Laury v. LoBue ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 TOM G. LAURY, No. 1:20-cv-01463-DAD-SKO 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE REGARDING PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST FOR 14 VINCENT HOWARD LOBUE, et al., INJUNCTIVE RELIEF 15 Defendants. (Doc. No. 1) 16 17 18 On October 15, 2020, plaintiff Tom G. Laury filed a complaint for injunctive relief against 19 defendants Vincent Howard LoBue and Christine Cecelia LoBue asserting a claim under the 20 Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (“PACA”). (Doc. No. 1.) Defendants filed an answer 21 on December 7, 2020. (Doc. No. 8.) 22 It has recently come to the court’s attention that plaintiff’s complaint included what 23 appears to be a request for preliminary injunctive relief. Specifically, defendant alleges that 24 “[a]ssets are being dissipated and hidden [and he] feels [he] need[s] injunction relief to preserve 25 these assets.” (Doc. No. 1 at 5.) The court notes that district courts in the Ninth Circuit have 26 regularly found TROs and injunctive relief warranted in the PACA context, and routinely 27 conclude that the prospect of statutory trust assets being depleted constitutes irreparable injury. 28 See, e.g., Chula Brand CA, Corp. v. Martinez, 17-cv-37-JLS-KSC, 2017 WL 107672, at *3–4 1 | (S.D. Cal. Jan. 11, 2017); Newland N. Am. Foods, Inc. v. H.P. Skolnick, Inc., No. 5:13-cv-00934- 2 | EJD, 2013 WL 792672, at *3 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 4, 2013); Herb Fresh, LLC v. GR Prods., LLC, No. 3 | 5:12-cv-03669-EJD, 2012 WL 2906592, at *2—3 (N.D. Cal. July 16, 2012). In their answer, 4 | defendants do not substantively address plaintiff's request. (Doc. No. 8.) 5 Accordingly, the court hereby orders defendants to file an opposition or a statement 6 | of non-opposition to plaintiff’s request for injunctive relief by December 24, 2020. Plaintiff 7 | may file a reply, if any, no later than December 31, 2020. 8 | IT IS SOORDERED. a “ 9 Li. wh F Dated: _ December 16, 2020 See 1" S98 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28