Baiting Jiang, et al. v. KNTV Television LLC, et al.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 San Francisco Division

11 BAITING JIANG, et al., Case No. 21-cv-01293-LB 12 Plaintiffs,

13 v. REFERRAL FOR PURPOSE OF DETERMINING RELATIONSHIP 14 KNTV TELEVISION LLC, et al.,

15 Defendants. 16 17 Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 3-12(c), the court refers the above-titled case to United States 18 District Judge Rita F. Lin to consider whether the case is related to Qin v. KNTV Television LLC, 19 No. 25-cv-00676-RFL. This low-numbered case now has consent issues in the form of unserved 20 defendants who appear on the docket (albeit without the court’s permission). Williams v. King, 21 875 F.3d 500, 503–04 (9th Cir. 2017) (all parties, including unserved defendants, must consent to 22 magistrate-judge jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c)(1)). In an earlier order, the court dismissed 23 the entire case with prejudice, addressing only the defendants it deemed part of the operative 24 complaint.1 On appeal, the Ninth Circuit vacated the court’s dismissal and remanded because 25 some unserved defendants did not consent to magistrate-judge jurisdiction.2 The solution is a 26 1 Order – ECF No. 230. 27 2 Order, No. 25-1402 – ECF No. 270 (9th Cir. Nov. 21, 2025); Mandate, id. – ECF No. 277 (9th Cir. ] report and recommendation for dismissal for the reasons set forth in the court’s earlier dismissal 2 || order. The court has separately filed a report and recommendation for dismissal in the low- 3 || numbered case, flagging that the related-case issue will be referred first to the court in No. 25-cv- 4 00676-RFL for a determination about whether the cases should be related, and, if deemed not 5 || related, for reassignment to a randomly selected district judge. 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 Dated: December 23, 2025 Lit EC 8 LAUREL BEELER 9 United States Magistrate Judge 10 1] a 12 2B

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