Clear Blue Specialty Insurance Company v. OZY MEDIA, INC.

I. BACKGROUND

21 On October 25, 2021, Ford O’Brien, a law firm located in New York, executed a retainer 22 agreement with Ozy Media. Mot. at 3. As the CEO of the Company, Defendant Carlos Watson 23 executed the retainer agreement on behalf of Ozy Media. Id. The retainer agreement is governed 24 under New York law. Id. 25 The Company engaged Ford O’Brien to represent it in connection with parallel 26 government investigations and related civil lawsuits: (i) a criminal investigation by the U.S. 27 Attorneys’ Office for the E.D.N.Y.; (ii) a civil enforcement investigation by the SEC; (iii) a civil securities fraud action filed by an Ozy Media investor in the N.D. Cal. (LifeLine Legacy Holdings, LLC v. Ozy Media, et al., 21 Civ. 07751-BLF) (the “LifeLine Lawsuit”); and (iv) the present action (the “Clear Blue Lawsuit”) (collectively, “Underlying Proceedings”). Id. at 3. Ford O’Brien purportedly retained principal responsibility for the LifeLine Lawsuit and the Clear Blue Lawsuit, both of which arose from the government investigations and public disclosures that prompted the investigations. Id. at 3–4. Ford O’Brien managed a unified defense strategy…