{01294727
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2}
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
EASTERN DIVISION
DIGITAL MEDIA SOLUTI
ONS, LLC
,
Plaintiff
,
v.
SOUTH UNIVERSITY OF
OHIO, LLC
et al.
,
Defendant
s
.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
CASE NO
.
1:
19
-
cv
-
145
JUDGE
DAN AARON POLSTER
MAGISTRATE JUDGE
THOMAS M. PARKER
The Receiver’s Response to Tech Park 6, LLC’s Joinder to Motion of
3601
Sunflower LLC to Vacate the Injunction and Receiver Order
[Doc.
97
]
As the
Receiver reported to this Court before the March 8th status hearing (
see
Third Supplement to First Receiver Report at 2 [Doc. 120]) and during the
March 8th
status hearing
, he has a deal in place with a buyer
,
Save the Art Institute of Las Vegas,
Limited
,
to acquire the Art Institute of Las Vegas (“Ai Las Vegas”)
. Ai Las Vegas’s
landlord is Intervenor Tech Park 6, LLC (“Tech Park”).
Tech Park moved this Court for “
an order
. . .
compelling the Receiver
to elect to
assume or reject the Lease within 30 (thir
ty) days and in the interim, to pay all Rent
contemplated under the Lease on a per diem basis from the commencement of the
Receivership
on January 18, 2019, forward
.” Tech Park
’s
Joinder to Motion of 3601
Sunflower LLC to Vacate the Injunction and Receiver
Order at 2 (Doc. 97) (describing
Tech Park’s
Motion to Expedite Decision to Assume or Reject Lease
[Doc. 59]). Tech
Park also joined 3601 Sunflower, LLC’s motion to vacate the Receivership Order. (Doc.
97).
Case: 1:19-cv-00145-DAP Doc #: 134 Filed: 03/10/19 1 of 4. PageID #: 3355
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2
On March 7, 2019,
1
Save the Art
Institute of Las Vegas, Limited
’s manager spoke
with one of Tech Park’s principals. Declaration of William A. Turbay ¶ 6.
Save the Art
Institute of Las Vegas, Limited
offered Tech Park,
assuming Save the Art Institute of Las
Vegas, Limited
’s
deal with the
Receiver is approved by
this
Court, to assume Ai Las
Vegas’s lease in full, pay the rent arrearage (excluding interest, penalties, late fees, and
attorney fees) over a 24
-
month period
.
Id.
¶ 7. Tech Park responded that
Save the Art
Institute of Las Vegas,
Limited
’s
interest in assuming the lease was not acceptable.
Id.
¶
8.
“
Should the landlord be unwilling to allow Save the Art Institute of Las Vegas,
Limited to assume Ai Las Vegas’s lease or, in the alternative, to negotiate a new lease
agreement, then S
ave the Art Institute of Las Vegas, Limited cannot close any deal with
the Receiver to acquire Ai Las Vegas.
”
Id.
¶ 9.
Currently, 469 students attend Ai Las Vegas.
Tech Park has joined in a motion that seeks to vacate this receivership principally
on the g
round that this Court’s equitable jurisdiction was not
invoked.
See
(Doc. 97).
But “‘
he who comes into equ
ity must come with clean hands.”
Precision Instrument
Mfg. Co. v. Auto. Maint. Mach. Co.
, 324 U.S. 806, 814
(1945)
. The Supreme Court has
explained that “[t]his
maxim is far more than a mere banality. It is a self
-
imposed
ordinance that closes the doors of a court of equity to one tainted with inequitableness
or bad faith relative to the matter in which he seeks relie
f, however improper may have
been the behavior of the defendant.
”
Id.
Thus, equitable defenses are only available to
those with clean hands.
See United States v. Weintraub
, 613 F.2d 612, 619 (6th Cir.
1979)
.
1
The Receiver only learned of this conversation
y
esterday
, March 9, 2019.
Case: 1:19-cv-00145-DAP Doc #: 134 Filed: 03/10/19 2 of 4. PageID #: 3356