(June 16, 2021 – Washington DC) This morning a three-judge appellate panel at The Court of Federal Claims this morning denied Freelancer Limited’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus in 21-151-LM, titled In re: Freelancer Limited, as well as denying the underlying Motion to Stay pending resolution of the Motion to Dismiss GreatGigz Solutions, LLC v. Freelancer Limited, 6:20-cv-00738-ADA, currently pending in The Western District of Texas with Judge Alan Albright.
The full order can be found here.
Freelancer had petitioned for a writ directing Judge Albright to stay the case in his court until he ruled on their Motion to Dismiss. They also petitioned for a writ from the appeals court for a stay pending a ruling on their request for the first writ. This case was filed in August 2020 by GreatGigz Solutions, LLC regarding the alleged infringement of two patents. Freelancer had filed its Motion to Dismiss, GreatGigz its Response in Opposition, and in March 2021 Freelancer filed its Reply in support of their Motion to Dismiss. On March 26, 2021 Freelancer Moved to Stay proceedings pending the district court’s resolution of Freelancer’s motion to dismiss the complaint. By April 21, they had filed their reply for their Motion to Stay.
Rather than waiting for the Judge to rule, on June 10 Freelancer filed its petition with the Appeals court, asking for an Emergency Stay. On June 16, the Appeals court ruled that this was no emergency, that “Mandamus is reserved for extraordinary situations.” The Court further stated that “Freelancer has identified no authority establishing a clear legal right to a stay of all proceedings premised solely on the filing of a motion to dismiss the complaint. Nor are we prepared to say, at this juncture, that any delay in failing to resolve either of Freelancer’s pending motions to dismiss and stay proceedings is so unreasonable or egregious as to warrant mandamus relief.”
They then ordered the Petition denied and the Motion to Stay denied.
GreatGigz Solutions, LLC was represented by Scott Fuller, Randall Garteiser, Christopher Honea, René Vazquez, and the team at Garteiser Honea.
Freelancer Limited was represented by Andrew T. Oliver and Michael C. Ting of Amin, Turocy & Watson LLP.
