Vashisht-Rota v. Howell Management Services

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 3 Aparna VASHISHT-ROTA, Case No.: 25-cv-0179-AGS-VET 4 Plaintiff, ORDER STRIKING COMPLAINT (ECF 1) AND CLOSING CASE 5 v. 6 HOWELL MANAGEMENT SERVICES, et al., 7 Defendants. 8

9 Two weeks ago, this Court adjudged plaintiff Dr. Aparna Vashisht-Rota a “vexatious 10 litigant” for repeated misbehavior, including filing multiple “objectively frivolous” suits 11 against Howell Management Services and those in its immediate ambit arising from her 12 short-lived employment there. See Vashisht-Rota v. Howell Mgmt. Servs., No. 20-CV- 13 0321-AGS-KSC, 2025 WL 268855, at *3 (S.D. Cal. Jan. 22, 2025). The day after that court 14 order, Vashisht-Rota mailed in this suit, seeking once again to relitigate her claims against 15 that ex-employer and various individuals involved in the business. (See generally ECF 1; 16 see also ECF 1-4 (envelope dated “January 23, 2025”).) 17 Based on her new vexatious-litigant restrictions, Vashisht-Rota “may not file any 18 new cases” here without leave of court. To obtain such approval, she must first file a written 19 request, including, among other things, a copy of her proposed complaint and a 20 “declaration . . . under penalty of perjury that: (1) she has not previously brought a lawsuit 21 arising out of the same facts—or the same transactional nucleus of facts—asserted in the 22 new complaint; or (2) she has previously brought a lawsuit arising out of the same facts— 23 or the same transactional nucleus of facts—asserted in the new complaint, but the relevant 24 claims asserted in the prior lawsuit were not dismissed with prejudice.” Vashisht-Rota, 25 2025 WL 268855, at *4. Her new proposed complaint (including attachments) is about 26 280 pages long, and it recycles claims that have been rejected by this Court. In her 27 declaration, Vashisht-Rota claims otherwise “because some of the facts were not known to 28 me till September 25, 2023.” (ECF 1-1, at 2.) This is of no moment. The new proposed 1 || complaint indeed arises from the same transactional nucleus of facts as her prior lawsuits. 2 || So, it must be rejected. 3 The Court denies permission to file this suit. The Clerk is directed to STRIKE the 4 ||complaint from the record and close this case. It appears from the docket that no filing fee 5 || was accepted from plaintiff. If a filing fee was collected, however, the Clerk must refund 6 See Vashisht-Rota, 2025 WL 268855, at *4. (requiring that “no filing fee shall be 7 || accepted” if Vashisht-Rota is denied “advance[d] permission” to bring a new suit). 8 Dated: February 5, 2025

10 Andrew G. Schopler United States District Judge

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