GS Holistic, LLC v. Sharifi Global Trade Inc

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 GS HOLISTIC, LLC, Case No. 22-cv-07640-LJC

8 Plaintiff, ORDER DIRECTING CLERK TO 9 v. CLOSE THE CASE

10 SHARIFI GLOBAL TRADE INC, et al., Re: ECF No. 31 Defendants. 11

12 13 On June 8, 2023, the parties filed a Joint Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice. ECF 14 No. 31. In light of the parties’ stipulation, this action has been terminated and the dismissal was 15 effective on filing without the need for a court order. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(ii); Wilson 16 v. City of San Jose, 111 F.3d 688, 692 (9th Cir. 1997). 17 The parties also purportedly agreed that “the Court shall retain jurisdiction to enforce the 18 parties’ confidential settlement agreement.” ECF No. 31 at 1. However, neither Rule 41(a)(1)(A) 19 “nor any provision of law provides for jurisdiction of the court over disputes arising out of an 20 agreement that produces the stipulation” of voluntary dismissal. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. 21 Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 378 (1994). The only way for the Court to retain jurisdiction to enforce 22 the settlement agreement is for it to “embody the settlement contract in its dismissal order 23 or…retain jurisdiction over the settlement contract” in the body of a Court order. Id. at 381–82. 24 The Court hereby declines to retain jurisdiction to enforce the parties’ settlement 25 agreement. See Arata v. Nu Skin Int’l, Inc., 96 F.3d 1265, 1269 (9th Cir. 1996) (“[T]he mere fact 26 that the parties agree that the court should exercise continuing jurisdiction is not binding on the 27 court”); Hellenic Petroleum LLC v. Mansfield Oil Co. of Gainesville, Inc., No. 1 district court lacked ancillary jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the parties’ settlement agreement 2 where the assigned magistrate judge declined to retain such jurisdiction); California Sportfishing 3 Prot. All. v. Agric. Mgmt. & Prod. Co., Inc., No. 2:14-CV-02328-KJMAC, 2016 WL 4796841, at 4 *1 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 14, 2016) (noting that “the court in its discretion typically declines to maintain 5 jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the parties’ settlement agreement.”) 6 Accordingly, the Clerk of the Court is directed to close this case. 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 Dated: July 20, 2023 9 10 LISA J. CISNEROS 11 United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27