me at this time. So 14 you have to look at the dockets in your cases, and new ones as 15 they come in because I'm sure some new ones will come in, and 16 see if there is actually an order of reference. Now, you may 17 see a different magistrate judge designated and it may have 18 slipped through the cracks. A lot of these are just -- they 19 come out of the wheel and it's random. There's one I know 20 that's still showing a designation to Judge Fox. I think it 21 will be re-designated to me. If you're noticing that and 22 you're not noticing a re-designation to me, you can just give 23 our chambers a call and bring it to our attention and we can 24 look into that. 25 But even if they are all designated to me, which I EFTA00078900 7 1 think is the plan, again, they may or may not all be referred 2 to me. Right now there are orders of reference in, for 3 general pretrial supervision, in one, two, three, four, five, 4 six, seven, eight, and I believe there will be nine because 5 Judge Gardephe just signed one, nine of the cases out of 14. 6 Judge Buchwald has one case that is 19-CV-10474. I do not 7 believe she is going to refer. I think she prefers to 8 supervise the case herself. And there are a couple where I 9 just don't know yet. And of course I think there's one that 10 may not even be assigned to a district judge yet. And again, 11 they're still coming in. So just be aware of that because 12 there's a good chance that I'm going to be supervising your 13 case for discovery and for non-dispositive disputes for 14 scheduling, for seeing if I can assist with settlement. But 15 there is also a chance that I will not be. All right? And in 16 particular right now I know that Judge Buchwald does not wish 17 me to supervise hers. 18 In addition, Judge Schofield has two cases right 19 now. They are 19-CV-10475 and 19-CV-10577. I believe she 20 scheduled her own conference a little farther down the road. 21 I think she still wants to go forward with that but I 22 anticipate that at some point either before then or after then 23 she is likely to refer to me as well, but she wants to get a 24 handle on it herself. 25 So district judges are individuals. They handle EFTA00078901 8 1 things in individual ways sometimes. And just be aware 2 dispositive motions will go in front of them unless they are 3 specifically referred to me. And if any order of reference is 4 narrow, you have to look at it, see what it says, and 5 understand that's the particular reason it's before me. All 6 right? 7 So with that said, I nonetheless wanted to give 8 notice to anyone who's on these cases that I was having this 9 conference so that you could be informed, so that you could be 10 present if you have an interest, and you could hear what's 11 said. So that's number one. 12 Number two, I have seen in the press and in some of 13 the correspondence that was put in front of the Court in one 14 of the cases that there's some talk about the estate working 15 toward coming up with a settlement idea, concept, a plan for 16 trying to create a fund or do something. I've also seen some 17 murmurings, I don't know if they're true or not, that not all 18 of the plaintiffs' attorneys might be fully on board with the 19 process that's being set up which may not have been involving 20 them. 21 So I'd like to understand what is going on on that 22 front. And if it is possible to have these cases put on a 23 settlement track, I'd like to make sure that everyone's on 24 board with the process of developing a plan for that and to 25 get a feel for what it's going to entail, potential time line EFTA00078902 9 1 issues that are involved so that we can first see before we 2 get into discovery issues other kinds of squabbles, see if in 3 fact settlement is possible and we can move toward that. 4 So let me start on defendant's side since rumor has 5 it, and see what you have to say on that. 6 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Good morning, Your Honor. Would you 7 like me to stand or -- 8 THE COURT: It's okay. 9 MR. MOSKOWITZ: I'm happy to. I'm glad you raised 10 this because one of the things I wanted to bring to Your 11 Honor's attention is that having assumed, although I don't 12 like assumptions, that you may have seen in the press that 13 there is some kind of a claims program, I wanted to actually 14 take the opportunity today to explain to you briefly what is 15 going on. And since you asked specifically, I'll start there. 16 17 So there is what I feel confident in calling an 18 extraordinary opportunity that has already started that can 19 lead to an alternative to all this litigation. A lot of 20 people here as you can see. And this would be an 21 extraordinary opportunity also to conserve party and judicial 22 resources. And what happened is almost a week ago exactly the 23 co-executors, and this is probably some of the stories you 24 have seen, filed through counsel, not us, through estate 25 counsel in US Virgin Islands where the will is being probated, EFTA00078903 10 1 an application for expedited approval of a claims 2 administration process. So if I can just briefly explain what 3 that action means and what was actually filed because with 4 respect to everyone in the room, I don't know that every story 5 was as accurate as each other. So the filing was for approval 6 to have the process go forward. I fully expect it will be 7 approved. I'm not the Court, obviously. But I have every 8 reason to believe it will be promptly approved. What it is 9 not is actually the nuts and bolts of how the program will 10 work. What it does is it says the executors have selected 11 very esteemed people, Kenneth Feinberg who many view, I 12 believe rightfully so, is the nation's leading claims 13 administration expert. Jordana Feldman, who is also a leading 14 expert. She actually just very recently left her position as 15 deputy special master of the September 11th victim compensation 16 fund. And she has demonstrated through that profound empathy 17 for victims, deep commitment to fairness of process, fairness 18 of outcome. And also Camille Viras (Ph.) who has worked with 19 Mr. Feinberg over many years and is also a leading expert. I 20 selected those three people to design, and then Ms. Feldman to 21 administer the program. However, what's happening now is now 22 that the filing has been made, and this is all in the filing 23 and for any details I don't have I would encourage anyone who 24 has questions on the plaintiff's side to reach out to the 25 program administrators and designers for whom I don't speak EFTA00078904 11 1 because they're fully independent. But what the application 2 laid out is basically the overview of what the program is and 3 is not leaving open what will be the protocol for the design 4 of how the program works on a finer basis to be designed now 5 with input invited from every plaintiff's attorney sitting 6 here today, their clients, and anyone else who's out there 7 that is contemplating bringing a claim against the estate 8 related to, you know, these general sexual abuse allegations. 9 So everyone is invited to provide input. 10 Ms. Feldman will have complete autonomy. She has 11 completed autonomy as to decision-making authority over the 12 program operations and to claim determinations. The estate 13 has no authority, will have no authority to modify or reject 14 Ms. Feldman's decisions on any basis or as to any claim. The 15 claimants will retain their rights unless and until they 16 actually accept a determination. So in other words, this 17 again, all through the filing and what's been reported in the 18 press, everyone in this room, their clients can, it's 19 voluntary, but again, extraordinary opportunity, they can 20 through the entire process of the claims program, find out if 21 they're eligible to receive a claim determination, receive a 22 claim determination, and then decide do they want to accept it 23 or not. Unless they accept it and sign a release, all their 24 legal rights in terms of these lawsuits are preserved. So I 25 will say right now, and it's probably not necessarily a EFTA00078905 12 1 discussion for today, but it's directly relevant to what 2 you've asked me about, we of course on the co-executors side 3 are more than willing to work with plaintiffs to stay actions, 4 toll claims, whatever they need to preserve their claims so 5 they have no prejudice if they also then go forward to see if 6 the claims process can resolve their claim in a much more, you 7 know, general I shall say, more efficient than most civil 8 litigation works in this country, and confidentially which I 9 should point out means that it's a confidential process and 10 the estate itself is bound by certain confidentiality. But 11 the claimants are more than free absent, you know, certain 12 things and we worked on the protocol, to go out and tell their 13 stories if they still want to. So that's what I mean when I 14 say confidential. I know there have been a lot of concerns 15 about people wanting to proceed anonymously so that the claims 16 process is great for that concern too. 17 There is no cap as I understand it on the claims 18 determinations meaning whatever the claims administrators 19 decide in their expert judgment should be awarded to someone 20 there's not going to be an arbitrating limit in any way on 21 what that is. Again, encourage anyone with specific questions 22 in that regard to weigh in on the protocol and to ask the 23 administrators themselves. And I would just like to say that, 24 you know, because of this extraordinary opportunity, I think 25 it would be a bad outcome for the Court, a bad outcome for all EFTA00078906 13 1 the parties in here on both sides for these cases to move full 2 steam ahead while this opportunity is now live. I mean the 3 approval says the timing will be prompt. The claims 4 administrators expect that within 90 days or so of the Court's 5 approval of the filing they'll start receiving claims. This 6 is not going to be a long drawn out thing. And I see no 7 benefit to in the meantime having people, you know, clutter 8 these dockets with things that could probably, we hope, and I 9 expect and hope, will ultimately be avoided forever. 10 THE COURT: All right. One thing I forgot to say up 11 front is you don't see a court reporter sitting here. We do 12 have electronic recording equipment which means that if all 13 goes well there should be a recording of this conference. And 14 so if anyone wants to have a transcript made, that's possible. 15 And this is an on-the-record conference. If you're not 16 familiar with how to go about obtaining a transcript, I think 17 most people are, but if you're not, you can order it through 18 the court's website. The website was just redesigned so the 19 instructions I used to give people about this are now a little 20 different. But I believe that up at the top of the website 21 you'll see a few horizontal lines that suggest maybe there's a 22 drop down menu there. And if you click on it, you should find 23 something about courtroom technology. And if you follow 24 through and scroll down on that page you should find something 25 about what's called electronic court reportings or ECR which EFTA00078907 14 1 will tell you how to go about ordering a transcript. 2 Because we do not have a court reporter and because 3 any record will be through somebody typing up what they are 4 hearing on a recording, I'm going to ask anyone who speaks to 5 introduce yourself each time before you speak so that there's 6 no confusion as to who's speaking. That was Mr. Moskowitz 7 speaking, correct? 8 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Correct, Your Honor. Thank you. 9 THE COURT: Correct. Okay. So if anyone else wants 10 to speak on this subject, just please identify who you are 11 again because there are a lot of you on plaintiff's side. 12 Anyone on plaintiff's side want to say something on the 13 subject? 14 MS. KAPLAN: Your Honor, Roberta Kaplan. I'm 15 counsel for the pseudonymous plaintiff in the case pending 16 before Judge Failla. 17 You heard I think a number of times Mr. Moskowitz 18 use the word extraordinary. And on that word and perhaps that 19 word only I'm in full agreement with Mr. Moskowitz. I have 20 been -- I and many of my counsel here have been litigating in 21 this courthouse for combined decades and we are approached the 22 other side as a group many weeks ago to try to talk about, 23 negotiate, and be involved in a settlement process that would 24 be set up to administer claims for 14, 15, 16-year-old 25 children who were criminally abused, sexually abused by Mr. EFTA00078908 15 1 Epstein. There was radio silence, complete radio silence on 2 their end for week after week despite repeated entreaties from 3 myself and others for us to have involvement in who was 4 selected and who would be in charge of this. These are women 5 who want agency over their lives, number one? Two, what the 6 procedure would be. And three, Your Honor, perhaps most 7 importantly, how much money would be set aside? We have 8 basically no information about what's in the estate, what 9 assets are in the estate, what assets are not in the estate, 10 who is the beneficiary of the estate. We are told it's Mr. 11 Epstein's brother but we have no due diligence on that. And 12 we said to the other side that before this process was created 13 we thought we were entitled to some due diligence about what 14 assets are being put on the table to settle claims and what 15 assets are going to go to Mr. Epstein's brother. We've had 16 zero disclosure about that. We've had zero discussions about 17 who the person would be and how to set it up. I'm always, 18 Your Honor, and I think I speak for everyone here, we are 19 always willing to keep an open mind about settlement. But 20 given the way that this has been created, the secret 21 unilateral way that this has been created that frankly was 22 incredibly disrespectful to these women who have already 23 suffered criminal horrible abuse, we have serious doubts. And 24 the idea that we would stay any of these matters in favor of 25 the process that he described I think would be irrational for EFTA00078909 16 1 many of us. I don't know if Your Honor has any questions but 2 at least in my case I think that's our reaction. 3 THE COURT: I'll hear from anyone else who wants to 4 be heard on this topic. 5 MR. EDWARDS: Sure. Your Honor, Brad Edwards. I'm 6 here on behalf of VE, Catlin [Ph.) Doe, Priscilla Doe, and 7 Lisa Doe for plaintiffs proceeding under pseudonyms. 8 I agree with most of what Ms. Kaplan said. I will 9 say that it seems to me that this slow developing vague 10 settlement concept, once it gets set up it might be okay or it 11 might be good for some people. It doesn't make any sense at 12 all that is an all or nothing thing meaning we have said we're 13 willing to talk settlement as per our Rule 26 obligations with 14 any of the individual plaintiffs. And what I understand is 15 we're not going to do that. It is either you're going to be a 16 part of this process like it or not, and you may like it, you 17 may not, you don't know much about it, we can't tell you much 18 about it, but we hope that you'll just stay your actions while 19 we try to develop what it is or is not. That doesn't seem 20 like it's a very responsible way to approach this. There 21 could also be some discussion on individual claims along the 22 way especially lawsuits that have already proceeded. I'm just 23 going to just give you an example. I filed the case on behalf 24 of VE more than 60 days ago. We've already had our Rule 26 25 conference. I have an initial pretrial conference still set EFTA00078910 17 1 for December 6. I would say that trial could be had by July. 2 These are very simple cases. Why in the world would we be 3 made to stay this case basically for at least 90 more days for 4 this thing to get set up and time to then go through the 5 process. We could have had a trial by the time that we even 6 learn what this process is, so that I could educate my clients 7 on whether or not this might or might not be a good deal. So 8 I think it only makes sense -- 9 THE COURT: Which case are you talking about again? 10 MR. EDWARDS: VE. It is -- 11 THE COURT: Before Judge Nathan? 12 MR. EDWARDS: Yes. 13 THE COURT: So she has a conference on which day? 14 MR. EDWARDS: December 6. And we held our Rule 26 15 conference November 15th. 16 THE COURT: And do you think this case can go to 17 trial that fast? 18 MR. EDWARDS: Yes, Your Honor. I'm very familiar 19 with these cases in that I litigated when Mr. Epstein was 20 alive these same types of cases for over ten years. So I'm 21 intimately familiar with the facts. They are very simple 22 cases to try. I think that by next summer they could be ready 23 for trial. But certainly, we are ready to propound discovery. 24 We have less than five depositions to take in the case and 25 we're ready to go. I don't want that to be delayed because EFTA00078911 18 1 we're trying to set up what is, as you can tell, very slow 2 developing vague concept that might be acceptable or might 3 not. So I just don't want for the plaintiffs who are already 4 pursuing these actions to be prejudiced waiting for something 5 that's being unilaterally created. And we don't have great 6 confidence that many plaintiffs are going to opt in but we 7 have an open mind and are willing once it's set up to engage. 8 That's just not the time right now. So that's our position as 9 it stands. 10 THE COURT: Anyone else? 11 MS. McCAWLEY: This is Sigrid McCawley and myself 12 along with David Boies and Josh Schiller, we represent five of 13 the victims who filed suit to date. 14 I echo Ms. Kaplan's concerns. We have been part of 15 this dialogue with the reach out to help craft something that 16 would be responsible and reasonable for the victims who are at 17 issue here and the fact that the defendants unilaterally 18 selected a group without that input I think is inappropriate. 19 We are learning more about it today obviously so we'll reserve 20 final judgment on that. We are of course open, and our 21 clients are open, to discussing the possibility of settlement 22 but I do have significant concerns about what they filed in 23 the USVI. 24 THE COURT: Anyone else? All right. For cases to 25 settle, I'm going to direct this to defendants, for cases to EFTA00078912 19 1 settle there has to be not just interest on both sides but 2 there has to be seats at the table on both sides. There has 3 to be willingness to participate from both sides. Settlement 4 is uniquely non-unilateral. And if the defendants are really 5 interested in trying to get these cases resolved outside of 6 the litigation context, then you have to do more than just say 7 they're invited to the table and some window of time. There 8 has to be a real concerted effort to get people talking to 9 each other and to get plaintiffs' counsel on board with what 10 you're trying to do. And they may or may not be so readily on 11 board. And you have to, on defendant's side, be willing to 12 have an open mind, you know, and have people who are willing 13 to talk and maybe bend and maybe rethink if plaintiffs have a 14 different idea and the different idea's a good one. So this 15 being presented to them as well this is what it's going to be 16 and you can have some input after we've already figured out 17 some basics may not be sitting real well. 18 MR. FUDALI: May I address that, Your Honor? 19 THE COURT: Sure. 20 MR. MOSKOWITZ: I don't think that that's how we 21 view this. Defendants' counsel are correct. Many of them 22 reached out to us and said they would welcome a claims 23 administration program. It is true that the co-executors 24 vetted and carefully selected Ken Feinberg, Jordana Feldman, 25 and Camille Viras, like I said, unquestionably the leading EFTA00078913 20 1 people in the field, to be independent claims administrators. 2 So this is not a situation where we've set up a -- 3 THE COURT: Right. But they were -- but these 4 independent claims administrators were selected by one side 5 and not agreed upon by both. 6 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Absolutely. And I think Mr. 7 Feinberg's 98 percent or so participation rate in the 9/11 8 fund speaks for itself as well as his experience with the 9 church sexual abuse system, claims process in the BP oil 10 spill. All of these situations, I don't believe that 11 claimants went out and hired Mr. Feinberg yet they were very 12 successful programs. And here nothing's been fully baked. 13 All that was in the public filing, the very public filing that 14 I guess I heard some people aren't aware of the details and I 15 absolutely encourage them to read it, is that the program is 16 now going to be set up. The protocol is everything for how 17 the program works is my understanding. 18 THE COURT: Well, are the names of -- 19 MR. MOSKOWITZ: And that is when the sides should 20 come together and the administrators I fully expect and 21 understand will be in communication if they aren't already. I 22 don't know. 23 THE COURT: Let me interrupt you for a second. 24 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Sure. 25 THE COURT: Are the names of the administrators, the EFTA00078914 21 choice of the administrators, is that fully baked? Or is 2 there a possibility to add someone to that group for example? 3 MR. MOSKOWITZ: I don't know about the latter, but 4 yes, they have been selected as the administrators. I mean 5 another thing I point out is that -- another thing that's 6 unusual in this situation is that the estate is subject to the 7 probate court. So what was presented to them was a very good 8 faith above and beyond effort to. I can assure you, though I 9 don't speak for the estate counsel and I don't speak for the 10 administrators that the co-executors are hiring Ken Feinberg, 11 Jordana Feldman, Camille Viras, have a very sincere desire to 12 have a successful program that can resolve in a much more 13 efficient resolution of claims in a non-adversarial fashion. 14 I mean a lot of careful vetting and due diligence went in on 15 their end and I do understand that some of the plaintiffs' 16 lawyers maybe had different picks of who they wanted to be. 17 Some of them I should say as well were rather inflexible in 18 that regard. And it is correct we didn't choose necessarily 19 who their top people are. But this notion that we've gone out 20 and we're imposing this vague thing on them I don't think it's 21 fair. And again, they're right, it's voluntary. I would hope 22 that they appreciate, like I said, that this is a significant 23 opportunity to resolve claims that will not result in any 24 detriment. 25 I also want to just quickly touch upon Mr. Edwards EFTA00078915 22 1 raised the timing. He did litigate cases not in this court. 2 I think that's a very aggressive view of timing on his end. 3 We haven't even answered the complaint and the action which we 4 have this quote/unquote Rule 26 conference during which we 5 really didn't have much to talk about because we haven't even 6 answered the complaint. I view that as maybe that perhaps 7 fell through on the court's side, not Your Honor, on whether 8 that should occur then. So we had it out of caution. But 9 this notion that we're months away from significant things 10 happening in these cases, I don't know what the basis for that 11 is. 12 THE COURT: So some of the questions that have been 13 raised over here about the size of the fund, what assets are 14 in the estate, what assets are not in the estate, you said 15 that claims would not be capped. But is the fund a certain 16 amount? 17 MR. MOSKOWITZ: I don't have the answer to that 18 question. Certainly that's an issue that should be discussed 19 at this time along with any other issue that plaintiffs want 20 to raise. They should call Ms. Feldman, call Mr. Feinberg, 21 set up times to meet with them. Again, I don't speak for 22 them. But my understanding is they want to hear from all 23 interested parties. They finally made that clear. 24 THE COURT: Well, you're counsel in this case. So 25 if cases settle -- EFTA00078916 23 1 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Sure. 2 THE COURT: -- in this Court, I would think you 3 would need to be involved as well in this process and not 4 just, you know, refer them to somebody else who's not 5 representing a party. So I think you need to be more 6 personally involved, you or your firm or one of the firms 7 involved representing defendants, and try to ensure that there 8 is good dialogue, that there is good communication, and that 9 what plaintiffs' counsel has to say is not falling on deaf 10 ears, is not, you know, not being responded to. 11 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Agree 100 percent and that's fully 12 our intent. This was just filed a week ago. And also, we 13 will be fully involved; however, not at the expense of 14 inserting ourselves into anything that the administrators view 15 as solely within their domain as independent claims 16 administrators. So there's a little question there that yes, 17 we will communicate with them. We encourage plaintiffs' 18 counsel to do the same. We will stay fully involved to find 19 out what's going on. 20 THE COURT: Will you have authority to settle any 21 individual case outside of this framework that you're 22 discussing? 23 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Settlement discussions are always 24 welcome. I don't have any specific authority in that regard 25 but no door is closed. EFTA00078917 24 1 THE COURT: All right. What I'd like to do with 2 respect to settlement is have an update after there's been a 3 period of time when everyone has been conferring and 4 plaintiffs have been at the table through their counsel to 5 give me just a status report on how that's going and whether 6 it's looking promising or whether it's not from anyone's point 7 of view. And that doesn't mean other things can't be handled 8 on a parallel track. But I think that settlement is an 9 important track. Plaintiffs are clearly interested. 10 Defendants are clearly interested. And when everyone's 11 interested in settlement, seems to me that's the first thing 12 you want to all try to do. But it's got to really be a 13 process where everyone really has seats at the table, it's not 14 just lip service to seats at the table, okay, to discuss any 15 and everything that seems important to that process including, 16 you know, how much is in a fund and including, you know, what 17 is in this estate and not, so that plaintiffs understand, it's 18 almost like early disclosure of an insurance policy in a case. 19 Well, what is there? Right. That's one thing that's under 20 Rule 26(a), a part of it, is to understand on plaintiff's side 21 what resources are there that are available towards 22 settlement. That's one reason why that information becomes 23 important. 24 All right. I'm going to move on from that and we'll 25 talk about timing at the end with respect to anything and EFTA00078918 25 1 everything. I know that in some cases defendants haven't even 2 been served much less answered and there may also be motions. 3 There may also be motions to dismiss. I know there is at 4 least a potential statute of limitations issue that's out 5 there that defendants may wish to litigate, may not wish to 6 litigate. Don't know. Can you tell me on defendant's side 7 whether there are any motions planned? 8 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Yes, there are motions planned, Your 9 Honor, and the statute of limitations are certainly relevant 10 to some of those motions. I don't have all the bases for the 11 motions that we'll begin filing I believe starting next week. 12 And actually, I have a quick question if I can get back to 13 that on the timing. Among other things, every plaintiff has 14 asked for punitive damages but those are expressly barred by 15 New York statute and other jurisdictions that they may argue 16 are relevant. So we will be moving to dismiss claims for 17 punitive damages as well. And again, we are developing other 18 bases for motions. 19 THE COURT: Right. As I said, as far as I know I 20 don't have any of these cases for dispositive motions to issue 21 reports and recommendations on dispositive motions. So any 22 such motions remain before the district judge. I can probably 23 with respect to most -- different judges are different, but 24 with respect to most of them, I can probably set a schedule 25 for the motions, but I'm not going to be the one who decides EFTA00078919 26 1 the motions. With respect to scheduling, on any motion of any 2 kind I always appreciate if lawyers talk to one another and 3 propose briefing schedules because, you know, I'm assuming 4 you'll be reasonable. If it looks unreasonable to me like 5 we'll brief this motion in three months and do an opposition 6 three months later I will say no, you're not going to do that. 7 But most times lawyers can propose sensible schedules and, 8 like I said, always appreciate it if you talk to one another. 9 With respect to discovery, if there are dispositive motions, 10 that does not necessarily stay discovery. The default in this 11 Court is it does not stay discovery. There has to be an order 12 from the Court saying discovery is stayed. But it may make 13 sense if there is a dispositive motion to stay discovery in 14 whole or in part, very often what I do in cases is I try to 15 get a feel for what should be done soon, it's not overly 16 burdensome, and where there some reason to do it sooner, what 17 should be put off until later because maybe you save the money 18 on it and maybe it's less important at that initial juncture. 19 And I try to do something that is sensible that allows the 20 case to move in a sensible way with an understanding that 21 motions are pending. So when you confer about discovery when 22 we get there, think about that as well. Don't simply argue to 23 me if there's a motion that it should be all or nothing. You 24 can argue that, but also talk about whether there's some 25 compromise approach that makes sense for the particular needs EFTA00078920 27 1 of the particular case. 2 With respect to settlement, keep one eye on that 3 even if you're engaged in discovery because I'm a firm 4 believer that there are windows where cases are capable of 5 being settled. And sometimes it needs a certain something in 6 discovery to aid that. Now, maybe as part of a claims 7 administration process documentation would be submitted or 8 would be discussed in that separate process anyway, but it may 9 be that you need discovery in the litigation to have in hand 10 certain discovery before you can figure out the right 11 settlement for a particular case. So that might be a higher 12 priority item because if you want to go toward an early 13 settlement there may be certain things in discovery that are 14 particularly important to learn or understand before you are 15 in a position to accept or reject a proposed settlement or to 16 make a proposed settlement. 17 It seems a little bit premature, even though I 18 wanted to get a jump on these cases, to be setting discovery 19 schedules especially in cases where there's not been an 20 answer, certainly in cases where there's not even been 21 service. And especially in cases where there may be a motion 22 in lieu of an answer. But I do want everyone to confer about 23 discovery and I want everyone to submit proposals. The more 24 joint they are, the better. The more you have really 25 conferred the better. When I talk about good faith EFTA00078921 28 1 conference, I don't mean I sent an email and I didn't get a 2 response yet. When I talk about good faith conference I mean 3 you picked up the phone, you spoke to each other, you talked 4 through issues, you tried to work out issues and only if you 5 can't then you bring them to my attention. That goes for 6 discovery along the way. I will not even entertain a 7 discovery dispute if it doesn't appear to me that you fully 8 conferred in good faith. 9 Pet peeve, we're not there yet, pet peeve I get a 10 discovery motion, I get an opposition that says we'll do 11 certain things, I get a reply that says never mind, I have 12 wasted my time reading it. All it tells me is you've had a 13 failure of good faith conference. You should have been able 14 to figure that out through talking to each other rather than 15 spending money on briefing. 16 I'll also note, by the way, that Ms. Kaplan, you 17 sent me, I think you're the one who sent me three binders of 18 courtesy copies of things, yes? Those are your binders? 19 MS. KAPLAN: I believe so. So Your Honor, two 20 issues. One, we have an issue about spoliation that we hope 21 to be decided today. And two, Judge Failla called us 22 yesterday and told us that she wanted you to decide the 23 pseudonymous -- 24 THE COURT: That's fine. 25 MS. KAPLAN: -- motion in our case. So that's what EFTA00078922 29 1 we sent you, Your Honor. 2 THE COURT: That's fine. You don't have to spend 3 your time and money putting together beautiful binders for me. 4 I mean it's very nice, but I have three binders which I've 5 combined into one. I mean I have three binders combined in 6 one. One had, I don't know, maybe four, three documents and I 7 said oops, there's one missing. So instead of sending the one 8 that was missing you sent an entire new binder that had four 9 instead of three. And then there was another one with 10 separate tabs and separate letters and separate cover pages 11 and I just took it all apart and put it all in one and I 12 really didn't even need it at all. But thank you. And then 13 in the binders I did get, with respect to the Jane Doe issue, 14 the one thing that I actually wanted to see which was the two 15 competing proposed orders, one of those was missing from the 16 binder. Defendant's was not in there. So come on, if you're 17 going to give me binders and you're going to give me courtesy 18 copies, at least give me the things that I'm most going to 19 want to see. But save your time, save your energy, save your 20 money. If it's something lengthy that has a lot of exhibits 21 I'm not going to want to print out, yes, courtesy copies are 22 really appreciated. But you can just stick a courtesy copy in 23 an envelope and say here's a courtesy copy. I don't need 24 things so pretty. It's nice but it's not actually necessary 25 especially if you ask for fees later and complaining that you EFTA00078923 30 1 spent money on this sort of thing. 2 MS. KAPLAN: I apologize, Your Honor. 3 THE COURT: That's okay. 4 MS. KAPLAN: I think from our perspective there was 5 some lack of understanding as to -- 6 THE COURT: Don't apologize for trying to be 7 organized and have a nice presentation. I appreciate it. I'm 8 not trying to be critical. I'm just saying it's really not 9 necessary. On the John Doe -- John Doe? Jane Doe, Jane Doe 10 issues, I have no problem signing an order. The only question 11 is what form of order. And because there are several cases 12 with Jane Does or somebody Doe, and because many of those, if 13 not all, most, are going be referred to me for general 14 pretrial supervision which will include decisions like that, 15 it would be nice to have some uniformity. So I know that 16 Judge Castel has already issued a couple of orders. 17 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Your Honor, I have an update. I 18 apologize to interrupt. I do have an update about this issue. 19 THE COURT: You've requested that Judge Castel do 20 something different? 21 MR. MOSKOWITZ: No. Mr. Edwards and I, recognizing 22 that uniformity makes sense and recognizing that it would be a 23 shame to burden the Court with motion, continued motion 24 practice about this because as we've clarified in our 25 responses that Your Honor may or may not have seen -- EFTA00078924 31 1 THE COURT: You're going along with the form of 2 order that Judge Castel issued? 3 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Right. We don't object to anonymity 4 from the general public. We just want to make sure it doesn't 5 come at the expense of our ability to defend the actions. And 6 Mr. Edwards and I agreed yesterday in principle to a form 7 order that I'm going to promptly send him. I'll try to do it 8 today. This was just late afternoon yesterday. And I 9 respectfully submit that it makes sense to have that order 10 entered in each action. It strikes the right balance between 11 protecting the plaintiffs' anonymity from the general public 12 and also making sure we are free to defend the case by using 13 that information without otherwise exposing it to people that 14 it shouldn't go to. 15 THE COURT: Well, I must say I don't envy you both 16 because you're before a lot of different district judges who 17 are individuals and will handle cases differently. Also, you 18 have a lot of different plaintiffs' lawyers who are different 19 and may want to handle cases differently. On plaintiff's 20 side, you know, if you had been, whoever it was -- I'm not 21 sure who it was who wanted to have the cases all put before 22 one judge, whether it was defendant's side that wanted to do 23 that or plaintiffs' side. 24 MS. KAPLAN: I'm the guilty party, Your Honor. 25 THE COURT: Okay. If you had been successful in EFTA00078925 32 1 having the cases before one judge, you would have had to have 2 coordinated among plaintiffs' counsel either to figure out 3 who'd be lead counsel or at least who would take the lead on 4 something like proposing the terms of an order like this. So 5 I'm hoping that even though you're spread out among different 6 judges, plaintiffs' counsel can coordinate and can have one 7 voice for negotiating something like that and have one order, 8 one form of order that can govern in all of these cases for 9 anyone who wants to proceed under a pseudonym. And it may be 10 because Judge Castel has already entered orders, that's fine, 11 but I'm sure he would be fine with my modifying an order to 12 make it consistent with orders in other cases if that makes 13 more sense. Right? So I understand defendant's view, I 14 understand the views that have been articulated by Ms. Kaplan 15 in her correspondence. There ought to be a happy medium that 16 protects anonymity and it still doesn't prejudice defendants. 17 You may have gone a little overboard in the protections you 18 were seeking. They can be addressed as we go to some extent. 19 See if you can work it out. Possible to work it out? I'm 20 hoping. 21 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Will do, Your Honor. 22 MS. KAPLAN: We will try, Your Honor. 23 THE COURT: Okay. You can do it. I'm quite 24 confident you can manage to come up with a proposed order for 25 anonymity that will make sense and not prejudice anyone's EFTA00078926 33 1 rights. 2 With respect to spoliation, it's raised in one case, 3 the Judge Failla case, which is 8673. I have a simple 4 response to this. Counsel should know what their obligations 5 are and those obligations are pretty clear under the law and 6 counsel should take them seriously. If you do not preserve 7 evidence that should be preserved that you had a reason to 8 believe was relevant to claims or defenses in the case and 9 that you didn't take steps to preserve, there can be negative 10 consequences down the road. In order to be confident about 11 what evidence it is that you better take steps to preserve, it 12 can't hurt to be asking plaintiff's counsel to summarize for 13 you those things that you think are important if they're 14 potentially going to make something of this. That's just for 15 your information. But ultimately it is defendant's obligation 16 to preserve. I don't think I should have to tell them that. 17 And I don't plan at this point to issue an order with respect 18 to preservation unless and until I see something where it 19 seems fairly clear that there has been, you know, a lack of 20 preservation or there's been that conduct. The one thing that 21 was brought out by Ms. Kaplan with respect to the need for 22 spoliation was a story that was reported somewhere in the 23 press where defendants have said no, you misunderstood what 24 happened. At this point I have no reason to doubt what 25 defendants' counsel are saying about what happened, so EFTA00078927 34 1 therefore, I have no reason to believe there is bad faith or 2 bad conduct. And so therefore, I'm going to deny the request 3 to order preservation. I'm only going to remind everyone of 4 their obligations as counsel to preserve evidence which should 5 go without saying. 6 MS. KAPLAN: The only thing I would add to that, 7 Your Honor, we're fine with that, is that Mr. Epstein, as Your 8 Honor surely knows, has multiple residences in multiple 9 countries across the world. And we just want to make sure 10 that those same efforts are ongoing with respect to every 11 the Virgin Islands, Paris, New Mexico, New York, Florida, and 12 we haven't gotten that assurance. 13 THE COURT: So counsel, you heard it here. Make 14 sure your efforts are broad enough. And this motion is an 15 example to me of the good faith conference point. You know, 16 it seemed to me that further conference about what had 17 happened with respect to the incident, it seems you did have 18 some back and forth about this. But I mean a preservation 19 order from the Court is fairly significant. There has to be 20 something that really spurs it. And I think on plaintiffs' 21 side hearing that the story in the press was -- that some bag 22 had been removed from somewhere which was really not 23 documents, I gather was some clothing -- 24 MR. MOSKOWITZ: It was clothing for the decedent to 25 be laid to rest in, Your Honor. EFTA00078928 35 THE COURT: Yes. I mean if there's a reason to 2 doubt that, there's a reason to doubt that. You'll tell the 3 Court. If there isn't, then we don't have something 4 extraordinary. All right? But we do have a decedent who had 5 a lot of property, had a lot of locations where he could be 6 found at various points in time and the preservation 7 obligation is going to be fairly broad, still tailored to 8 what's relevant to this case but still fairly broad. And some 9 of these allegations do go back in time which makes the time 10 frame for preservation that much more challenging. 11 All right. Any other particular issues that anyone 12 wants to raise? Pseudonymous, spoliation, anything else? 13 Okay. 14 So what I'd like you to do is confer among the 15 plaintiffs' counsel -- by the way, do you know, do you 16 anticipate more cases being filed and if so, how many more? 17 Can you give me a clue? Do you know if there are more 18 plaintiffs' counsel out there who are likely to be 19 representing parties? 20 MR. FUDALI: Arick Fudali, Your Honor, the Bloom 21 Firm. I can tell the Court that we do anticipate filing more 22 lawsuits in this case. I can't say if there's other plaintiff 23 attorneys involved. But from our perspective, I believe at 24 least at this point there is a plan to file more lawsuits. 25 THE COURT: Can you give me an approximate number? EFTA00078929 36 1 I won't hold you to it. MR. FUDALI: I can say less than five probably. THE COURT: Okay. MR. FUDALI: But please don't hold me to that. 5 THE COURT: I won't. I just wanted to get a feel. 6 MR. FUDALI: The other issue is, Your Honor, and 7 perhaps you were about to address this, but I think to echo 8 what some of my colleagues said earlier is about clarity. I 9 think the problem is that a lot of the plaintiffs are having, 10 plaintiffs' attorneys, we're all in the dark and we're all 11 waiting and that's not something plaintiffs or plaintiffs' 12 attorneys like to do. So I don't know if Your Honor is 13 willing to -- 14 THE COURT: In the dark and waiting for what? 15 MR. FUDALI: I'm sorry, details of the settlement 16 program. 17 THE COURT: Okay. 18 MR. FUDALI: And I wonder if Your Honor is willing 19 to set some sort of deadline -- 20 THE COURT: Yes. I'm going to do that. 21 MR. FUDALI: -- that defendants could give us some 22 details, that we have something to bring back to our clients. 23 THE COURT: Well, I'm going to set a deadline for 24 reporting back to me on the status of the settlement process 25 and by that deadline there will have had to have been EFTA00078930 37 1 discussions because I do not want a status report that says we 2 know nothing, we haven't been talking, we are in the dark. 3 MR. FUDALI: Okay. Yes. 4 THE COURT: Because that would be pointless for a 5 status report. 6 MR. FUDALI: I think just, yeah, we all just want 7 more detail so our clients can make an informed decision 8 immediately or at least in the near future so we're not just 9 waiting, you know, with deciding. 10 THE COURT: Okay. 11 MR. FUDALI: Thank you, Your Honor. 12 MS. WANG: Good morning. Marion Wang. I just 13 wanted to inform Your Honor that we filed another case this 14 morning, so we have a total of three cases. 15 THE COURT: I think we saw that one. We've been 16 checking. 17 THE CLERK: [Inaudible]. 18 THE COURT: We didn't see that one? We saw another 19 one? 20 THE CLERK: [Inaudible]. 21 THE COURT: Oh, we saw one from yesterday. 22 MS. WANG: We filed one yesterday and we filed one 23 this morning. 24 THE COURT: Okay. 25 MS. WANG: So we have three total. Two are on your EFTA00078931 38 1 appearance list, and so there's a third one. 2 THE COURT: Do you have the docket number on that 3 one, the case number on that one? 4 MS. WANG: Yes, we do. My colleague does. 5 THE COURT: It's 19-CV something. 6 MS. WANG: Yes. It is 10788. 7 THE COURT: Okay. Can anyone else give me any ideas 8 to roughly how many more may be coming down the pike? 9 MR. EDWARDS: Your Honor, Brad Edwards. Potentially 10 dozens more cases could be filed. I'm just not sure whether 11 they're going to be filed here or potentially in the Virgin 12 Islands or Florida. So it's tough to -- 13 THE COURT: Through your firm? 14 MR. EDWARDS: Through our firm. 15 THE COURT: Okay. I would just urge that if you're 16 anticipating filing more cases, you try to get on with it and 17 not have this continuing sort of trickle of cases because 18 especially if we start setting schedules for things, I'm 19 trying to have some consistency on how cases are handled. If 20 one comes in a month down the road, another one comes in two 21 months down the road, another one comes in three months down 22 the road, you're not going to be on the same schedule. 23 MR. EDWARDS: Your Honor, I'll tell you that Mr. 24 Moskowitz and I have been conferring pretty thoroughly on 25 issues including the anonymity issue. And one thing that we EFTA00078932 39 1 have discussed, we filed four cases immediately and since that 2 time our back and forths have led me to believe that by this 3 point we would have something more substantive with respect to 4 this proposal of settlement plan. And so that's what we've 5 been waiting for. To some extent at Mr. Moskowitz's urging, 6 and I don't really hold him -- 7 THE COURT: You mean before filing more cases? 8 MR. EDWARDS: Right, before filing. So that's 9 what -- we don't want to cloud the Court with a bunch of cases 10 that ultimately turn out to be unnecessary because they 11 decided to put the entire estate into this plan and it's going 12 to be a good thing. So we're kind of in this limbo not 13 knowing enough information which piggybacks what counsel said 14 a minute ago. I think once we get clarity, we'll be able to 15 know are there going to be dozens of other cases that need to 16 be filed or are we going to get somewhere with this 17 resolution. 18 MS. KAPLAN: Your Honor, I would only add to that we 19 will seek to file anything promptly but as Your Honor may 20 imagine given the circumstances of this case there are women, 21 now grown women, who were victimized by Mr. Epstein who for 22 years and years have kept it hidden living in fear, 23 traumatized by it. And my law firm, and I'm sure this is true 24 for the other firms, literally get a half dozen calls a day 25 from new women who are reading about this and who say oh my EFTA00078933 40 God, you know, maybe -- THE COURT: I see. MS. KAPLAN: And so we can't control that. I can 4 promise you that as soon as we learn of people who we think 5 have claims we will do everything we can to file as 6 expeditiously as possible. 7 THE COURT: You know, there's some tension obviously 8 between any attorney in an existing case that says we want to 9 move this case and we want to move this case quickly toward 10 trial. And you know, some desire to have cases handled in 11 some kind of way that's consistent and not know how many more 12 cases are coming or when they're coming in. They don't have 13 to all be handled the same way. They don't all have to be on 14 the same schedule. It can be sort of a basic concept and then 15 as new cases come in the same sort of concept applies. But it 16 may be efficient that if someone is deposed, for example, like 17 an executor or someone else on the defendant's side that the 18 person is not deposed repeatedly. So you may be able to come 19 up with an agreement that a deposition in one case can be used 20 in another case. But what if it's by one counsel and you 21 didn't have your seat at the table because, you know, you're a 22 new attorney coming in and you didn't have a chance to be 23 there? So when you're thinking about discovery, think about 24 things like that. It may make sense to start thinking about 25 proceeding with certain types of document discovery, holding EFTA00078934 41 1 off on some depositions certainly on defendants' side because 2 those may be the same or very similar in a lot of respects. 3 Obviously, there are going to be individual stories, but some 4 of the kinds of questions that I imagine plaintiffs are going 5 to want to be asking are going to be the same in all the 6 cases. So use some thought. 7 I'm sending you back with things to think about and 8 things to report back to me on. I'm not setting any discovery 9 schedules right now. That doesn't mean I want the cases to 10 just linger and have nothing happen. But I think it's a 11 little bit premature. I think that it would be -- I just want 12 to pull up a calendar here because I forgot to bring my 13 calendar. We have holidays coming. We have obviously 14 Thanksgiving around the corner and then we're going to hit 15 December, January time frame. So my computer doesn't want to 16 bring me a calendar year. I mean ordinarily I'd say 30 days 17 and get back to me on what's going on with settlement but 18 that's going to run into holiday time. So I mean if you can 19 get back to me with a report before the Christmas holidays 20 hit, that would be great but that may be tight to really have 21 everybody involved at the table and have some discussion going 22 on. And my erstwhile deputy has brought me my calendar. 23 By the way, this person sitting at the table is 24 Hannah Martin. She's one of my law clerks. If you want to 25 call my chambers about something, she's a good contact person. EFTA00078935 42 1 I'm sure she's thrilled to hear me say that. If you happen to 2 be a member of the press, are any members of the press here? 3 Look at all these members of the press. Welcome to my 4 courtroom. If you have inquiries, please do not call Hannah. 5 Please call the district executive's office because if you 6 call us, other than telling you yes it's true, we have a 7 conference today at 10 o'clock, or something like that, we're 8 going to steer you to the district executive's office for 9 press inquiries. So please just do that in the first 10 instance. And they'll contact us if they need information 11 from us to pass along to you. But for litigants -- all right, 12 so let me look at this calendar. 13 It is now November 21. Well, what do you think on 14 both sides would be rational for reporting back with respect 15 to status of getting some input on plaintiff's side, getting 16 information from defendants, all that? 17 MR. MOSKOWITZ: So on defendants' side, two things I 18 think are relevant to that, Your Honor, recognizing that we 19 can't keep, you know, letting things linger because of new 20 cases coming in as you were alluding to. Currently with 21 respect to cases for which response deadlines to complaints 22 are already set, I believe the last of those response 23 deadlines runs December 20 or something. So I think it would 24 make sense for getting back to the Court to be sometime after 25 that, not too long. And obviously, there's the holidays so EFTA00078936 43 1 maybe a couple of weeks after that would make sense. Also, in 2 terms of timing generally, this will come as no surprise I 3 think to Your Honor, we will, we have and we will continue on 4 my end to work as diligently as possible to promptly provide 5 information that we agree should be provided. Things do take 6 a little longer given that it's not just an estate but perhaps 7 the most complex estate that I'm aware of in existence right 8 now. So to get answers to questions that may in some cases be 9 simple take a little longer in my situation. 10 THE COURT: I don't need a status report that says 11 we've worked it all out. 12 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Right. 13 THE COURT: I need a status report that says here's 14 the progress that has been made on both sides with attorneys 15 on both sides confident that there is in fact progress, that 16 there is in fact a flow of information, that they're in fact 17 sitting down and talking about things and that they're 18 learning and that they're engaged and that they have some 19 hope. Okay? That's what I want to hear. That's your 20 mission. All right? And on defendants' side, it is very much 21 in your interest to help facilitate this and try to make sure 22 this happens efficiently because to the extent anyone is 23 holding off on filing new cases to see if in fact there's a 24 workable plan for settlement that will avoid the need for 25 litigation, the longer it goes where they have doubts that EFTA00078937 44 that is in fact a workable plan, the more likely they are, 2 especially after what I said about trying to coordinate cases, 3 to just start filing these cases. I certainly don't mind -- I 4 can't speak to statute of limitation issues and whether this 5 period of time would matter or not on those issues, but I 6 don't mind if you hold off on filing cases if you think that's 7 fast because you're optimistic about a settlement fund. Use 8 your judgment about when you file cases. I'm not going to 9 direct you when to file them. But you've got a lot of 10 different balls in the air. You've got when cases are going 11 to be filed, how many there are, if discovery should move or 12 should not move, whether they should be coordinated in some 13 way or not, whether certain discovery should go first and 14 other discovery later, whether there are going to be 15 dispositive motions, how that affects whether there should be 16 discovery. And all of this with this backdrop of talking 17 about settlement. So I'm thinking maybe we'll just do one 18 overall status report in all these separate cases before 19 separate judges. That may be difficult. Maybe I can at least 20 get for each cluster of plaintiff's' lawyers the same letter 21 filed in each of the cases that you have. If you can all 22 coordinate, so much the better. If you can't, you'll have to 23 put them on the docket separately. But anyway, status reports 24 on everything, meaning discussions on settlement. Needless to 25 say, don't put confidential details about settlement on ECF. EFTA00078938 45 1 Settlement is the one time I'll hear from you ex parte about 2 things if we really get there. If you really want to give me 3 details like that, send me something ex parte solely on 4 settlement. But what I'm looking for at this point is 5 something more general that you think can be on the public 6 docket. So if you can, please put things on the public 7 docket. There's press interest in this case. Let's try to 8 have as much on the public docket as we can. Okay? But a 9 single report that talks (A) about progress of settlement 10 talks and (B) about a plan for moving forward with the cases. 11 And if they have to be case specific, they're case specific. 12 Do what you think you have to do saving money to the extent 13 you can, breaking it out if necessary. Use judgment. 14 Understand that I'd rather have three letters than 53 letters 15 but, you know, I'll read what I have to read. Okay? And how 16 about January 10? That takes you a couple of weeks past New 17 Year's. Everybody okay with that? 18 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Works for defendants, Your Honor. 19 THE COURT: All right. Look, if anyone has an 20 immediate need that comes up between now and then, I'm not 21 going anywhere including through the holidays. I'll be 22 around. You can contact my chambers. Put a letter on ECF. 23 Yes. 24 MR. GOLDFARB: Thank you, Judge. Thank you for 25 allowing us to appear from Miami. Alan Goldfarb for Jane Doe EFTA00078939 46 1 17. 2 One suggestion I might offer, Your Honor, is for the 3 next significant hearing I'd like to hear from whoever the 4 claims administrator would be and have some answers here in 5 court so they can participate in explaining this process as to 6 how they see it instead of hunting back and forth as I think 7 might happen. So I actually was hoping you would have had a 8 pre-Christmas status on that issue alone so we can get some 9 indication, which is almost 30 days from now, Judge, on how 10 that process would work here from the horse's mouth, and we 11 all hear it at once. We're told how this would work, we 12 understand it, and we go back and decide if we accept that or 13 not. You know, January 10th feels a little long for me for the 14 process. You're talking about 90 days. And I don't mind 15 coming back up here to your wonderful city again 16 Christmastime. 17 THE COURT: I didn't know you were coming but you're 18 welcome. 19 MR. GOLDFARB: Thank you. 20 THE COURT: Basically what we did is we put a notice 21 on the docket on the first group of cases that we were having 22 a conference and then we started reaching out to counsel in 23 later filed cases who seemed to already know that there was a 24 conference. So we just figured people would show up. But we 25 didn't reach out to anyone in Florida. EFTA00078940 47 January 10, I'm basically thinking kicking it more 2 than 30 days because of the holidays. That's why January 10. 3 But what I'm thinking ought to happen between now and then, I 4 give it to you for serious consideration, is you folks ought 5 to schedule a meeting without me. You ought to schedule a 6 meeting with the claims administrators and with counsel in 7 these cases on both sides. And you ought to sit around a 8 table and you ought to talk about all the questions and get as 9 many answers as you can get and try to gain some confidence 10 that you are all participating and your views are being taken 11 seriously and valued. And that's what I think you ought to do 12 because in settlement discussions that's what happens. People 13 talk outside of the court about things and try to advance the 14 ball. And you do have a lot of people. And if you talk one 15 on one, then you have another one on one with a different 16 lawyer and the message is heard differently or different 17 questions are asked and answered, you know, you're going to 18 have some confusion reigning. So I would strongly recommend 19 we not use the courtroom for that meeting at this stage but 20 that you see if you can set one up and literally bring people 21 to the table as a settlement discussion. And then when you 22 report back, you'll have something to report back on. Yes? 23 MR. BOLES: Your Honor, David Boies. I agree 24 completely with the Court we need to meet among ourselves. 25 You got good counsel on both sides here. I think that we can EFTA00078941 48 1 make progress. However, my consistent experience over, as Ms. 2 Kaplan was saying, over a considerable number of years is that 3 counsel, even with a best faith world, tend to work harder 4 when they've got a appearance before the Court in order to 5 respond to where they are. And I think that if -- I would I 6 think echo what Mr. Goldfarb said which is that if the Court 7 were to set a conference on December 20th just to sort of 8 report on where we were in terms of the settlement process and 9 the administrators, I think that would spur us over the next 10 30 days to maybe work harder and more effectively than if we 11 didn't have that date. 12 THE COURT: Are there any attorneys here in the 13 courtroom who do not have your personal calendars with you 14 because they were confiscated at the door? Do you all have 15 your calendars? 16 MALE SPEAKER: Yes, Your Honor. 17 FEMALE SPEAKER: Sure. 18 MR. MOSKOWITZ: And Your Honor, I mean going back to 19 exactly what you said about just being practical with the 20 holidays, I'm out of state that week, December 20th. 21 THE COURT: All right. I'm not scheduling any 22 conference December 20. But what I suggest is when I step 23 down from the bench I suggest that the attorneys stick around 24 for a minute, compare notes on their availability, see if you 25 can at least tentatively come up with a couple of dates that EFTA00078942 49 1 might work for a meeting among you. You're going to have to 2 get in touch with the administrators to see if they're 3 available which is why more than one date would be useful. 4 See if you can get something on the calendar that's a firm 5 date to start having real meetings to be able to discuss 6 things with everybody who wants to be involved involved, and 7 everyone could hear everyone else's questions. I just don't 8 think I should be using the courtroom for that at this time. 9 MS. KAPLAN: Thank you, Your Honor. We will. I 10 think what you're hearing, if I could speak from the 11 plaintiffs' side, is we've been asking for exactly that 12 meeting now for many weeks, so -- 13 THE COURT: Okay. So let's -- 14 MS. KAPLAN: -- that's why you're hearing the 15 consternation on our side. 16 THE COURT: All right. Well, we don't want 17 consternation. We don't want anybody feeling frustrated. We 18 want everybody feeling encouraged that there is responsiveness 19 and that this is going to move forward on a track that 20 everybody's going to be optimistic about. That's the goal. 21 All right? You are all good counsel and you all understand 22 the need to work together. And settlement doesn't happen 23 unless people work together. So let's start making that 24 happen. Try to schedule, you know -- I mean look, you can 25 provide information, you can provide some information in EFTA00078943 50 1 writing perhaps. Whatever. You can start doing that pretty 2 promptly. But try to schedule a meeting where you start 3 talking about this so that by January 10 it's not just you met 4 on January 9. You know, you had a meeting, you started 5 talking, you had some further dialog, you have some progress 6 to report. That's the goal to have progress to report. And I 7 fully agree that having the Court keep tabs makes things 8 happen that doesn't otherwise happen which is why even at this 9 ridiculously early stage for many of these cases you are all 10 here today because the goal is to take stock of this and to 11 try to oversee this and to try to make these cases move in an 12 appropriate way instead of just having lots of separate 13 squabbles going on, lots of separate issues floating around, 14 different sorts of letters expressing different sorts of 15 frustration. Right? We're going to try to have this as 16 frustration free as possible. These are serious claims. 17 Defense counsel recognizes that. There are a lot of them. 18 There are more to come. Let's see if we can get them on a 19 settlement track that everybody is comfortable with. And 20 January 10, one letter, 30 letters, whatever it is, try to 21 report back on settlement, on motion practice if there's going 22 to be motion practice, on discovery proposals if you think 23 discovery is in order and you know, with lots of thought. And 24 to the extent you differ, I'll see how you differ. To the 25 extent you can be of one mind as to how things should proceed, EFTA00078944 51 1 great. All right? 2 MS. KAPLAN: Thank you, Your Honor. 3 MR. FUDALI: Thank you, Your Honor. 4 THE COURT: It's a goal. 5 MR. MOSKOWITZ: Thank you, Your Honor. 6 THE COURT: Go forth. Go forth and do. 7 * * * * * * 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 EFTA00078945 52 I certify that the foregoing is a court transcript from 2 an electronic sound recording of the proceedings in the above- 3 entitled matter. 4 5 Mary 0reto- 6 Mary Greco 7 Dated: November 25, 2019 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 EFTA00078946