Defendant’s Opposition to Motion to Withdraw as Counsel
Date
2022-05-05
Full text
83073865v.2
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
ROBERTA LANCIONE, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM
INCORPORATED,
Defendant.
Civil Action No. 1:21-cv-11686
DEFENDANT’S OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO WITHDRAW AS COUNSEL
Defendant Mass General Brigham Incorporated (“MGB”) files this Opposition to
Plaintiff’s counsel’s Motion to Withdraw as Counsel (Doc. 88) from representation of four
additional Plaintiffs.
As grounds for this Opposition, MGB states as follows:
1.
Recently, Plaintiffs’ counsel moved to withdraw from 13 Plaintiffs who failed to
participate in the discovery process. See Doc. 80. MGB opposed that motion on the grounds that
(i) having the Plaintiffs remain in the case pro se is untenable given inter alia the Court’s
scheduling order, a complex deposition process and schedule already agreed to by the parties, and
the Court’s protective order (Doc. 60), and (ii) instead, the Plaintiffs in question should be
dismissed from the case with prejudice for failure to comply with required discovery. See Doc.
82.
2.
In the instant motion (Doc. 88), Plaintiff’s counsel now moves to withdraw from
four additional Plaintiffs. He has since filed a Declaration (Doc. 90) explaining that they have not
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participated in discovery and that he does not “expect that the plaintiffs named in the Motion to
Withdraw will participate in this matter.” Doc. 90 at ¶6.
3.
MGB opposes the instant motion for the same reasons it opposed the last Motion
to Withdraw, and incorporates herein its argument from the prior Opposition. See Doc. 82.
4.
MGB agrees with Plaintiffs’ counsel that it will be most efficient for the Court to
address the issues raised by these motions at the status conference scheduled for May 11, 2022.
See Doc. 86.
WHEREFORE, MGB respectfully requests that this Court enter an order that (i) the four
additional Plaintiffs from whom counsel seeks to withdraw must produce all discovery that was
due on or before April 20, 2022 by no later than three days from the date of the Court’s order; or
(ii) have their claims dismissed with prejudice.
Dated: May 5, 2022
MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED
By Its Attorneys,
Respectfully Submitted,
/s/ Lynn A. Kappelman
Lynn A. Kappelman (BBO# 642017)
Katherine E. Perrelli (BBO# 549820)
Kristin McGurn (BBO# 559687)
Dawn Reddy Solowey (BBO# 567757)
SEYFARTH SHAW LLP
Seaport East
Two Seaport Lane, Suite 1200
Boston, MA 02210-2028
kperrelli@seyfarth.com
lkappelman@seyfarth.com
kmcgurn@seyfarth.com
dsolowey@seyfarth.com
TEL: (617) 946-4800
FAX: (617) 946-4801
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, Lynn A. Kappelman, certify that on May 5, 2022, I caused a true and accurate copy of
the foregoing document to be filed and uploaded to the CM/ECF system.
/s/ Lynn A. Kappelman
Lynn A. Kappelman
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