George Jarvis Austin v. ABC Legal Services, LLC
Opinion
trial_court Opinion
1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 GEORGE JARVIS AUSTIN, Case No. 25-cv-06950-WHO
8 Plaintiff,
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
9 v. AWARD COSTS AND DENYING
MOTION FOR SANCTIONS
10 ABC LEGAL SERVICES, LLC, Re: Dkt. Nos. 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47 Defendant. 11
12 13 Defendant ABC Legal Services, LLC (“ABC”) moves for an award of costs after 14 defending itself in this “frivolous” lawsuit. In response, plaintiff George Jarvis Austin (“Austin”) 15 seeks to sanction ABC under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. Because I agree with ABC that 16 Austin is a vexatious litigant, and because I find that ABC has not engaged in any sanctionable 17 conduct, I GRANT the motion for costs and DENY the motion for sanctions. 18 LEGAL STANDARD 19 Motion for Costs 20 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(1), “costs—other than attorney’s fees— 21 should be allowed to the prevailing party” of an action. However, district courts maintain 22 discretion to award costs when a party seeks voluntary…