Ewing v. Premium Merchant Funding One, LLC

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 ANTON EWING, Case No.: 22-cv-215-JO-DDL

12 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S 13 v. MOTION FOR SANCTIONS 14 15 PREMIUM MERCHANT FUNDING [Dkt. No. 82] ONE, LLC, 16 Defendant. 17 18 19 Before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion Requesting Sanctions Pursuant to Court’s 20 Inherent Power to Maintain Respect for Its Orders (the “Motion”). Dkt. No. 82. Plaintiff 21 moves the Court to order Defendant’s counsel, Zachary Frampton, to show cause why he 22 should not be held in contempt. Id. at 2. 23 Whether to hold a party in contempt is a matter of the Court’s discretion. See Hallett 24 v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 749 (9th Cir. 2002). Among the factors the Court considers is 25 whether the party against whom contempt sanctions are sought has acted in bad faith or 26 willfully disobeyed an order of the Court. See Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 45 27 (1991). The Court previously declined to issue an order to show cause why defense counsel 28 should not be held in contempt, finding that defense counsel’s conduct did not warrant 1 |}contempt sanctions. Dkt. No. 79. The Court finds that plaintiff has not established any 2 ||new facts to warrant the Court’s reconsideration of its earlier determination, see CivLR 3 7.1.1., and in its discretion the Court again declines to impose contempt sanctions, or to 4 || order Defendant’s counsel to show cause why he should not be held in contempt. □□□□□□□□□□□ 5 || Motion is therefore DENIED. 6 Plaintiff's Motion raises the issue whether the undersigned was involved with or 7 || oversaw the prosecution in United States v. Bell, et al., 09-cr-1209-LAB. Dkt. No. 82-1 at 8 ||7n.10. The undersigned was not the Criminal Chief in the United States Attorney’s Office 9 the Southern District of California when that case was pending, and the undersigned 10 || had no involvement with the case. To the extent Plaintiff believes there are any grounds 11 warrant the undersigned’s recusal in this case, plaintiff must file a written motion 12 |/raising any such grounds by not later than March 8, 2023. 13 |} IT IS SO ORDERED. 14 || Dated: February 22, 2023 aie 15 Tbe! hho we

17 United States Magistrate Judge 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28