Moskal v. Pandit

13-3577 Moskal, et al. v. Pandit, et al. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL. 1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United 3 States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, 4 on the 20th day of August, two thousand fourteen. 5 6 PRESENT: JOHN M. WALKER, JR., 7 DENNIS JACOBS, 8 RICHARD C. WESLEY, 9 Circuit Judges. 10 11 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X 12 STANLEY MOSKAL, derivatively on 13 behalf of Citigroup, Inc., SILVESTER 14 SCIUTO, derivatively on behalf of 15 Citigroup, Inc., JAMES KENNEY, 16 derivatively on behalf of Citigroup, 17 Inc., 18 Plaintiffs-Appellants, 19 20 -v.- 13-3577 21 22 VIKRAM PANDIT, JOHN C. GERSPACH, JOHN 23 P. HAVENS, MANUEL MEDINA MORA, ALAIN 24 J.P. BELDA, TIMOTHY C. COLLINS, ROBERT 25 L. JOSS, MICHAEL E. O’NEILL, RICHARD 26 D. PARSONS, LAWRENCE RICCIARDI, JUDITH 27 RODIN, ROBERT RYAN, ANTHONY M. 28 SANTOMERO, DIANA L. TAYLOR, WILLIAM S. 1 1 THOMPSON, JR., ERNESTO ZEDILLO PONCE 2 DE LEON, BRIAN LEACH, 3 Defendants-Appellees, 4 5 CITIGROUP, INC., 6 Nominal-Defendant-Appellee. 7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X 8 9 FOR APPELLANTS: CHRISTOPHER NELSON (Robert B. 10 Weiser, Brett D. Stecker, 11 Jeffrey J. Ciarlanto, and Joseph 12 M. Profy, The Weiser Law Firm, 13 P.C.; Curtis V. Trinko, Jennifer 14 E. Traystman, and C. William 15 Margrabe, Law Offices of Curtis 16 V. Trinko, LLP; Brian P. 17 Robbins, Felipe J. Arroyo, Shane 18 P. Sanders, and Julia M. 19 Williams, Robbins Arroyo LLP; 20 Katharine M. Ryan and Richard A. 21 Maniskas, Ryan & Maniskas LLP, 22 on the brief), The Weiser Law 23 Firm, P.C., Berwyn, PA. 24 25 FOR APPELLEES: MARY EATON (Sameer Advani, on 26 the brief), Wilkie Farr & 27 Gallagher LLP, New York, NY, for 28 Alain J.P. Belda, Timothy C. 29 Collins, Robert L. Joss, Michael 30 E. O’Neill, Richard D. Parsons, 31 Lawrence R. Ricciardi, Judith 32 Rodin, Robert L. Ryan, Anthony 33 M. Santomero, Diana L. Taylor, 34 William S. Thompson, Jr., and 35 Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon. 36 37 BRAD S. KARP (Richard A. Rosen 38 and Susanna M. Buergel, on the 39 brief), Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, 40 Wharton & Garrison LLP, New 41 York, NY, for Vikram Pandit, 42 John P. Havens, John C. 43 Gerspach, Manuel Medina-Mora, 44 and Brian Leach. 45 46 STEVEN M. BIERMAN (Jonathan W. 47 Muenz, on the brief), Sidley 2 1 Austin LLP, New York, NY, for 2 Citigroup, Inc. 3 4 Appeal from a judgment of the United States District 5 Court for the Southern District of New York (Oetken, J.). 6 7 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED 8 AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court be 9 AFFIRMED. 10 11 A putative plaintiff class appeals from the judgment of 12 the United States District Court for the Southern District 13 of New York (Oetken, J.), denying its motion for attorney’s 14 fees and request for discovery. We assume the parties’ 15 familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural 16 history, and the issues presented for review. 17 18 The denial of a fee application is reviewed for abuse 19 of discretion. Scarangella v. Grp. Health, Inc., 731 F.3d 20 146, 151 (2d Cir. 2013). Likewise, we review a district 21 court’s decision to deny discovery for abuse of discretion. 22 Goetz v. Crosson, 41 F.3d 800, 805 (2d Cir. 1994). The 23 district court denied the application because the 24 plaintiffs’ complaint was not rendered moot, and the 25 plaintiffs failed to show a causal connection between their 26 actions and those taken by the defendants. See generally In 27 re Citigroup Shareholder Derivative Litig., No. 12 Civ. 28 3114(JPO), 2013 WL 4441511, at *5-6 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 19, 29 2013). The district court further ruled that discovery as 30 to causation was unwarranted given the undisputed facts in 31 the record. Id. at *6. 32 33 For substantially the reasons set forth in the district 34 court’s well-reasoned opinion, we affirm the judgment. We 35 have considered the remainder of the plaintiffs’ arguments 36 and find them to be without merit. 37 38 39 FOR THE COURT: 40 CATHERINE O’HAGAN WOLFE, CLERK 41 3