United States v. Sweeney ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 1] United States of America, No. 2:17-cv-00112-KJM-KJIN 12 Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. 14 John Donnelly Sweeney and Point Buckler 15 Club, LLC, 16 Defendants. 17 18 Following the court’s referral of this matter to Magistrate Judge Jeremy Peterson, see 19 | Prior Order (Jan. 26, 2023), ECF No. 223, defendant Point Buckler Club, LLC filed a notice of 20 | bankruptcy and claimed it triggered an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362, see Notice, ECF 21 | No. 234. The court ordered the parties to file a Joint Status Report (JSR) addressing their 22 | respective positions regarding a section 362 stay, Min. Order (Mar. 15, 2023), ECF No. 235, and 23 | they have done so, see JSR, ECF No. 237. 24 The court has reviewed the parties’ joint statement and concludes this action is not 25 | automatically stayed for the reasons provided by the Government, see JSR at 2-6. This court 26 | has jurisdiction to determine whether the automatic stay applies. See Lockyer v. Mirant Corp., 27 | 398 F.3d 1098, 1106-07 (9th Cir. 2005). Because this lawsuit is brought by the United States to 28 | enforce the Clean Water Act, it falls within the statutory exception for the government’s 1 regulatory action See 11 U.S.C. § 362(b)(4) (Filing of petition does not operate as stay “of the 2 commencement or continuation of an action or proceeding by a governmental unit . . . to enforce 3 [its] police and regulatory power[.]”); JSR at 4 (collecting cases applying section 362(b)(4) in the 4 context of federal environmental cases, including Clean Water Act civil enforcement actions). 5 This action is not stayed. The case remains referred to Judge Peterson, as explained in 6 the court’s prior order. See Prior Order (Jan. 26, 2023), ECF No. 223. 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 DATED: April 7, 2023.