Tag Archives: Frank Ferrara

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Defendant Brant Blakeman Objects To Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver’s Recommendation That He Be Sanctioned Via The Sarcastic Use Of About A Zillion Scare Quotes — Meanwhile Judge Otero Issues Order Accepting Oliver’s Recommendations With Respect To Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang Lee And Thereby Casts Much Doubt On The Likely Efficacy Of Blakeman’s Middle-School-Style Strategy

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case. You can also read all my posts on the case.

So maybe you recall that in December, Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver filed an amended report and recommendation to the court regarding the plaintiffs’ motions for sanctions against Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang Lee for their plausibly willful mishandling of evidence in the case. Yesterday Judge James Otero filed an order accepting Oliver’s recommendations. In particular, following Oliver’s recommendations precisely, Otero ruled:

… that Plaintiffs are permitted to depose Defendants Sang Lee, Charlie Ferrara, and Frank Ferrara regarding issues relevant to spoliation, with costs to be shared by Plaintiffs and the deposed Defendants. At trial, the parties will be permitted to present evidence and argument related to the unrecoverable text messages for Defendant Lee and the Ferrara Defendants and the unavailable cellular billing records for Charlie Ferrara.

This was not unexpected, but it’s interesting nevertheless. However, the plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions against these three clowns was not the only such motion concerning which Rozella Oliver has recommendations. There’s also, of course, her report on Brant Blakeman and his wildly antisocial handling of evidence in his possession. Well, on December 27, John Stobart, Blakeman’s lawyer, filed an opposition to Oliver’s recommendations, and this morning the plaintiffs responded to Blakeman’s objection. The two pleadings are available here:

The plaintiffs’ response was written by the agressively sane Samantha Wolff of Hanson Bridgett. And it’s definitely worth reading, but it’s, you know, competent, prudent, measured, and so on. Therefore there’s not much for me to comment on.

On the other hand, Brant Blakeman’s objection, written by John Stobart, is, as befits the rapiest Bay Boy, a surreal sludge pot of scare quotes, sophomoric sarcasm, and generalized cack-handedness, and, as such, is required reading!1

Selections after the break, and please, note that I didn’t add a single quotation mark. Not a single one. Footnotes also are as in the original,2 and read them if you want to see some of John Stobart’s most flamboyantly weird scare quotation.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Defendant Brant Blakeman Objects To Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver’s Recommendation That He Be Sanctioned Via The Sarcastic Use Of About A Zillion Scare Quotes — Meanwhile Judge Otero Issues Order Accepting Oliver’s Recommendations With Respect To Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang Lee And Thereby Casts Much Doubt On The Likely Efficacy Of Blakeman’s Middle-School-Style Strategy →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Magistrate Judge Oliver Files Amended Recommendation For Sanctions Against Sang Lee And Some Ferraras, Plaintiffs Respond To Blakeman’s and City’s Oppositions To Their Motions For Sanctions In Preparation For Tomorrow’s Hearing Before Oliver

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case. You can also read all my posts on the case.

You probably remember that a few weeks ago Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver set a hearing for tomorrow, Wednesday, December 6, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. in her courtroom on the ninth floor of the Spring Street Federal Courthouse. The subject of the hearing is sanctions for Brant Blakeman and the City defendants for allegedly destroying or failing to preserve relevant evidence. They filed oppositions to the plaintiffs’ motions a few days ago, and yesterday the plaintiffs filed responses to these oppositions:

They’re both interesting, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of new material there. They’re quite plainly spoken as to the failures of defendants to preserve evidence. There’s a transcription of the response to Blakeman’s reply after the break.

Also recall that in late October, Rozella Oliver filed a report making various recommendations for sanctions against Sang Lee and Charlie and Frank Ferrara for their failure to preserve evidence. Last week she filed an amended version of this report softening some of her recommendations.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Magistrate Judge Oliver Files Amended Recommendation For Sanctions Against Sang Lee And Some Ferraras, Plaintiffs Respond To Blakeman’s and City’s Oppositions To Their Motions For Sanctions In Preparation For Tomorrow’s Hearing Before Oliver →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Defendants Blakeman And City of PVE File Timely Oppositions To Plaintiffs’ Motion For Sanctions, Blakeman Throws His Co-Defendant Frank Ferrara Under The Bus To Some Extent

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case. You can also read all my posts on the case.

OK, so the Lunada Bay Boys plaintiffs filed a motion for sanctions against defendants Brant Blakeman, the City of PVE, and some others. The motion is here. And a couple weeks ago Judge James Otero ordered all relevant parties to brief Rozella Oliver, the magistrate judge in the case, on the issues. She turned around and set a briefing schedule and a hearing, which will happen in her courtroom on Spring Street on Wednesday, December 6, at 1:30 p.m.

That order required Blakeman and the City defendants to file briefs in opposition by November 27, which they did, and which are the reason for today’s post.1 The issue is, of course, whether these particular defendants destroyed evidence, mainly text messages, after they had a legal duty to preserve it. No one seems to deny that they did destroy the texts, so the argument is mostly about precisely when their duty to preserve evidence was activated.2

You might recall that at some point various Ferraras argued that their duty to preserve only attached when they were served with papers in the suit, but Rozella Oliver wasn’t buying it. She said that because Frank Ferrara had been interviews by the Daily Breeze prior to service he knew about the suit and ought to have not destroyed his texts. Well, Blakeman turns that argument to his own account by asserting that because he wasn’t interviewed by the paper, there’s no evidence that he knew about the suit prior to service.

Anyway, here are the briefs filed, and there are selected transcriptions from Blakeman’s pleading after the break:

Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Defendants Blakeman And City of PVE File Timely Oppositions To Plaintiffs’ Motion For Sanctions, Blakeman Throws His Co-Defendant Frank Ferrara Under The Bus To Some Extent →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Case: Magistrate Judge The Honorable Rozella Oliver Recommends Sanction-Slaps For 67% Of The Ferrara Defendants, Additional Depositions Concerning Discovery Shenanigans Of Those Same Ferraras And Sang “Friend N A Pirate” Lee, Allowing Plaintiffs To Argue Inferences From Missing Evidence Before Jury!

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case. You can also read all my posts on the case.

Perhaps you recall that on Thursday, October 12, the plaintiffs and defendants Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang “Friend N A Pirate” Lee appeared before Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver to discuss the plaintiffs’ motion that these defendants be sanctioned for destroying a bunch of obviously incriminating text messages.

Today Oliver issued a Report and Recommendation on Motion for Sanctions. The document is well worth reading, as it summarizes the entire background of discovery disputes between the plaintiffs and these three defendants in a comprehensive, comprehensible style.

This paper is in the form of a recommendation to Judge Otero rather than an order. I don’t know for sure why this is, but I’m guessing it’s because this matter is beyond the traditional powers of Magistrates and Oliver is allowed to deal with it because Otero specifically granted her the authority to do so. His having done so, I’m guessing, makes it pretty likely that he’ll accept her recommendations, especially given their prudent, moderate nature.

In particular, she says that there’s no evidence showing that Sang Lee spoiled evidence on purpose when he had a duty to preserve it. She does recommend that the plaintiffs be allowed to depose Lee again to explore the issue of evidence. To emphasize that she’s not punishing him she recommends that he and the plaintiffs split the cost of his depo. The Ferraras, that is, Charlie and Frank, come off quite a bit worse, and you can turn the page to learn their fate and read a teensy bit of the document itself.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Case: Magistrate Judge The Honorable Rozella Oliver Recommends Sanction-Slaps For 67% Of The Ferrara Defendants, Additional Depositions Concerning Discovery Shenanigans Of Those Same Ferraras And Sang “Friend N A Pirate” Lee, Allowing Plaintiffs To Argue Inferences From Missing Evidence Before Jury! →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Case: Charlie And Frank Ferrara Withdraw Motion For Summary Judgment, City Of PVE Releases A Bunch Of Formerly Confidential Material Proving Among Other Things That Former Police Chief Jeff Kepley Wanted To Charge Bay Boys As A Gang, More Papayans Text Messages, Powerful Plaintiffs’ Opposition To City Defendants’ Motion

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case. You can also read all my posts on the case.

There’s so much going on right now that I barely have time to list the recent paper filed in the Lunada Bay Boys case, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff here.

• First of all, recall that during last week’s hearing on sanctions against defendants Charlie Ferrara, Frank Ferrara, and Sang Lee, magistrate judge the honorable Rozella Oliver strongly hinted to the Ferraras’ attorney, Alison K. Hurley, that she really ought to consider withdrawing her clients’ motion for summary judgment. Well, I suppose that when judges hint, smart people listen, and, additionally, it seems that Alison K. Hurley does as well. Thus on Monday the Ferraras filed this notice of withdrawal of their previous motion.

• Next we have the Plaintiffs’ supplemental brief in opposition to City defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The overarching issue is that the City of PVE has been so remiss in its duties to release documents that they’ve made it impossible for the plaintiffs to respond effectively to this motion for summary judgment. This is worth reading, and there’s a partial transcription at the end of this post.

• Also, this item comes with a statement of supplemental facts and a bunch of exhibits. These contain tons of super-interesting, formerly confidential, documentary evidence. The point is to enumerate all the ways in which the City defendants failure to provide this new evidence, some of it obtained as recently as yesterday, hindered the plaintiffs’ response. The new evidence is fascinating. There’s a list of links and descriptions after the break.

• Finally, there’s a supplemental brief in opposition to the individual defendants’ motions for summary judgment, which plays a role parallel to the analogous document for the City defendants. This too is well worth your attention, and there’s a partial transcription after the break. This also comes with a statement of supplemental facts, also worth reading, with lots of new creepy Bay Boy texts and so on.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Case: Charlie And Frank Ferrara Withdraw Motion For Summary Judgment, City Of PVE Releases A Bunch Of Formerly Confidential Material Proving Among Other Things That Former Police Chief Jeff Kepley Wanted To Charge Bay Boys As A Gang, More Papayans Text Messages, Powerful Plaintiffs’ Opposition To City Defendants’ Motion →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Get To The Bay And Rouste [sic] Those Kooks! Newly Obtained Papayans Text Messages Prove Bay Boy Conspiracy To Deny Cory Spencer Access To The Water — Also, News From Thursday’s Hearing On Sanctions Against Charlie And Frank Ferrara And Sang Lee For, Among Other Things, Destroying Evidence

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

I apologize for having neglected the Lunada Bay Boys case lately, but I’ve just been so overwhelmed with the Skid Row Neighborhood Council matter that I haven’t had time for much else. There have, however, been a number of interesting developments in this matter as well.

First of all, recall that the cell phone of Bay Boys defendant Michael Papayans was in LAPD custody after his notorious arrest for beating up a man in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. Once the LAPD gets its hands on evidence it seems that they don’t give it up so very easily, and thus, in July, the Honorable Rozella Oliver, magistrate judge in the case, ordered them to hand it over for analysis. Well, they evidently did so, and, on October 9, a bunch of text messages from the phone were filed with the court. You must read these texts! It seems to me that they pretty much prove the plaintiffs’ case. Here are some highlights:

  • Yeah get down there I’ll be up as soon as I can my dad should be going out soon
  • Yea, only 5 guys out and he’s out, I’m going
  • I hate this guy
  • Are they in the water
  • He’s in the water. Only five guys out. Get down here boys. I’m out there
  • Kooks up there
  • Get him Charlie, just go shake his hand, tell him we missed him and can’t believe he didn’t make any of these latest headlines, he should be ashamed
  • Lol ok I’m on my way !
  • Michelle get to the bay and rouste [sic] those kooks
  • there are two kooks he’s got a little baldheaded white guy with them he looks like a boogie board or to fuck what a joke!
  • The kook is here at the bay right now
  • I don’t know how I get put on these threads but its hilarious :)


And the other news is that the hearing on sanctions against defendants Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang Lee for discovery shenanigans took place on Thursday as scheduled. What a wild ride!
Continue reading Get To The Bay And Rouste [sic] Those Kooks! Newly Obtained Papayans Text Messages Prove Bay Boy Conspiracy To Deny Cory Spencer Access To The Water — Also, News From Thursday’s Hearing On Sanctions Against Charlie And Frank Ferrara And Sang Lee For, Among Other Things, Destroying Evidence →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys News Roundup: More Discovery Matters, October 12 Hearing Set Before Rozella Oliver — Tiffany Bacon Withdraws As Attorney To Ferraras — Plaintiffs File Memorandum Supporting Discovery Request For Work-Related Texts From PVEPD Officers’ Personal Cell Phones

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

The latest episode in the ongoing nightmare that is the discovery process in this case is summarized in this minute order setting the schedule for dealing with the plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions against Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang Lee. You can read a transcription after the break to get the details, but essentially everyone has to meet and confer and a strict briefing schedule is set. There is an in-person hearing scheduled for October 12 at 10 a.m. in Courtroom F on the ninth floor of the Spring Street Federal Courthouse.

And turn the page for the story on the other items mentioned in the headline!
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys News Roundup: More Discovery Matters, October 12 Hearing Set Before Rozella Oliver — Tiffany Bacon Withdraws As Attorney To Ferraras — Plaintiffs File Memorandum Supporting Discovery Request For Work-Related Texts From PVEPD Officers’ Personal Cell Phones →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver Schedules Telephonic Hearing To Determine How To Proceed On The Manifold Motions Regarding Discovery Disputes Sent Over By Judge Otero For September 5, Orders, To The Delight Of Everyone Who Has To Pay PACER Fees, That No Further Briefs Be Filed Unless Requested

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit.ames Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

NOTE: Because I was asked, I thought I’d just announce that I’m sorry for the lack of cartoons. For the next week I’m forced to use a substandard computer. The cartoons will return on or about September 5 if all goes as planned.

Yesterday Judge James Otero bestowed sufficient authority upon Magistrate Judge Oliver to decide all the pending motions relating to discovery shenanigans on the parts of the various defendants, including the plaintiffs’ monumental motion for administrative relief. Well, Oliver is no slacker — today the Magistrate Judge issued an order scheduling a telephonic hearing on all the pending discovery matters for September 5. The purpose of this hearing, it seems, isn’t to decide the issues, but to agree on what further briefs and proceedings will be necessary to decide the issues. As always, there’s a transcript after the break.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver Schedules Telephonic Hearing To Determine How To Proceed On The Manifold Motions Regarding Discovery Disputes Sent Over By Judge Otero For September 5, Orders, To The Delight Of Everyone Who Has To Pay PACER Fees, That No Further Briefs Be Filed Unless Requested →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Judge Otero Kicks Plaintiffs’ Motions For Administrative Relief, Sanctions Against Charlie, Frank Ferrara, Sang Lee, Back To Magistrate Judge Oliver For Decision, Stays Decision On All Other Pending Motions, Continues Trial Date To December 12

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

Earlier this month the Lunada Bay Boys plaintiffs filed a motion for administrative sanctions asking Judge Otero to deny all the various and sundry motions for summary judgment filed by the defendants. The argument was that the astonishing level of discovery-related obstructionism displayed by the defendants, which has already resulted in some sanctions and will probably result in many more, makes it impossible for the plaintiffs reply effectively to the flurry of motions. Additionally, the plaintiffs filed other motions for discovery-related sanctions against alleged Bay Boys Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang Lee with Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver, who subsequently ruled that the authority to rule rested solely with Otero.

On Friday Judge Otero ruled that the motion for administrative relief could be handled without a hearing, and yesterday he issued an order granting Magistrate Judge Oliver the authority to rule on that motion and also on the motion for sanctions against Charlie and Frank Ferrara and Sang Lee. He also postponed decisions on all other pending motions until Oliver decides on these two. Finally, he also moved the trial date to December 12 at 9 a.m. You can read a transcription of the whole order after the break.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Judge Otero Kicks Plaintiffs’ Motions For Administrative Relief, Sanctions Against Charlie, Frank Ferrara, Sang Lee, Back To Magistrate Judge Oliver For Decision, Stays Decision On All Other Pending Motions, Continues Trial Date To December 12 →

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Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver Orders Defendants Charlie And Frank Ferrara’s Lawyers Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara To Pay Monetary Sanctions To Plaintiffs Because Of Unjustified Failure To Comply With Discovery Order

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For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

A couple weeks ago the plaintiffs in the Lunada Bay Boys case asked Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver to order defendants Charlie and Frank Ferrara and their lawyers, Bremer, Whyte, Brown, & O’Meara, to pay more than $32,000 in sanctions for their failure to abide by various discovery orders. On Tuesday the defense filed its opposition and on Wednesday a telephonic hearing was held.1

Yesterday, Rozella Oliver filed a minute order denying the plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions against the Ferraras themselves, but granting it with respect to sanctions against the lawyers. Since not everyone has to pay the plaintiffs don’t get all the money they asked for, and they’re required to recalculate what they’re owed based on this order and brief the judge on it by September 7. Turn the page for a transcription of the order.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver Orders Defendants Charlie And Frank Ferrara’s Lawyers Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara To Pay Monetary Sanctions To Plaintiffs Because Of Unjustified Failure To Comply With Discovery Order →

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