Judge: Mark A. Young, Case: 20SMCV01720, Date: 2025-06-13 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20SMCV01720    Hearing Date: June 13, 2025    Dept: M

CASE NAME:           Trinity Media Financing International Ltd., et al., v. Every Breath LLC, et al.

CASE NO.:                20SMCV01720

HEARING DATE:   6/13/2025

Legal Standard

Any party may obtain discovery by taking an oral deposition, as described in Section 2025.010, in a foreign nation. (CCP § 2027.010(a).) If a deponent is not a party to the action or an officer, director, managing agent or employee of a party, a party serving a deposition notice under this section shall use any process and procedures required and available under the laws of the foreign nation where the deposition is to be taken to compel the deponent to attend and to testify, as well as to produce any document, electronically stored information, or tangible thing for inspection, copying, testing, sampling, and any related activity. (CCP § 2027.010(c).) On motion of the party seeking to take an oral deposition in a foreign nation, the court in which the action is pending shall issue a commission, letters rogatory, or a letter of request, if it determines that one is necessary or convenient, and may include any terms and directions that are just and appropriate. (CCP § 2027.010(e).)

A letter rogatory is a formal request from a court in which an action is pending to a foreign court to perform some judicial act, such as the taking of evidence, service of summons or other legal notice, or the execution of a civil judgment.  (22 CFR § 92.54; Kreimerman v. Casa Veerkamp, S.A. de C.V. (5th Cir. 1994) 22 F.3d 634, 640; see 28 USC § 1781.)

ANALYSIS

Defendants Every Breath LLC, Southpaw Entertainment and Richard Lewis move the Court for issuance of a Letter Rogatory directed to the appropriate court in Ontario, Canada, to compel the remote deposition testimony of Lorri Charnetski.

Defendants demonstrate that Charnetski possesses unique and superior knowledge about the nature and timing of some of the transactions underlying this action.  For instance, in Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, Plaintiff proffered the declaration of Charnetski, which shows that she acted as Plaintiff’s finance counsel in its lending activities with respect to the motion picture Every Breath You Take. (Charnetski Decl. ¶ 3.) Charnetski detailed her correspondence and work with other parties associated with the financing and related transactions underlying the making of the Picture, including Defendants and Cross Complainants. The declaration evidences that Charnetski played a prominent role in the underlying agreements.  Charnetski drafted many documents associated with the Trinity Phase 1 Loan and other aspects of the Picture, including the Trinity Loan Agreement, the Trinity Security Agreements, the intercreditor agreement between Trinity and the other lenders and investors pertaining to their respective security interests, and an interparty agreement “which deals with the delivery of the Picture elements by EB LLC and BC Service Co. to 13 Films, the Picture’s sales agent.” Charnetski also “oversaw” the Phase 1 closing and “revised” the Trinity Loan Agreement. (Id. ¶¶ 7, 12, 17, 27, 30.) Therefore, Charnetski has personal knowledge of the critical facts in Defendants’ breach of contract and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealings claims, as well as Defendants’ defenses to Plaintiff’s claims.

Charnetski declared she was a resident of the Province of Ontario, Canada. (Id. at ¶ 1.) To the best of Defendants’ knowledge, she is still a resident of Ontario, Canada. Defendant also notes that the Canada Evidence Act specifically provides that a court outside of Canada may serve letters rogatory upon the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario, Canada. (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-5, § 46; Evidence Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.23, § 60(1).)

The proposed Letter complies with the requirements of section 2027.010.

Accordingly, the motion is GRANTED.