Board of Trustees of the Laborers Health and Welfare Trust Fund for Northern California v. Accelerated Engineering Services, Inc. ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE Case No. 22-cv-04374-TLT LABORERS HEALTH AND WELFARE 8 TRUST FUND FOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, et al., ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE 9 Plaintiffs, Re: ECF No. 28 10 v. 11 ACCELERATED ENGINEERING 12 SERVICES, INC., Defendant. 13 14 15 On July 10, 2023, Plaintiffs moved for an order to show cause (1) why the Court should 16 not hold Defendant Accelerate Engineering Services, Inc. (“Accelerated”) and Sierra Elizabeth 17 Schneider, Accelerated’s alleged CEO, CFO, and Secretary, in civil contempt and (2) why the 18 Court should not impose monetary sanctions against Accelerated and Ms. Schneider in the amount 19 of $1,400 for the fees incurred in making its motion. See ECF No. 28. 20 Plaintiffs supported its motion with evidence that Accelerated had failed to produce 21 documents in response to the Court’s April 13, 2023 order granting a motion for default judgment. 22 See ECF Nos. 25, 26; ECF No. 28-1 (“Lauziere Decl.”) ¶ 5; Inst. of Cetacean Rsch. v. Sea 23 Shepherd Conservation Soc'y, 774 F.3d 935, 945 (9th Cir. 2014) (describing evidentiary standard 24 to prove civil contempt). But Plaintiffs did not fully address the requirements to hold Ms. 25 Schneider, a non-party, in civil contempt. While Ms. Schneider was served with the Court’s April 26 13, 2023 order, Plaintiffs has not shown that Ms. Schneider abetted Accelerated in violating the 27 order. See ECF No. 26; Peterson v. Highland Music, Inc., 140 F.3d 1313, 1323-24 (describing 1 declarations by the non-party or other evidence that confirms Ms. Schneider was an officer of 2 || Accelerated during the relevant period and had control over Accelerated’s compliance with the 3 order at issue. See e.g., Vasquez v. Libre by Nexus, Inc., No. 17-CV-00755, 2023 WL 360242, at 4 *10 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 23, 2023) (providing examples of evidence plaintiff relied on to hold non- 5 party in contempt). 6 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion for an order to show cause as to 7 Accelerated, but DENIES the motion without prejudice as to Ms. Schneider. No later than 8 November 6, 2023, Accelerated shall show cause why civil contempt sanctions should not be 9 imposed against them. Any response to this order shall be supported with admissible evidence. 10 || The Court will consider any response filed by Accelerated at a hearing scheduled for March 5, 11 2024. 12 Plaintiffs’ counsel is hereby ordered to provide a copy of this order to Accelerated and Ms. 5 13 Schneider within one business day of the date this order is filed and to file a declaration attesting 14 || to that within two days thereafter. 3 15 IT IS SO ORDERED. a 16 Dated: October 24, 2023 TRINA L. PSON 19 United States District Judge 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28