Law firm wants discovery tab added to billionaire's $63 million legal bill - Reuters
Universal Entertainment Corp's founder Kazuo Okada attends a news conference at the Tokyo District Court, September 14, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato
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(Reuters) - Law firm Bartlit Beck has asked a Chicago federal judge to order a Japanese pachinko billionaire who allegedly already owes it $63 million in unpaid attorney fees to respond to discovery requests and pay some of its legal costs.
Casino entrepreneur Kazuo Okada and Bartlit Beck have been locked in litigation since 2018 over a $50 million legal fee Okada allegedly owes to the Chicago-based litigation firm. Okada hired the firm for a legal fight between his Universal Entertainment Corp and Wynn Resorts Ltd, which ended in a $2.6 billion settlement.
An arbitration panel awarded Bartlit Beck $50 million by default in 2019 after Okada stopped participating in the proceedings. U.S. District Judge John Kness approved the award last March, and Bartlit Beck says it has ballooned to $63 million with interest. Okada has appealed Kness' ruling to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
In a motion to compel filed on Friday, Bartlit Beck told Kness that Okada has only responded to one set of questions in response to the firm's efforts to collect the award, and has not sat for a deposition.
"Kazuo Okada has long refused to pay the $63,369,610.25 he owes Bartlit Beck," the firm said in its motion. "He has now thumbed his nose at Bartlit Beck’s discovery requests aimed at executing that judgment."
Bartlit Beck said it has "incurred significant attorneys’ fees and out-of-pocket costs, including those associated with bringing this motion," that Okada should be ordered to pay.
The motion follows Kness' decision last week to allow global law firm Dentons to withdraw as counsel to Okada over Bartlit Beck's objections.
Kness found there was no "binding precedent" on him to deny Dentons' motion to withdraw, to which Okada had consented.
Bartlit Beck has accused Okada of stonewalling its attempts to conduct discovery on his assets in multiple court venues. The firm had accused Dentons of enabling Okada's delay strategy by withdrawing.
Attorneys for Bartlit Beck did not respond to a request for comment. No new counsel has signed on to represent Okada in the case, and Okada did not respond to a request for comment.
The case is Bartlit Beck LLP v. Okada, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:19-cv-08508.
For Bartlit Beck: Joshua Ackerman and Adam Hoeflich of Bartlit Beck; and Sean Berkowitz of Latham & Watkins
For Kazuo Okada: Self represented
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source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/law-firm-wants-discovery-tab-added-billionaires-63-million-legal-bill-2022-01-31/
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