17 results for 'judge:"Ezra"'.
J. Ezra partially grants Texas’ motion to dismiss after the federal government sued the state and Governor Greg Abbott over its “buoy barrier” in the Rio Grande, which was installed in the national water boundary “without any federal authorization.” While the United States can proceed with claims under the federal Rivers and Harbors Act, it cannot pursue claims based on the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo because the treaty is “not self-executing” and does not “provide any specific standard or rule of decision for a domestic court to follow.” Nonetheless, while Texas has asserted that it has “territorial rights” to protect itself from a migrant “invasion,” “the Founding Fathers conceptualized invasions as a part of war” and not due to migration.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv853, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, Government, Immigration
J. Ezra partially adopts a report and recommendations and enters judgment in favor of outdoor company YETI in a trademark suit with several other people and brands after YETI said that some its products that were intended for destruction instead ended up at unauthorized resellers across the country. The sale of products bearing YETI’s “famous and distinctive mark” misled consumers into believing they were buying authorized products.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv1337, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Fraud, Trademark
J. Ezra adopts a report and recommendation and partially dismisses a RICO suit brought by an investment fund against several parties, including subsidiaries, which the fund says defrauded it of “substantial assets.” The prior judge’s findings were “neither clearly erroneous nor contrary to law” when he found that the fund has failed on many of its claims, including all of its fraud-based claims — though it may proceed with a handful of others, including for breach of contract. Because of the fund’s “repeated failure to adhere to the local rules,” it will have future pleadings stricken if it continues to not comply.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: March 7, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv652, NOS: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) - Other Suits, Categories: Fraud, Banking / Lending, Racketeering
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J. Ezra declines to adopt a report and recommendations after a previous judge denied default judgment to an outerwear company in a trademark dispute due to what the previous judge said was lack of personal jurisdiction. The outerwear company had decided not to several product lines and had instead entered a contract to destroy and recycle them, but contrary to that agreement some of the products were instead illicitly sold. While the previous judge found that a person sued in the case did not have sufficient contacts in Texas, Texas has “legitimate interests in adjudicating a dispute that involves the sale of goods in Texas and to Texas consumers,” and the outerwear company likewise has “a compelling interest in obtaining relief in the forum where its goodwill and reputation have been damaged” due to alleged illicit sales.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1337, NOS: Trademark - Property Rights, Categories: Trademark, Conversion, Contract
J. Ezra declines to dismiss the gun store owner's complaint alleging that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' recent "official guidance on how to implement" the Gun Control Act of 1968 violated the Second Amendment as well as the Gun Control Act itself. Specifically, the man argues that the guidance could hold him liable for "non-willful actions" such as "inadvertent paperwork errors," which would result in the revocation of his license. The man has standing and is "not challenging a hypothetical policy but a final agency action," and therefore dismissal is not appropriate at this time.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: September 20, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1063, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Constitution, Agency, Firearms
J. Ezra mostly adopts a report and recommendations and dismisses a lawsuit brought by Tesla shareholders who alleged the company's board of directors had caused "financial harm and irreparable damage" to the company's reputation by permitting a "toxic workplace culture grounded in racist and sexist abuse and discrimination." The suing stockholders have failed to show that their claims are viable. Their claims of wrongdoing are not sufficiently "particularized" and incorporation documents "[exculpate] Tesla’s directors from liability for all but breaches of the duty of loyalty."
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: September 15, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv592, NOS: Stockholders’ Suits - Contract, Categories: Fiduciary Duty, Business Practices
J. Ezra orders Texas to move controversial buoy barriers placed in the Rio Grande to block migrants coming from Mexico and enjoins the state from "further constructing or maintaining structures or obstructions in the navigable waters of the United States." The barrier undermines U.S. treaty obligations and is becoming an international issue, as "Mexican officials have also raised humanitarian 'concerns at the highest diplomatic levels.'" The United States is likely to succeed on its claims, not least because Texas has been unable to present "any credible evidence" that the buoys have even "significantly curtailed" border crossings.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv853, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Immigration, International Law, Injunction
J. Ezra grants a preliminary injunction to a group of porn-industry insiders after they sued the interim Texas attorney general over a new state law that “restricts access to pornographic websites by requiring digital age verification methods and warnings about the alleged harms caused by pornography.” While the state “has a legitimate goal in protecting children from sexually explicit material online,” the law violates the First Amendment and Section 230 in a number of ways, including by requiring porn websites to publish speech that is “deeply controversial” and “unduly burdensome,” including “somewhat deceptive” claims about the alleged dangers of pornography.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv917, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, Constitution, First Amendment
J. Ezra grants summary judgment to a non-Austinite couple who had sued the city of Austin over the city’s refusal to grant them a short-term rental permit, which the couple argued was essentially an effort by the city to relitigate previous disputes over rental regulations. Among other findings, this court reiterates precedent that a “homestead” requirement for certain short-term rentals is unconstitutional because it treats in-city and out-of-city rental owners separately in violation of the Commerce Clause.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: August 1, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv1039, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Commerce, Government, Real Estate
J. Ezra dismisses a convoluted dispute between two investment companies — the fifth suit between these parties in the Western District of Texas, in this case centered on an alleged “scheme of publishing defamatory accusations” against the suing company in other lawsuits. The suing company has failed to show how the other company has abused court processes or otherwise defamed them. For example, while the suing company argued the competitor at one point used discovery to intentionally publish confidential information, that record was sealed anyways.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv626, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Civil Procedure, Defamation, Contract
J. Ezra grants motions to dismiss by USDA and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department after both agencies were sued by a deer breeder who alleged he was deprived of his property without due process after Texas and federal officials killed deer he was breeding following signs in the deer of Chronic Wasting Disease, a dangerous prion disease similar to hoof-and-mouth. There are a number of fatal flaws with the breeder’s current suit, including the fact that he has not exhausted administrative remedies and the fact that “in Texas, all wild animals, including deer, belong to the state.”
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: July 27, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv479, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, Agriculture, Conversion
J. Ezra finds that a district court erred in denying defendant's motion for a sentence reduction after defendant pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. District courts may consider non-retroactive changes in post-sentencing decisional law affecting the applicable sentencing guidelines. Vacated.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Ezra , Filed On: July 6, 2023, Case #: 22-30021, Categories: Drug Offender, Firearms, Sentencing
J. Ezra adopts a report and recommendations and dismisses a contract dispute brought by U.S. company against a Chinese manufacturer over “the sale of 100,000 defective Covid-19 test kits.” The manufacturer did not directly sell the kits to the American company as the tests instead came to the company “indirectly” after multiple purchases and sales, and the U.S. firm was never able to establish that this court has jurisdiction over the Chinese manufacturer. Facebook posts from the manufacturer provided by the company actually “hurt their argument,” as it raised further questions concerning whether the manufacturer had any direct business ties to the United States or Texas.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Ezra, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv504, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Fraud, Jurisdiction, Contract