Route Consultants, Inc., et al. v. E3 NV, LLC, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedDecember 11, 2025
Docket2:23-cv-01703
StatusUnknown

This text of Route Consultants, Inc., et al. v. E3 NV, LLC, et al. (Route Consultants, Inc., et al. v. E3 NV, LLC, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Route Consultants, Inc., et al. v. E3 NV, LLC, et al., (D. Nev. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 4 Route Consultants, Inc., et al., Case No. 2:23-cv-01703-CDS-EJY

5 Plaintiffs Order Granting Blockleaf’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Denying 6 v. Other Pending Motions

7 E3 NV, LLC, et al., [ECF Nos. 39, 40, 43, 44] 8 Defendants

9 10 This is a breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentations, and related claims action 11 brought by plaintiffs Route Consultant, Inc., Crypto Quo, LLC, and Blockleaf LLC, against 12 defendants E3 NV, LLC, and William Murdock. The plaintiffs allege that they contracted with 13 the defendants to create a digital currency mining system as part of a joint venture, but the 14 defendants failed to hold up their end of the bargain. The plaintiffs filed motions for partial 15 summary judgment. Pls.’ mots., ECF Nos. 39, 40. The defendants oppose the motions. Defs.’ 16 opp’ns, ECF Nos. 41, 42. The defendants also filed a motion for partial summary judgment. Defs.’ 17 mots., ECF No. 43. The plaintiffs oppose that motion. Pls.’ opp’ns, ECF Nos. 48, 49. Route 18 Consultants and Crypto Quo also move to strike the defendants’ motion for partial summary 19 judgment as untimely. Mot. strike, ECF No. 44.1 The motions are now fully briefed. Replies, ECF 20 Nos. 45, 46, 50, 51. For the following reasons, I grant Blockleaf’s motion for partial summary 21 judgment but deny the other pending motions. 22 I. Background 23 Around early 2022, the plaintiffs formed a joint venture with one another to invest in the 24 digital mining arena. Am. compl., ECF No. 23 at ¶¶ 11–12. Plaintiff Route Consultant, Inc. is a 25 Tennessee corporation. Id. at ¶ 2. Plaintiff Crypto Quo, LLC, is a Tennessee company with no 26 1 Blockleaf moves to join this motion to strike. Joinder, ECF No. 47. Defendants did not file an opposition to Blockleaf’s motion. Blockleaf’s motion for joinder is granted. 1 Nevada-domiciled members. Id. at ¶ 3. And plaintiff Blockleaf is a Wyoming LLC whose 2 principal place of business is in Virginia. Id. at ¶ 4. 3 As part of their joint venture, the plaintiffs bought a container immersion mining system. 4 The system had three tanks—one owned by Blockleaf, two owned by Route. The plaintiffs 5 bought the system from defendant E3 NV, LLC, an immersion cooling company registered in 6 Nevada and owned by defendant William Murdock. Id. at ¶¶ 1, 11–13. The defendants allegedly 7 represented to the plaintiffs that the system would be “fully built” and “plug and play.” Id. at ¶ 14. 8 Based on the defendants’ representations, the parties allegedly executed two agreements to buy 9 the three-tank system: first, on March 7, 2022, for one tank (“First Contract”); second, on May 10 21, 2022, for two tanks (“Second Contract”). Id. at ¶¶ 18, 25–26. In total, the plaintiffs paid 11 $1,311,000.00 for the three-tank system. Id. at ¶ 32; Patton’s decl., Pls.’ Ex. 1, ECF No. 40-1 at 3; 12 Confirmation of Wire Payment, Pls.’ Ex. 3, ECF No. 40-3; Murdock dep., Pls.’ Ex. 4, ECF No. 40- 13 4. 14 The defendants allegedly breached their contracts with the plaintiffs by failing to 15 complete construction of the system. ECF No. 23 at ¶ 33–39. They also allegedly retained nine of 16 Blockleaf’s mining rigs wrongfully, the value of which being approximately $55,000. Id. at ¶¶ 41– 17 45. The plaintiffs further allege that E3 is Murdock’s alter ego, as Murdock has sole ownership of 18 and controlling authority for E3. Id. at ¶¶ 46–51. 19 Based on these allegations, the plaintiffs assert seven claims against the defendants: 20 (1) breach of contract; (2) fraud/misrepresentation; (3) unjust enrichment; (4) declaratory relief; 21 (5) violations of Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act; (6) rescission; (7) conversion. See 22 generally ECF No. 23. As for relief, the plaintiffs seek a refund of approximately $1,311,000.00 for 23 all monies paid to E3, actual damages for their reliance on the “plug and play” system, lost 24 profits, contract rescission, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs. Id. 25 26 1 This court issued an order setting the deadline for dispositive motions for March 31, 2 2025. See Order, ECF No. 32. On that date, Blockleaf filed a motion for partial summary 3 judgment (MPSJ) on the breach of contract claim, and Route and Crypto Quo filed a MPSJ on 4 the unjust enrichment claim. See Blockleaf MPSJ, ECF No. 39; Route & Crypto Quo MPSJ, ECF 5 No. 40. 6 On April 21, 2025—twenty days after the dispositive motions filing deadline passed— 7 the defendants filed a MPSJ on the claims for breach of contract, fraud/intentional 8 misrepresentation, declaratory relief, violation of the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and 9 recission. ECF No. 43. Route and Crypto Quo moved to strike the untimely MPSJ or, 10 alternatively, request a briefing schedule to ensure that there is sufficient time to respond to it. 11 ECF No. 44. That motion to strike is fully briefed. See Opp’n, ECF No. 49; Reply, ECF No. 51. 12 Also, on May 12th, Blockleaf filed an opposition to the defendants’ MPSJ. See Opp’n, ECF No. 48. 13 The defendants replied to Blockleaf’s opposition on May 23rd. See Reply, ECF No. 50. 14 II. Legal standard 15 Summary judgment is appropriate when the pleadings and admissible evidence “show 16 that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment 17 as a matter of law.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)). 18 At the summary-judgment stage, the court views all facts and draws all inferences in the light 19 most favorable to the nonmoving party. Kaiser Cement Corp. v. Fishbach & Moore, Inc., 793 F.2d 1100, 20 1103 (9th Cir. 1986). 21 Once the moving party satisfies Rule 56 by showing the absence of any genuine issue of 22 material fact, the burden shifts to the party resisting summary judgment to “set forth specific 23 facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 24 256 (1986); Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323. “To defeat summary judgment, the nonmoving party must 25 produce evidence of a genuine dispute of material fact that could satisfy its burden at trial.” 26 Sonner v. Schwabe N. Am., Inc., 911 F.3d 989, 992 (9th Cir. 2018). 1 III. Discussion

2 A. The motion to strike the defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment is denied. 3 4 The court-ordered deadline to file dispositive motions was March 31, 2025. See Order, 5 ECF No. 32. Route, Crypto Quo, and Blockleaf filed MPSJs on that date. See ECF Nos. 39, 40.2 6 But the defendants did not file their MPSJ until April 21, 2025—i.e., twenty days late. See ECF 7 No. 43. In turn, Route and Crypto Quo moved to strike the defendants’ MPSJ due to its 8 untimeliness or, alternatively, for an order setting a briefing schedule. ECF No. 44. Then, 9 Blockleaf joined the motion to strike (ECF No. 47) and responded in opposition to the 10 defendants’ MPSJ (ECF No. 48). Finally, the defendants responded in opposition to Route’s 11 motion to strike (ECF No. 49) and replied to Blockleaf’s opposition to their MPSJ (ECF No. 50). 12 The court may strike a pleading that does not conform to the relevant local or federal 13 rules. See LR IA 10-1. “Unless the court orders otherwise, the time for filing a motion for summary 14 judgment is governed by Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(b).” LR 7-2(b).

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Route Consultants, Inc., et al. v. E3 NV, LLC, et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/route-consultants-inc-et-al-v-e3-nv-llc-et-al-nvd-2025.